WILLIAM BAKER | ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL
Bishop William Murphy cuts the ribbon at the dedication of the Bishop McHugh Health Center Jan. 17 in Hicksville. Participating in the ribbon cutting are, from left, Patricia Daye, vice president of ambulatory services for St. Francis Hospital; Ruth Hennessey, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for St. Francis; Bishop Murphy; Dr. Patricia Tassinari, medical director of the Bishop McHugh Health Center; Jessica Wyman, manager of program development for Catholic Health Services (CHS); Richard Sullivan, CHS executive chairman; and Julia Vinsky, administrative director of St. Francis Hospital’s DeMatteis Center.
HICKSVILLE — Reflecting Catholic Health Services’ commitment to serving people in need, St. Francis Hospital has opened the Bishop McHugh Health Center here for the uninsured and underinsured.
“This is a part of our mission,” said Ruth Hennessey, executive vice president and chief administrative officer for St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn. “We hope to see a lot of patients.”
The center, located in a small plaza on Route 107 south of Old Country Road here, opened last November, operating with a medical director, medical assistant, x-ray technician, social worker, receptionist and practice manager.
“I’m very excited,” said Dr. Patricia Tassinari, medical director. For now, the center sees patients three days a week, averaging about 10 patients a day. The center performs physical exams and treats less severe medical problems.
“We are still getting the word out,” Tassinari explained, and the center is looking to open five days a week and hire additional staff as more patients come.
Tassinari, who grew up in St. James and has practiced medicine since 1985, previously worked at First Med, a walk-in urgent care center. “I saw the need for a facility to treat patients who don’t have adequate health insurance coverage.”
Patients lacking adequate health insurance have little recourse, she said, often being forced to go to hospital emergency rooms or having to choose between purchasing medicine, paying the rent or buying food for their family.
So when she learned that “a hospital with the reputation of St. Francis was opening a center for these patients, I thought it was amazing in this current climate” where many health facilities are cutting back. “I wanted to get involved.”
The newly-opened center here is the second Bishop McHugh Health Center started by Catholic Health Services (CHS) of Long Island, said Christine Hendriks, CHS’s vice president for public and external affairs. The first opened in Bay Shore in October of 2009.
“In its first year, Bishop McHugh saw nearly 250 patients and had nearly 600 patient visits,” operating one Monday evening a week and up to two Wednesday evenings a month, Hendrix explained.
Both the Bay Shore and the new Hicksville centers were named after Bishop James McHugh, who served as bishop of Rockville Centre from January 2000 until his death that December. Bishop McHugh was appointed coadjutor bishop for Rockville Centre in December of 1998. He previously served as bishop of Camden, N.J.
“Many of the patients come from our ‘Healthy Sunday’ screenings,” Hennessey said, which CHS sponsors at local parishes, checking people’s cholesterol and blood sugar level as well as height/weight/body mass index.
In addition, Tassinari explained, the health center hopes to work with parish outreach offices, such as St. Ignatius Loyola here.
Joe Samodulski, human services director of St. Ignatius, noted that “we have a good number of people who are uninsured or underinsured, as well as people in financial need. A health center like this will go hand in hand with what we do to help people with food and rent.”
“There is also a lot of word of mouth,” Tassinari said. “People come here, are happy with their treatment, and tell family, friends, and co-workers.” Patients include immigrants, people who are recently divorced or unemployed and lost their insurance, and Medicaid and Medicare patients with gaps in their coverage, Tassinari said.
“And every once in a while we have patients who have insurance but have heard that St. Francis has a health center here and come in,” Tassinari added with a smile, “We don’t discriminate against people who have health insurance.”
Though the center itself pro- vides primary care, it also has a referral network for patients to find treatments for more serious ailments. In the future, the center hopes to have specialists available, possibly a gynecologist, ophthalmologist and a cardiologist.
One sign of their success, Tassinari said, “is that we have patients who are so grateful that they want to make a small donation. Or sometimes, people will bake cookies and bring them in for us. I think that says something.”
About the Author
Most Commented