Letters

What if we had a public/private partnership in the development of the new Stony Brook Southampton Hospital proposed for completion in 2030?

There has been discussion and planning for the development of a new “state-of-the-art” hospital on the campus of Stony Brook Southampton for several years. Recent statements are proposing that it will be completed by 2030.

What if, rather than a state-of-the-art hospital, the Hamptons had a world-class medical and trauma center?

The Hamptons has long been an attraction for people from all over the world. We are being given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something truly extraordinary. A tabala rasa, a blank slate. An empty canvas to create a masterpiece. When do you get the opportunity to build a regional hospital from the ground up?

Since COVID, we have had an expansion of regional health care organizations and providers. What if we did something that has never been done before and create a collaboration of a public/private partnership, utilizing the expertise of all of these medical providers in one world-class medical and trauma center?

What if we take the expertise of the top regional and New York City-based hospitals that have expanded into the East End and combine them with Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, to create a radically different center that can be a new example of collaboration in the medical industry? Rather than competing, what if we chose to get the best of each?

What an amazing opportunity for the entire East End to have world-class care right here, instead of going into New York City. And what an amazing opportunity for Stony Brook University to provide this kind of amazing exposure and attract the best doctors and health care providers from all over the world.

Because Stony Brook is run by New York State, there are benefits to that. The idea would be to extend invitations to competitors like Northwell, Catholic Health, Weill-Cornell, NYU-Langone and maybe a Mayo Clinic or Cleveland Clinic, as well. This kind of public-private partnership would certainly be radically different than anything ever done before and would certainly make fundraising much easier.

There are several other university hospitals in America that are run by a consortium, two by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. And there is an example of this type of collaboration less than 30 miles away in the scientific community: Brookhaven National Lab, considered one of the leading scientific labs in the world, is run by a consortium.

So, while unusual, the idea of a world-class university hospital medical center is not unprecedented. And, as we know, great ideas start from answering the question: What if?

Kevin L. McCrudden

Sag Harbor