$5 million donation funds Neurosciences Center at PBMC
Riverhead’s Peconic Bay Medical Center announced the creation of a new Neurosciences Center funded by a $5 million donation from Southampton Town residents Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch.
The new center will be equipped with the latest diagnostic and therapeutic technologies according to PBMC medical director Dr. Jeffrey Zilberstein.
“The way we imagine it, it’ll offer comprehensive diagnostic, evaluation and treatment for really all types of disease, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, Alzheimer’s disease, brain tumors, concussion, epilepsy, headaches, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease,” he said. “Stroke is the major emergency, where time is brain but we’re envisioning a comprehensive center, starting with building around this emergency.”
The announcement of the new center was made at PBMC’s 2024 annual gala, which honored the couple, held at Westhampton Country Club, where generous donors added $1.7 million to support the new center.
The hospital put in for a certificate of need to the state of New York and once reviewed and approved, the hospital can move forward with the project. Dr. Zilberstein said that they anticipate the center will be up and running in the next year to 18 months.
The emergency department opened this summer and expanded capacity by 75% along with adding patient beds, increased space for specialized care and introduced new technology including a dual-bay trauma unit, comprehensive radiology capabilities and connectivity to Northwell Health’s e-ICU system and telemedicine, Riverhead News-Review reported.
“We’re really excited to build this new Neurosciences Center, which is going to be called the Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch Neurosciences Center,” Dr. Zilberstein said.
PBMC is going to be the only hospital in Eastern Suffolk County that will be able to perform a cerebral mechanical thrombectomy, an endovascular technique for removing blood clots from the brain after an ischemic stroke, according to the national institute of health.
“What that is, is having an experienced interventional neurologist go into the brain with a catheter and take the clot out that’s causing the stroke,” Dr. Zilberstein explained. “What we do today is we have to send those patients west and when you’re having a stroke time is brain cells, and so having the ability to perform that procedure, along with everything else that the Neurosciences Center is going to provide here is going to be truly revolutionary and paradigm shifting for the community.”
Interventional neurologist and director of stroke at PBMC, Dr. Richard Jung said he’s “deeply grateful” to the Harnisch family for their generosity.
“This donation will have a profound impact on our ability to provide high-quality neurological and especially stroke care to our community,” he said in a hospital press release.
The hospital will assemble a team of highly skilled interventional neurologists, neurosurgeons and dedicated healthcare professionals to staff the center.
The Harnisch family joins a number of other generous PBMC donor families including Emilie Corey, who, along with her husband Michael, recently donated a separate $5 million to support the development of the Emilie Roy Corey Center for Women and Infants.
“The technology is here, and we’re bringing it to PBMC because it will save lives and brain function,” Mr. Harnisch said. “We think it’s a game-changer for people with neurological conditions.”
