PBMC celebrates 75 years of care on the East End

Peconic Bay Medical Center celebrated its 75th anniversary on Tuesday, looking back at its history and looking forward to what’s next.

Hospital leadership, elected officials and members of the medical center’s founding families gathered together to commemorate how far health care has come in Riverhead and the entire East End.

“Seventy-five years ago, community leaders here on the East End saw a need for care close to home and came together to build this hospital from the ground up,” said PBMC President Amy Loeb. “No one should ever feel as though they need to compromise their health to maintain a suburban way of life.”

Founded in 1951, the center began as Central Suffolk Hospital. Expansions came quickly, with the west wing opening in 1962, and the east wing following suit in 1972. Fast forward to 2006, and it was finally renamed Peconic Bay Medical Center.

The name change springboarded even more expansion. In 2009, the Kanas Center for Advanced Surgery opened its doors. Then, in 2016, the hospital made perhaps its biggest move: it joined the Northwell Health system. One of the main reasons the board really wanted to join, Ms. Loeb said, is that they wanted to make sure that the community had a cardiac catheterization lab to take care of heart attacks. 

By October of 2017, the hospital did indeed have Long Island’s first cardiac cath lab, led by Dr. Stanley Katz. By 2022, it was top 100 in the country. Last year, the hospital performed its 100th CardioMEMS implant.

“PBMC is a place where lives are changed, families are supported and hope is restored,” said Judi Jedlicka, co-vice chair of the foundation board. “Watching the hospital evolve while staying true to its mission has been inspiring, and I am proud to be part of a legacy that will continue well beyond this milestone year.”

The Corey Critical Care Pavilion and Kanas Regional Heart Center both opened in 2020. In 2024, the Poole Family Trauma Center and the Zinberg Family Critical Care and Trauma Unit also both opened. Now 75 years into its history, Peconic Bay has more expansions on the horizon to boost the next 75 years of care.

The hospital just completed a $50 million campaign to be able to bring more life-saving services to Riverhead and the East End. The future Emilie Roy Corey Center for Women and Infants is slated to open in 2027. 

The Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch Neurosciences Center is nearer on the horizon, expected to open this year. It will allow specialists to take care of those who have a stroke and to perform thrombectomies, which they do not yet offer. It involves taking a catheter and going up into the brain to retrieve a large clot.

“I would encourage everyone, not only to support this hospital, which is so needed and such a beacon of light and healing on the East End, but to keep on saying, ‘Why not?’ to the things that should be, so we don’t have to dream about them,” said County Executive Ed Romaine. “We just have to commit ourselves to making a change that is so necessary. There were so many people over the history of this hospital that had done exactly that, committed themselves to saying ‘Why not?’ and going out there to do that.”

Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin shared that he spent Monday night visiting someone in the ICU. He said he is glad that Riverhead has a hospital where people can enter the world, and also allows people the “dignity that each of you do to say goodbye to their loved ones right here.”

“I’m excited about the continuation that will come, and I know that our town is behind you, to support you,” Mr. Halpin continued. “Thank you for all that you do for our community. And thank you to your families for sacrificing, for pushing, for fighting.”

Mr. Romaine and Mr. Halpin both presented Ms. Loeb and the hospital with proclamations.

A time capsule was also filled with items, and closed, to not be opened again for at least the next 25 years. Among the items were expired lens implants, to represent the vision of the founders and the vision for the future.