HealthAlliance’s Ambitious Expansion Project Makes Notable Progress

The Healthy Neighborhood Initiative, the largest-ever healthcare construction project in Ulster County, achieves key milestones.

By Lisa Cesarano
As seen in the March/April issue of Advancing Care 

Investing in the well-being of its surrounding communities for generations to come, HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley, a member of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth), recently moved one step closer toward the realization of an ambitious expansion project.

The hospital submitted architectural renderings and construction drawings to the New York State Department of Health outlining its plans for a $92 million new, expanded, single HealthAlliance Hospital on the current Mary’s Avenue Campus in Kingston.

The technologically advanced new hospital — providing all inpatient and emergency services currently split between HealthAlliance’s two Kingston hospital campuses — is designed to be an optimal environment for the highest-quality care. Its construction will be the first phase of a multi-year, $133.6 million Healthy Neighborhood Initiative project in and around the two campuses.

The new hospital construction plans were unanimously approved by the City of Kingston’s Planning Board.

“The Mary’s Avenue project has evolved to meet the needs of the community, and, in combination with the strength of our larger network, we will be able to provide more services than originally planned in the new HealthAlliance Hospital, conduct additional renovation of existing space, and leave room for future expansion,” said Robert S. Ross, Executive Vice President, Northern Region, WMCHealth.

Key components outlined in the plans include:

• A newly constructed birthing center with ultramodern labor, delivery, recovery and postpartum rooms.

• A newly constructed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), along with a stepdown unit providing an intermediate level of care between the ICU and the new hospital’s medical-surgical wards.

• A newly constructed 25,000-square-foot emergency center offering an unprecedented level of readiness to care for a full range of emergency visits, including for cardiac and behavioral healthcare.

• A new imaging department with the highest-quality state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment equipment.

• Fully remodeled ambulatory surgery, infusion therapy and endoscopy units.

These and other enhancements will be complemented by increased amenities, including a new, welcoming hospital lobby with an admissions and registration center, financial counseling, family support services, a retail pharmacy, gift shop and comfortable waiting areas.

All told, the hospital will feature a new, 79,000-square-foot, two-story building adjoining the current HealthAlliance Hospital: Mary’s Avenue Campus, which itself will undergo an extensive renovation of 48,000 square feet.

Once the Mary’s Avenue project is completed, the current HealthAlliance Hospital: Broadway Campus will be redeveloped into a “medical village” — an innovative focal point for the city’s health and wellness needs.