Health care facility to open new home in South Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — A celebration with health care leaders marked a significant milestone for NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health on Tuesday as they cut the ribbon for the new location of the Ida G. Israel Community Health Center in Coney Island.
The event represented a new era in accessible health care for the community, especially significant given the center's history of resilience following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State
CEO Svetlana Lipyanskaya of South Brooklyn Health emphasized the importance of the new facility.
'The new facility that will be provided today will be family medicine, pediatrics and colorectal substance use services for our neighbors,' Lipyanskaya said. 'This is a brand new building, brand new space. It was just built out for this purpose. We now have a medical side and around the corner in the same building we have the behavioral health side focused on substance abuse.'
The journey to this permanent home has been long and challenging. Lipyanskaya provided some background: 'The original Ida G. Israel Health Clinic was located on Neptune Avenue. That space was very seriously affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, which necessitated the move to a space that's right across the street from where we are today. That was a temporary location.'
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries attended the event, advocating for health care as a fundamental right: 'Health care in America according to some should simply be a privilege, but our view is that access to high quality and affordable health care is a right.' Jeffries added, 'The Ida G. Israel Center will serve the people of this wonderful community on the West End of Coney Island.'
Lipyanskaya assured that the transition to the new location would be swift, with services expected to begin within the next couple of weeks.
For more information on NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health, click here.
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