Mayor Bloomberg and Aviles of HHC cut ribbon for $73m facility

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and N.Y.C. Health and Hospitals Corp. (HHC) president Alan Aviles cut the ribbon for the new Ambulatory Care Pavilion at Jacobi Medical Center. The mayor and Aviles were joined by the newly-appointed HHC board chair Dr. Michael Stocker, outgoing chair Charlynn Goins, and Jacobi Medical Center executive director Bill Walsh. The $73 million facility houses four stories of modern outpatient suites for adult and pediatric primary care and specialty services. The new pavilion will expand access to preventive health services, build capacity for advanced technology and is expected to accommodate 380,000 patient visits annually. The Pavilion is part of a city-wide, five-year $1.2 billion capital investment program to modernize and rebuild HHC's facilities and further improve the quality of healthcare services for all New Yorkers. "This is a great day for the Bronx," said Bloomberg. "Having access to quality, affordable healthcare in a state-of-the-art facility is important to the families who work and live here. This new center will allow us to provide the highest quality of outpatient service and care for those who need it most, and these kinds of investments are a big reason why national evaluations now consistently rank many of our public hospitals among the best in the nation." "The opening of the new Ambulatory Care Pavilion at Jacobi Medical Center represents the city's and HHC's continuing commitment to the redesign of outpatient care - with a particular emphasis on primary and preventive care - to maximize both patient convenience and positive clinical outcomes," said Aviles. "Within these walls, we will engage our patients as partners in the effective management of their asthma, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic disease. And in the process we will continue to steadily improve the health of our community." The four-story, 120,000 s/f pavilion is devoted entirely to outpatient services and linked to the 457-bed acute care hospital facility. The Jacobi Pavilion was designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners with Ian Bader, design partner-in-charge. The renovation of the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Bellevue Ambulatory Care Pavilion were also designed by this architectural firm.