Will Dr. Ann still be here after October?

Gone but not forgotten. That’s the status of the deal Shelter Island struck with Winthrop-University Hospital in November 2013 to staff an office a the Medical Center.

Then a week ago, the Town Board signed a four-month lease with NAD Medical Services  and Dr. Anthonette Desire to operate a medical practice in the space that was originally planned for Winthrop.

Dr. Ann, as she prefers to be called, told the Reporter her husband was travelling across the Island just a week earlier and stopped to see his friend, Dr. Peter Kelt, whose practice occupies the front of the building. Dr. Kelt mentioned the empty space and Dr. Desire and her husband, Dr. Nathanael Desire, jumped at the opportunity.

So what happened with the Winthrop deal?

The lease with Dr. Desire is for four months only, although Supervisor Jim Dougherty told her at the June 3 Town Board work session that he anticipated signing a long-term lease with NAD before the current lease expires in mid October. And Dr. Desire made it clear it’s her expectation that she will be on the Island long term.

“All parties will assess then whether to extend the relationship,” Mr. Dougherty said in an emailed response to the Reporter.

Dr. Kelt has a relationship with Winthrop dating back to 2011 when he opted to turn over the administration of his Shelter Island practice to the organization and become a salaried employee of the hospital. He has expanded his own practice, bringing in Dr. Barbara Philips-Cole so more patients could be served.

As months went by after the Winthrop deal was signed to open a second space at the Medical Center, hospital public relations people said they had every intention of staffing the Shelter Island office. But they were delayed in getting technology established, they said.

Now Mr. Dougherty said the plan is that Winthrop will be “kept informed and might be interested in enlarging its leased area at that time.”

Stay tuned.

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