Officials hope health centers can be saved

Suffolk County and Stony Brook University Hospital officials held out a glimmer of hope Thursday that the closing of the Elsie Owens Health Center in Coram might be put off at least temporarily. But they warned urgent action is needed to avoid a July 1 shutdown.

Aides to County Executive Steve Levy said they reached out to Stony Brook Thursday to revive stalled negotiations, and Health Commissioner Dr. James Tomarken raised the prospect of talking "about going month to month" to see if a solution for the rest of the year and beyond can be fashioned.

But Levy aides declined to commit to authorizing emergency action next Tuesday on a resolution, sponsored by Legis. Louis D'Amaro (D-North Babylon), to provide $600,000 to both the Owens center and the Dolan Family Health Center in Greenlawn, clinics slated to suffer the deepest cuts, at 40 percent.

"It is a terrible mistake to close the Elsie Owens Health Center," said Dr. Steve Strongwater, the university hospital's chief executive, testifying at a legislative hearing in Hauppauge. "It will irreversibly jeopardize the health of people in the community." The Coram center, operated by the university, handles 33,000 patient visits a year.

In the emotional four-hour hearing, patients detailed crucial care that those without health insurance receive from the centers. "The reason I'm so emotional is that without the Dolan center I wouldn't be here to speak to you," said Elsie Smith, who said doctors did an ultrasound on her that found more than 100 stones and infections requiring emergency surgery.

Earlier, more than 80 patients and staff demonstrated, waving signs and singing to passing traffic in front of the Owens center.

The Levy administration ordered $13 million in health center cutbacks, after the state last year began clawing back $20 million in state aid already paid for services delivered dating back to 2008. Terry Smith, Dolan center administrator, said their $1.1-million cutback will leave them only $285,000 in county funding for the rest of the year and will force them to lay off 10 people, including a staff doctor. He said the move would eliminate at least 8,000 to 9,000 of the center's 29,000 annual patient visits.

Health and hospital officials say that time is short because employees, patients and the county's managed care provider must be notified of any closing 45 to 60 days ahead of time.

Dan Tomasewsky, vice president of the Longwood school board, urged a compromise to save the Owens center. "If you dismantle it," he said, "the health center will go away and it will never comes back."