Samaritan Opens New Women’s Wellness and Breast Care Location
Samaritan Medical Center (SMC) has opened its new Women’s Wellness and Breast Care location as of Monday, November 25. An official ribbon cutting and open house event was held November 13 to introduce it to the community and highlight the exclusivity of the new location.
Tom Carman, President and CEO of Samaritan; Dr. Jonathan Oliva, Department Chair of OB/GYN; Dr. Jan Turcotte, SMC Board of Trustees Chair; and City of Watertown Mayor Joe Butler Jr. all spoke at the event, recognizing the impact the facility will have on patients, providers, and the broader community. Speakers also thanked New York State for its support of the project. Samaritan received a $9.8 million Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program (SHCFTP) grant to help make this project possible.
The Women’s Wellness and Breast Care location will consolidate services and providers from Woman to Woman, 1575 Washington St., A Woman’s Perspective OB/GYN and Summit Lab and Imaging Center, both at 22567 Summit Drive. These three sites have closed in their current locations.
Located in the Samaritan Health and Wellness Plaza, 1575 Washington St., the new location is unlike anything in this area. It combines many services and offers new ones to make the most of a patient’s appointment and time.
The Women’s Wellness and Breast Care office offers the following services and more:
- Obstetric care for all your pregnancy needs, including high-risk pregnancy care
- Gynecology services, including annual exams, fertility, robotics and surgical procedures
- Full breast (imaging) services, including ultrasounds, dense breast imaging, mammography and stereotactic
- Radiologist and breast surgeon on site
- 3D/4D ultrasound services
- Bone density scanning
- Lab and x-ray services
- Genetic Cancer Screening services through our partner, Cancer IQ
The addition of a breast surgeon to Samaritan’s medical staff will allow a population of women who previously had to travel for their care to receive it close to home. When speaking about the importance of the facility, Dr. Jan Turcotte stated: “Today it is gratifying to be here as a retired breast surgeon, as an advocate for improved care for women’s health needs, as a woman, and as President of the Samaritan Medical Center Board of Trustees to participate in the opening of the Women’s Wellness and Breast Care. The Center is another great addition to the array of services (both existing but improved and brand new to us) that Samaritan Medical Center is offering our community.”
The project included renovation of 16,000 square feet of existing space, and the addition of an 11,000-square-foot entry corridor for the entire Health & Wellness Plaza. Construction was completed by SLAM Architects, Aubertine & Currier Architects, and Purcell Construction.
At the open house event, tours of the new facility were offered and staff were present to speak about the new location and services. More than 225 people attended the open house event.