Local Health Centers Shortchanged by Westchester County Budget
Lost in the follies of the circus surrounding the passage of the 2013 Westchester County budget was the cut in funding to area health centers, such as Open Door Family Medical Centers in Ossining and Mount Kisco and Hudson River Healthcare in Peekskill.
More than $3 million was slashed from the spending plan by County Executive Rob Astorino and approved by the Republican-led majority that approved the budget 9-0. Astorino maintained the health centers had sufficient funding sources to sustain the county bag of coal.
However, Lindsay Farrell, president and CEO of Open Door, said the loss of $525,000 that Open Door had received annually from the county for the last six or seven years would have a direct effect on screenings and treatments for patients with communicable and sexually transmitted diseases. This year, 496 patients along were treated for tuberculosis.
“We’re kind of scrambling. I just don’t know what we’re going to do,” Farrell remarked. “It just seems so shortsighted. We feel this tremendous obligation to the patients. If they don’t get medication from us, they won’t get it from anywhere. It puts everybody at risk.”
Open Door serves more than 40,000 patients, with the majority in Ossining and Port Chester. Its Mount Kisco and Sleepy Hollow facilities each treat about 6,000 patients annually. About half of patients that walk into Open Door don’t have medical insurance.
“Westchester County used to operate a number of health clinics in all communities that we operate. They don’t have to do that now because we’re there,” Farrell said. “We think our model makes more sense. We’re holistic, we’re comprehensive, we’re trusted. We think we have a good footprint and we think we deliver value. That’s why we’re discouraged Westchester County doesn’t agree.”
Westchester County Legislator Catherine Borgia (D/Ossining) said the budget the majority of Democrats were prepared to adopt included funding for the health centers. She said her seven Republican colleagues and Democrats Michael Kaplowitz (Somers) and Virginia Perez (Yonkers) who chose to defund the centers, which also resulted in a loss of matching federal funds, were being “penny wise and pound foolish.”
“I’m quite distraught by it. I think this was a big mistake,” said Borgia, whose district covers Cortlandt, Croton, Ossining, Briarcliff Manor and Peekskill. “It’s really a step backwards for our society. We have providers who are doing a good job and doing a good service for the public. I’m a believer that government should always try to operate at its maximum efficiency. These health centers are a way to serve many more people.”
Borgia noted she wasn’t optimistic any changes could be made to the budget since it had already been signed by Astorino.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
