MEDINA — Orleans Community Health announced Tuesday that it was awarded almost $1.9 million from the state to support its Medina Healthcare Center outpatient clinic operated inside Medina Memorial Hospital.
The funding through Round IV of the Statewide Healthcare Transformation Grant Initiative will “significantly advance essential renovations, ensuring the project becomes a reality,” stated Scott Robinson, director of marketing, communications and outreach.
Medina Healthcare Center, opened in late 2024 in the hospital’s former behavioral health and medical rehab units, is a specialty outpatient clinic offering primary care services for all ages, wound care, podiatry and an Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic. Additional services are being explored as future additions.
Including the state grant, OCH has obtained approximately $2.5 million — 75% of its goal — to develop the clinic, according to Megan Johnson, executive director of the Orleans Community Health Foundation. That money will be invested in physical improvements including patient parking lot renovations, creation of a new, accessible entrance on the south end of the hospital, addition of an elevator and staircase, a redesigned waiting room and registration area, hallway and room renovations, and in signage and state-of-the-art equipment.
“As we celebrate the 100th year of Medina Memorial Hospital, there’s growing excitement for what the future holds,” said Marc Shurtz, CEO/CIO of Orleans Community Health. “These capital improvements will go a long way in solidifying the future of what Orleans Community Health and Medina Memorial Hospital can bring to the community.”
Also this week, OCH announced a new Gastrointestinal Clinic will open at the hospital in September. The clinic will be led by Dr. Saman Chubineh, a board certified gastroenterologist since 2013 who previously directed the hospitalist program at now-closed Eastern Niagara Hospital. The clinic is set to operate once a month at the outset and patients will see Chubineh there for both office visits and procedures.
Medina Healthcare Center is being developed to increase Orleans County residents’ access to a wider range of healthcare services delivered close to home. Orleans County ranks among the lowest in New York state for health outcomes, with a patient-to-primary care provider ratio of 13,400:1 — more than 10 times the state average, according to Robinson.