MALONE — Hudson Headwaters Health Network held a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday at its new primary care center in the village.
Malone Family Health, located at 24 Fourth St. on the Alice Hyde Medical Center campus, opened in March, replacing a smaller facility that Hudson Headwaters first moved to in December 2023.
On Wednesday, Thomas Dodd, chair of the health network’s board of directors, said since its founding 40 years ago, Hudson Headwaters has focused on providing high quality healthcare and access to that care to everyone in the community.
“That mission is carried forward through strong partnerships with organizations that share a deep commitment to community health,” Dodd said.
Stephen Shafer, a Hudson Headwaters board member from Malone, said local collaboration made it possible to bring a new primary care center to the area.
“When I first came to the North Country, one of the lessons that I was taught right out of the gate at Franklin-Essex-Hamilton BOCES was, in the North Country, we swim together or we sink alone,” Shafer said, “Today is certainly a swim together event.”
Shafer said Alice Hyde Medical Center should be commended for its support to local educational programs.
“We have people who graduated from FEH BOCES and component school districts that now work at Alice Hyde, we have people who work at Hudson Headwaters who have come out of those programs,” he said, “We certainly look forward to those programs continuing to be supported and growing so that we can have those individuals come back to work providing healthcare for our citizens.”
Malone Village Mayor Andrea M. Dumas said a new primary care center provides more options, more access and more support for families and seniors.
“As you mayor nothing matters to me more than making sure the people in this community have what they need to live healthy and fulfilling lives,” she said, “Welcoming Hudson Headwaters is a reflection of our top commitment. We have been working hard to grow Malone into a place where people want to stay, want to invest and raise their families in, and this is exactly the type of partnership that moves us forward.”
Hudson Headwaters CEO Dr. Tucker Slingerland thanked HOLT architects and Bast Hatfield for their work on the new center.
“It was very satisfying for me today to walk through and talk to staff working in the clinical space who noted that it was a fun space to work in and a space they didn’t find exhausting,” Slingerland said, “That’s really the goal and it’s also something we didn’t get to overnight. It took a lot of building to get to where we are and this is by far state of the art and the very best of what we can offer.”
According to Slingerland, Hudson Headwaters wanted to place its center in Malone close to a hospital.
“The big picture concept was something we had tested out first in Ticonderoga, having a health center on a hospital campus as a hub for healthcare in the community,” he said, “We replicated parts of that in Plattsburgh and at this site as well.”
The new facility has 16 exam rooms and there are currently four medical providers working there.
Malone Family Health offers medical services to patients of all age and new patients are welcome.
“We will serve the full range of ages from little kids and much older people too,” Slingerland said, adding there is a lack of redundancy through coordination with the nearby hospital, “Some of our health centers have radiology, blood draws but those services exist on this campus and it’s a very reliable and great resource for us and our patients.”
Slingerland said artwork from local artists is displayed throughout the interior of the new center.
An on-site pharmacy is expected to open at the center this year with the pharmacy open to everyone not just Hudson Headwaters patients.
Work toward the new Hudson Headwaters location started in June 2024 with the demolition of medical office buildings at 183 Park and 24 Fourth streets.
“This was not an easy place to build on, I think the ground was about 15 feet higher when we started, there were buildings here,” Slingerland said, “I remember coming up here one day and watching them adjust the footings for the foundation and them maybe thinking this may have been more than they bargained for but they persevered and they got this built,” adding crews worked through the cold winter months to get the project done.
According to Slingerland, Hudson Headwaters has served approximately 3,000 patients since opening its first health center in Malone on Third Street, adding the new center is big enough to accommodate around 10,000 patients.
Slingerland said Malone Family Health offers a tot spot parking space, close to the health center to provide easy access for families with little kids.
“That was a suggestion from one of our staff elsewhere as part of an innovation challenge and we are very proud of that,” he said, adding Malone Family Health is also Hudson Headwaters first location with a hitching post for horses.
Malone Family Health is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.