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Volume XX • Number 42 • October 17 - 24, 2013 •
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Montefiore eyes Riverdale Ave. facility
By PAULETTE SCHNEIDER Riverdale Avenue will soon be home to an 11-stor y, 93,000-square-foot state-of-the art healthcare facility affiliated with Montefiore Medical Center. In partnership with WESTMED Practice Partners, a management organization that specializes in outpatient service facilities, Montefiore will provide “onestop health care, including urgent care, primary care and a wide variety of specialty services, cardiology, nephrology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, cancer infusion and complete radiology services,” a joint statement said. Construction is scheduled to begin on November 1, and the building should be open for business in around a year and a half. The 3471 Riverdale Avenue site includes the one-story building formerly occupied by D.J. Drugs, an adjacent two-story building and a one-family house on Oxford Avenue. The property was acquired during the past few months by Simone Development Companies’ Healthcare Development group, experts at handling the real estate aspects of “turnkey ambulatory medical facilities” in partnership with New York metro area healthcare providers. This is the first partnership venture involving the three parties—Montefiore, WESTMED and Simone. “Montefiore and WESTMED continue to be innovators in the hospital industry, leading the way toward the new outpatient service focused model,” Simone Development Companies president Joseph Simone said. “We’re pleased to contribute to the future of healthcare by working with one of New York’s finest medical professionals in the planning, development, and management of new ambulatory care facilities.” “Given the complexity of medicine today, it’s clear that patients prefer the full spectrum of their outpatient healthcare streamlined, coordinated and provided by the finest doctors— all under one roof,” WESTMED chairman and CEO Dr. Simeon A. Schwartz said. “This approach not only provides convenience to the patient, but lowers the cost of healthcare.” “Montefiore is energized by
the vibrant community in Riverdale, and we look forward to bringing to the neighborhood the best that Montefiore has to offer—exceptional physicians and well-coordinated care that is centered around the patients and their families,” Montefiore president and CEO Dr. Steven M. Safyer said. “Our multidisciplinary approach and use of technology makes communicating with your doctor and scheduling appointments effortless.” The Montefiore/Simone partnership is also developing the first “hospital without beds,” a 280,000-square-foot building on the Hutchinson Metro Center campus in the Pelham Bay area. Scheduled for completion by September 2014, the facility will include an ambulatory surgery center, four procedure rooms, an advanced imaging center and an onsite laboratory and pharmacy in addition to primary and specialty care practices. Montefiore Medical Center, named among the top hospitals nationally and regionally by U.S. News & World Report, has a network of more than 130 locations across the region, including the largest school health program in the nation. Its four hospitals, with a total of 1,491 beds, have 90,000 admissions annually. It is not yet clear how the new Riverdale Avenue facility will relate to Montefiore’s existing primary care practices in the
Architect’s rendering of the proposed Westmed facility sponsored by Montefiore Hospital, which will be constructed on Riverdale Avenue near West 238th Street. neighborhood, including the office at 3510 Johnson Avenue. “We continue to meet the
demands of the community, and once the new building is completed, we’ll address this issue,”
officials said in a statement. “We have no definitive plans at the moment.”
Environmental issues discussed at Manhattan College talk
By Sean Sonnemann Not all famous bets take place at a casino or the racetrack. On Oct. 9, members of the Manhattan College community gathered in Smith Auditorium to listen to Dr. Paul Sabin, author and associate professor of history at Yale University, deliver a presentation titled “Betting the Future: Population Growth and Resource Scarcity Debates Since the 1970s.” Part history lesson and part political discussion, Sabin’s lecture detailed the events surrounding the notable bet between Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon, an ecologist and economist respectively. The wager between the two men is also the subject of Sabin’s most recent book, “The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon,
and Our Gamble over Earth’s Future.” “This history really matters today. It’s important to recognize that our current arguments about climate change have been colored by previous battles,” Sabin said. Sabin explained how Ehrlich and Si m on put money on whether the respective prices of five metals would rise from 1980 to 1990. The outcome would provide weight to the winner’s arguments on the economic and environmental effects of population growth. Ehrlich was an environmentalist who thought that the rising population would lead to food shortages, disease outbreaks and war. He argued that government regu lation of the population
was necessary to prevent the global catastrophe that would come from a growing need for resources. In terms of the bet, he felt that metal prices would rise due to higher demand for scarcer products. Simon, on the other hand, thought that Ehrlich’s predictions were off the mark. He instead argued that a growing population would lead to greater creative power and technological innovation. Improvements in the efficiency of harvesting and subsequent use of resources would cause prices to decrease and quality of life to improve. “Simon possessed a relentless opti m ism that would drive someone like Eh rlich crazy,” Sabin said. In between telling the story,
Sabin provided important background infor mation on what the debate meant for the greater American political landscape. He explained how ideas raised by Ehrlich and Simon’s dispute had important repercussions during the 1980 presidential election between Ronald Regan and incumbent Jimmy Carter. Several photos and video clips of speeches by the two presidents, as well as talk show appearances by Ehrlich and Si mon, added texture to Sabin’s lecture. He drew some laughs from the crowd when he pointed out the massive sideburns present in some of the 70s era photos. Ultimately, Simon proved the victor of the bet and received an envelope from Ehrlich in the mail Continued on Page 2