Syracuse legislators: Budget must recognize NY’s reliance on Upstate Hospital (Guest Opinion)

Imagine you live in the Thousand Islands to the north or as far south as Corning, and you or a loved one experiences a major traumatic accident. Suppose someone you know in the Adirondacks or the Finger Lakes suffers from severe burns. Perhaps you live in the Catskills or Niagara Falls and are stricken with an intense case of poisoning.

What is the one hospital you need to be able to depend on for comprehensive treatment and recovery for any of these serious issues? SUNY Upstate University Hospital, right here in Syracuse.

While it is impossible to overstate the importance of Upstate — a jewel of the state’s public health system and a critical institution for the health of New Yorkers living north of New York City — it’s no secret that the hospital is facing serious challenges. It’s not simply that the hospital’s infrastructure has aged. It’s that the emergency and specialized departments millions of New Yorkers rely on haven’t expanded with increased demand.

In recognition of that fact, Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing $200 million to support Upstate’s needs. This would represent a significant step forward for building a thoughtfully planned hospital annex that includes a new emergency department, new burn unit and new operating rooms. In the months ahead, it’s up to the Legislature and governor to work out how to deliver the total $450 million necessary to ensure Upstate can adequately care for the people in our Upstate Region.

The bottom line is that access to quality healthcare services in our community and region must be sustainable. At present, ambulances barely have room to pull up to the doors. Patients wait on gurneys in the hallways. Treatment bays lack privacy and offer little of the peace and quiet trauma patients need.

Walk-in patients sometimes wait for hours to be seen. Last year, over 7,500 patients were turned away from the emergency department, and the wait time was the second longest in the state among Level 1 Trauma hospitals.

The main hospital building may be iconic, but it is more than 60 years old and inadequate for today’s standards of care and increasing demand. In its current state, Upstate cannot be expected to accommodate future demands, given that there is no room to expand within the building’s existing footprint in the first place.

A new annex will be the most cost-effective and versatile option, eventually allowing for upward expansion as the need arises and budgets allow. The proposed nearby location would also take advantage of new traffic patterns that are planned for University Hill with the revamped I-81 exits.

We are deeply mindful of the need to ensure robust health care facilities and expanded capacity to serve high-tech businesses like Micron and their employees who will be moving to this region in the near future. The demand for Upstate’s critical and unique Level 1 trauma services, burn center and other services will only grow.

Level 1 Trauma Centers differ significantly from traditional emergency departments. When a traumatic injury occurs, receiving immediate, specialized care from highly trained medical teams is crucial. This is where trauma centers excel, reducing the risk of death for injured patients by at least 25%. At Upstate, there is 24/7 in-house coverage by general surgeons and prompt availability of specialists in orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine, plastic surgery, oral and maxillofacial surgery, pediatrics and critical care.

The investment we are seeking is not unprecedented. SUNY Downstate Medical Center, in Brooklyn, has received significant state funding to maintain community care. In the case of Upstate, we are seeking comparable funding to provide care for a far larger area. Upstate serves as the Level 1 Trauma Center for 14 counties, the pediatric hospital for 22 counties, the accredited burn center for 37 counties, and the poison control center for 54 counties.

To be clear, we do not make this request lightly. It entails a substantial investment of taxpayer dollars and multiple years of planning and construction. But it is an investment that makes sense. We may be the legislators who directly represent the hospital facility, but we advocate on behalf of our colleagues and their constituents across the enormous region the hospital serves.

We all need Upstate to thrive, and we’re beginning to see the path forward. We call on our colleagues and the Governor to recognize the urgent need to provide the funding to make this vision a reality.