Dedicated Tick Clinic in Hampton Bays Will Be First of Its Kind in Northeast

Four years ago, Brian Kelly was at the Hampton Bays Atrium, getting bloodwork done, and noticed a “for sale” sign posted outside one of the medical office suites.

It was a lightbulb moment for him, providing a potential solution to an issue that had been on his mind for years.

Kelly is the owner of East End Tick and Mosquito Control, and has been in the tick control business since 1997. During that time, he has seen many people affected by tick-borne illnesses, and has heard their stories about how tick-borne diseases have negatively impacted their quality of life, and specifically how challenging it can be to access the proper medical care when it comes to managing a tick-borne illness.

“I’ve heard the same story over and over again,” he said. “That there was no place for accurate medical advice on tick-borne diseases, and many primary care physicians were often not up to date on the protocols for tick bites and the diseases they carry.”

The empty medical suite, he said, represented the perfect opportunity to open a dedicated tick clinic. He brought the idea to Karen Wulffraat, the administrative director for Stony Brook Southampton’s Regional Tick Borne Disease Resource Center, who was on board with the idea. Kelly went ahead and purchased the medical office, donating it for the next 10 years to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital for the purpose of operating a tick clinic, “in the hopes that people suffering with tick-borne illnesses will have a place to get answers,” he said.

“This was a great way for me to give back to our community,” Kelly added. “I believe the tick clinic will be a great asset within our community and beyond.”

The center will officially open on Monday, August 14, and will be clinically supported by physicians from Stony Brook Medicine’s Meeting House Lane Medical Practice and Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. The on-site team of infectious disease specialists will treat children and adults for tick bites and diagnose tick-borne illnesses, by appointment only.

The suite features a reception area, two exam rooms, two private offices for consults, and a large nurse’s station.

The center will have the distinction of being the first and only dedicated tick clinic in the Northeast. Patients will have the potential to participate in Stony Brook Medicine’s research studies, and the clinic is conveniently located steps away from Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s lab services and blood drawing. In addition to tick removal and disease diagnosis, the clinic will provide counseling on tick bite prevention, tick identification, free tick removal kits and reference handbooks.

Wulffraat has been at the helm of the resource center since 2014, and said that having a dedicated clinic is a big next step in what they will be able to provide for patients. She called the opening of the center “the culmination of nine years of planning and dreaming what we could become.”

“With the donation of the medical offices at the Hampton Atrium by Brian Kelly, we have finally achieved our ultimate goal,” she continued, “to actually have a place where our infectious disease physicians can see both adults and children in a beautifully renovated office that is now our home and our base of operations.”

She expressed gratitude for Kelly’s support, and said she’s excited for what the clinic can provide for the community.

“We hope that the community will find it a convenient and valuable resource that meets their needs both for education, support and treatment in a brand-new clinical setting,” she said.

Dr. Sharon Nachman is the chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, which was a study site for a pediatric study for a phase three trial on a Lyme disease vaccine. She spoke about the importance of opening the clinic.

“This year is one of the worst for tick bites and tick-borne disease illnesses,” she said. “A dedicated tick clinic is important to the health of our community and reinforces Stony Brook Medicine’s commitment to bring world-class health care, driven by evidence-based research, to the East End.”

Since 2015, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s Regional Tick-Borne Disease Resource Center has been operating a free tick help line (631) 726-TICK (8425). To date, the patient navigator, Rebecca Young, has answered more than 5,500 tick calls.

Adults can schedule an appointment by calling (631) 725-2112. The number to make an appointment for a child is (631) 444-KIDS (5437). Most insurance plans are accepted, and self-pay is available.

The resource center is funded exclusively through charitable gifts, with major support coming from The Island Outreach Foundation, whose grants have sustained the center for the last five years. For more information, visit EastEndTickResource.org.