Albany Memorial campus set for revitalization, expanded health services
ALBANY, N.Y. » Exciting changes are coming in 2021 to St. Peter’s Health Partners’ (SPHP) Albany Memorial Campus, 600 Northern Blvd. in Albany.
This includes the recent opening of St. Peter’s Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Wellness, and the razing of the East Wing and Building Connector which began on Jan. 7.
St. Peter’s Cardiac & Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Wellness has already begun seeing patients, offering a carefully coordinated and supervised exercise program with state- of-theart telemetry monitoring to maximize activity, independence and safety for cardiac patients.
“We are so excited to be providing this service to our community, at a time when maintaining one’s health has never been more important,” Michael Finegan, president of acute care for SPHP said.
“This program helps patients and their families continue the teaching that is immediately started after cardiac surgery, while having the comfort of being closely medically monitored by expert staff who are specially trained to treat acute cardiac emergencies,” Finegan explained.
The program is tailored to the needs of each individual patient. Patients with all types of acute cardiac problems are eligible for the program, including but not limited to:
• Heart and lung disease
• Post- operative heart surgery
• Valve replacements
• Coronary artery bypass grafts
• Congestive heart failure
• LVAD ( left ventricular assist device) implants
Albany Memorial Hospital in Albany and Samaritan Hospital in Troy, New York, merged into one legal entity on Jan. 1, 2020, with Albany Memorial Hospital officially becoming Samaritan Hospital – Albany Memorial Campus. The merger was the first step in realizing an expansion of SPHP’s existing high-quality services already available at Albany Memorial.
In looking towards the future, SPHP’s Master Facilities Plan determined it was cost-prohibitive to upgrade the aging East Wing of the campus in order to meet modern health care needs. The two-week demolition of the connector, originally built in 1989, is slated to begin Jan. 7, followed by demolition of the four-story East Wing, originally built in 1959.
All demolition work is expected to conclude in January.
“A vibrant Albany Memorial Campus, one designed to provide needed and contemporary care for members of our community, is critically important to SPHP,” Finegan noted.
“The Albany Memorial Campus is convenient, accessible and a well-known resource in the community, thanks to its outstanding Emergency Department, as well as specialty services including our chest pain center, hand center, wound center, programs addressing longterm health concerns such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis, and outpatient imaging,” Finegan added.