By Liat Guvenc
On Jan. 13, the New Paltz Family Health Center finished renovations for its call center, upgrading from 12 to 22 workstations and revamping its interior.
In 2015, the Institute for Family Health introduced its call center which serviced four of its health centers. In 2017, it was awarded $1.8 million from the New York state Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program to renovate space on the second floor of the health center.
“The people at the front desk are often interrupted,” said Maxine Golub, the vice president of the Institute of Family Health.“It’s the call center that can centralize some of that traffic and keep it off the front of our health centers. We believe that it’ll make our health centers more efficient.”
The Institute for Family Health in New Paltz is installing a back-up petroleum generator to keep the call center running at all times.
“[The petroleum generator is] used sporadically. If there was something better [a more green alternative] that we would be able to require them to put in then we would,” said Jane Schanberg, a member of the New Paltz Planning Board.
The Town of New Paltz hired a wetlands inspector to ensure the generator would not harm nearby wetlands.
Developing the New Paltz Family Health Center would spur job creation and economic development in the Town of New Paltz.
“We’ve been trying to increase density in the parts of the Town and the Village where there’s already density. And that way we have less sprawl,” said Neil Bettez, the town supervisor of New Paltz.“It fits with what we’ve been pushing as the type of development in the Town and the Village: the idea that you have more people living closer to where they’re working.”
In March, the completed call center will open. This facility would have 44 workstations, six telemedicine and management spaces to service all of its health centers.
The call center will help patients refill prescriptions, schedule appointments and consult with a telephonic liaison.
By 2021, the call center will have 24 hours per day, seven days a week and 365 days per year service.
“This is about maximizing the care that we provide to our patients in the Hudson Valley,” Golub said.