Public Invited to Celebrate Grand Opening of Medical Services Building at Phelps
September 29, 2007
Members of the community gathered at Phelps to celebrate the official opening of the new 100,000 square-foot Medical Services Building on a sunny Saturday September 29.
>Pictured (l to r) Pleasantville
Mayor Bernard Gordon, Sleepy Hollow Mayor Philip Zegarelli, Phelps President
& CEO Keith Safian, Congresswoman Nita Lowey, County Executive Andy Spano,
and Mount Pleasant Town Supervisor Robert Meehan were in attendance. Following
remarks, they performed the ribbon cutting to officially dedicate the building.
After the ceremony, tours of the $20 million building were given, featuring
the Frank and Lisina Hoch Center for Emergency Education and the Outpatient
Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department with The Kathryn W. Davis
Therapeutic Pool & Aquatherapy Center as well as several other of the hospital's
busiest services:
Children in attendance enjoyed exploring more than a dozen fire engines and ambulances brought to Phelps by the emergency agencies that keep our communities safe.
Phelps' Emergency Training Center was originally established two decades ago
and has provided nearly 30,000 training sessions to emergency first responders
throughout Westchester County and beyond. In the new 7,000 square-foot Frank
and Lisina Hoch Center for Emergency Education, EMTs, firefighters and healthcare
providers will have access to the same type of simulation technologies that
pilots use to build critical emergency experience.
For example, one training room is the actual interior of an ambulance where
EMTs treat life-like computerized mannequins programmed to display physical
symptoms such as constricted airways, rise and fall of the chest, and breath
sounds. The "patient" responds to the treatment administered, giving
the student immediate feedback as to whether the treatment was correct. "Just
as an airline pilot learns to handle emergencies in the air by training on a
flight simulator," explains Jeff Meade, Director of the Center, "students
and practitioners at our Center can learn how to safely handle crises they may
not see every day. When they do see these situations, they will know exactly
how to respond because they have trained for them on the simulator. Ultimately
this type of training will save lives."
The new Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Department offers outpatients
physical and occupational therapy in a spacious, state-of-the-art facility.
Exercise equipment is surrounded by a carpeted "track," and there
are large private treatment rooms for therapy sessions. Patients recovering
from stroke are able to practice activities of daily living in an "apartment"
that includes a true-to-life kitchen and bathroom with handicapped features.
The new facility features the Kathryn W. Davis Therapeutic Pool and Aquatherapy
Center, which adds a new dimension to the rehab service at Phelps.
Other services that will find a new home in the building include the Wound Healing
Institute, IV Infusion Center, Diabetes and Endocrine Center for Children &
Young Adults, Phelps Counseling Center and Blood Donor Services.
A further cause for celebration is the opening of a new 750-space parking garage.
Phelps is able to offer patients and visitors plenty of parking - and it's free!