(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
(Credit: Steve Thurston, 2022)
Hudson Headwaters Health Network has completed renovations to its Broad Street health center that has turned the building into a full-time urgent care center for the community, and might be thought of as a mini-economic driver for the area near the intersection of Broad Street and Hudson Avenue.
“Your communities are only as vibrant as your healthcare and education systems,” Pam Fisher said during a recent interview. Fisher is HHHN’s director of community relations. She did not take credit for the quote but attributed it to Jim Siplon and others at the Warren County Economic Development Corporation.
She referred to a survey that WarrenEDC conducted with the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism in Lake Placid early last year. The survey of people looking to move to the Adirondack Region highlighted their desires including fast internet, affordable housing, strong healthcare and other desires.
“I certainly do think that having strong health care does drive people to want to live and work here,” Fisher said. “Healthcare is a criteria that they look at.”
Primarily, however, the center is a health care facility, a place open seven days a week for anyone to come in and get help with non-life-threatening issues such as broken bones, lacerations, coughs, and colds.
(Staff says they do get people with life-threatening issues at times, and they have emergency equipment in that case. Those people are quickly moved to Glens Falls Hospital or elsewhere for the emergency care they need.)
The renovated facility had been both an urgent care and a primary care facility for people nearby, but the primary care patients have been moved to the network’s center near West Mountain in Queensbury.
Starting next year, primary care patients will also be able to access the Larose Street center, a 32,000-square-foot complex under construction about a half mile from the Broad Street location. It is due to fully open in late 2023. That center will include primary care along with many other services. It will be home to exam and treatment rooms along with staff offices. The Larose center will be home to a family medicine residency program with Saratoga Hospital when it opens.
[Read more about the LaRose center here.]
Renovations to the urgent care center include an expanded waiting room, lighting and artwork. Thirteen exam rooms have also been updated. The center offers complimentary bottled water and free Wi-Fi. The center has been updated with new windows, signs, lighting, paint and landscaping, and features rebuilt stairs and wheelchair ramps among other exterior upgrades.
“We’re seeing 700-plus people a week. We’re seeing a lot of people. It’s been a very busy fall,” said Tammie LaGuerre, a practice leader at the facility. “We’re seeing a ton of RSV right now. It’s going to be a tough winter for that.” RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is a virus that affects the lungs and airways. Often mild, it can be deadly. They are also seeing cases of the seasonal flu and COVID.
LaGuerre said that she is very happy with the renovation, adding that the building was darker before and is much brighter. A fresh, clean look helps. The interior design includes professional photos and paintings of the area from a local artist.
All that improvement helps, LaGuerre said, adding of course, that the staff always worked to give the best care they could, but the new look offers a feeling of safety and security.
“Perception, it’s important," she said.