Kevin Ronayne, vice president of operations and facilities for Saratoga Hospital, said the new three-story facility will up the hospital’s surgical rooms from seven to 10 and will be outfitted with all the newest technology available for operating rooms.
The existing Cramer House will be torn down for the new surgical unit.
“We looked at a lot of different options of where to build the facility,” said Ronayne. “It this seemed the most logical because it will attach to the current surgical suite.”
Noting that Saratoga Hospital presently has only seven operating rooms; a small number, he said, compared to other facilities in the area and the growing needs of Saratoga County.
“This will give us 10 state-of-the-art operating rooms,” said Ronayne. “We are very excited about the project.”
The new addition to the hospital will begin once Saratoga County’s Mental Health Unit moves to its new location, which, if approved, will be to South Broadway.
Ronayne said that demolition would start on Cramer House as soon as it was vacated. It added that the hospital still needs to go through the application process with the city of Saratoga Springs and that it would take approximately two years, from beginning to end, for the new surgical unit to be complete and ready for use.
Cramer House was originally built as a school for nurses. The building has housed the county’s mental health facility since 1990. Along with the drug and alcohol services and Friendship House, the county hopes to move the mental health services to the former Topper Pontiac building on South Broadway. Saratoga Springs must first approve a variance use permit.
The application was put before the Saratoga Springs Planning Board earlier this month, but board members, without explanation, held off on making a decision. Some concerns have been voiced about the location of the mental health facility and the area’s designation as a “gateway corridor” to the Spa City.
Greenfield Supervisor Dick Rowland said that when the county was notified that Saratoga Hospital would be terminating their lease, they began immediately to examine their choices.
The lease had a one-year opt-out clause either side could use at any time.
Continuing, he said that some consideration was given to moving the facilities to Ballston Spa, but because the majority of their clients live in the Saratoga Springs area, the decided to keep it centrally located.
“It made sense to us to combine our services all in one location,” said Rowland, who was chair for the county’s building and grounds committee when they first began looking for a new location. “Plus we needed to keep it on the bus route for our clients who do not have transportation.”
As for the rumor about a methadone clinic being in the facility as well, Rowland said that the county does not provide those services.
“Anyone who needs those services has to travel to Albany,” said Rowland, adding that putting the three existing services in one location was a win/win for residents and the county.
“We can save money,” said Rowland, explaining that services can be condensed and streamlined for more efficiency and less duplication. “Any way we can save money for residents and the county is a win/win for all of us.”
The county will enter into a 10 year lease with the owner of the building, Frank Parillo, who will renovate it into office space. The trademark showroom windows would be left, but the front of the building would have green space and walkways.
Recognizing that the county still had a lot to do to ready the Topper building if granted approval from Saratoga’s planning board, Ronayne said that if the county does not have a place to move by May 31, the hospital planned on working with them until they could move.
“We’re not going to just throw them out,” said Ronayne.
