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Gerth gets agreement to staff Medical Center

Supervisor Gary Gerth announced at the April 12 Town Board meeting that the NYU Winthrop Hospital group has agreed to honor its contract to maintain healthcare coverage at the Medical Center through December 31.

This followed Mr. Gerth’s recent announcement that he would seek regulatory actions or a lawsuit against the hospital group if it pulled out of Shelter Island.

“The possibility that NYU Winthrop will abandon medical care at our only Medical Center is incomprehensible,” Mr. Gerth wrote in an April 5 letter to top NYU Winthrop officials. “We trust that NYU Winthrop will honor the spirit and provisions of our contract to provide medical care.”

At the same time, the supervisor announced that representatives of Stony Brook University Hospital toured the Medical Center building last week and pronounced themselves pleased with the level of cleanliness and equipment available.

Stony Brook is considering running the Medical Center, Mr. Gerth said, and would want some changes to the space, including adjustments to the entrances and expansion of parking.

The outreach to Stony Brook, which is affiliated with Southampton Hospital and is putting finishing touches on a similar agreement with Eastern Long Island Hospital, is part of the supervisor’s promise not to have a lapse in medical coverage, he said.

From the outset, Stony Brook representatives made it clear they would determine staffing. It already has relationships with the doctors currently working at the Medical Center, Dr. Peter Kelt, Dr. Nathanael Desire and a fourth-year medical resident, Dr. Josh Potter, who lives on Shelter Island.

Neither Dr. Kelt nor Dr. Desire staff their offices full time, so Dr. Potter could fill in on days when one or both are unavailable.