PBMC opens $8M neuroscience center to expand stroke care
Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead unveiled a new $8 million neuroscience center Monday, expanding lifesaving stroke and neurological care on the East End.
The Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch Neurosciences Center, eastern Suffolk County’s first dedicated neuroscience center, was made possible by a $5 million donation from the Southampton-based couple.
Before the center’s opening, the closest thrombectomy-capable hospitals were Stony Brook University Hospital and South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore, 27 and 37 miles away, respectively — distances that can cost critical time in a stroke emergency.
Nearly two million brain cells are lost every minute during an untreated stroke.
“These are vulnerable moments, where every second matters and irreplaceable brain tissue can be lost,” PBMC president Amy Loeb said during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Today, that reality changes. Faster interventions, preserved brain function. More people, walking, speaking and returning to their lives. More families staying together.”
PBMC is already a state-designated stroke center and treats roughly 1,000 patients each year for stroke or stroke-related illnesses. The neuroscience center will expand those capabilities, including advanced imaging such as angiograms to detect neurological conditions.
Two cranial neurosurgeons are expected to join the team this summer, further expanding the hospital’s capabilities. The first patients are expected to be welcomed by the end of April, hospital officials said.
Last year, PBMC transferred roughly 300 stroke-related cases to medical centers west of Riverhead, according to hospital officials.
“We know this stroke center will save lives and, no doubt, improve post-stroke outcomes,” said Bill Harnisch, the founder and CEO of New York-based investment firm Peconic Partners, who attended the event with his wife, Ruth Ann Harnisch. “Every minute counts with strokes, and having this stroke center here in Riverhead will cut the time to treatment dramatically, with those of us living on the North Fork, the South Fork and points west.”
The center will be the only facility on eastern Long Island capable of performing cerebral mechanical thrombectomies, a minimally invasive procedure that removes blood clots and restores blood flow to the brain after a stroke.
Ms. Harnisch reflected on the significance of the project during the ceremony. She joked that the couple’s donation would help her husband “never die,” before growing emotional as she looked out at hospital staff and community members.
“The brain depends on the heart and the heart depends on the brain, like Peconic Bay Medical Center depends on everyone here,” she said. “Amy has said repeatedly that this extraordinary community deserves extraordinary health care, and we say extraordinary health care deserves extraordinary community support. We’re blessed to be able to be part of this extraordinary community.”
Riverhead Supervisor Jerry Halpin and other council members attended the ribbon-cutting for the neuroscience center, the latest in a series of major investments at the 75-year-old hospital over the past decade.
PBMC’s expansion is part of a broader push by East End hospitals to keep more patients local rather than transferring them west for specialized care.
Those have included a cardiac cath lab in 2017, the Corey Critical Care Pavilion and Kanas Regional Heart Center in 2020, and the Poole Family Trauma Center and Zinberg Family Critical Care and Trauma Unit in 2024.
