Southampton Hospital

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Southampton Hospital, a 168-bed hospital, in Southampton, New York, is the only hospital in the Hamptons.

First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her sister Lee Radziwill were born there.

It is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System. The hospital admits more than 6,000 patient/year and has about 26,000 emergency room visits (with half being during the summer season).^[1]^[2]

The hospital was founded after a 1908 when Doctors Wheelwright and Schenck operated on a patient by kerosene light in the attic of Southampton house after they did not have time to transfer the patient (who survived) to the nearest hospital. They initially rented two rooms for a hospital in a house on Hampton Road. Business soon boomed and cots were placed in the hallway and more rooms were rented.^[3]

In 1909 the Southampton Hospital Association bought the Hervey J. Topping house on the corner of Lewis Street and Meeting House Lane and planned to build the hospital on an adjoining lot.

In 1911, Samuel Parrish donated 2.5 acre on Old Town Road, stretching from Meeting House Lane to Herrick Road, where the present hospital was built opening in 1913. The hospital has expanded since then.

The hospital is the beneficiary of the funds raised at the Hampton Classic Horse Show which is one of the biggest social events of the summer season.

In 2004 a massive outcry forced it to back down from a fundraising plan called Southampton Plus that offered V.I.P. rooms at the hospital. Individuals (for $3,800) and families (for $6,000) could get around-the-clock on-call medical advice and care, same-day doctors' appointments, home visits and access to the V.I.P. room.^[4]

Affiliated with the hospital are:

Westhampton Primary Care Center
Centers for Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (located in East Hampton and Westhampton Beach)
David E. Rogers, M.D. Center for HIV/AIDS Care
Shinnecock Indian Health Clinic
Southampton Care Center (a skilled nursing facility)
Southampton Hospital Regional Dialysis Center
Center for Prenatal Care at Greenport
Diagnostic centers (one in East Hampton and the other in Hampton Bays)

[edit] Proposed downsizing

In 2006 the Berger Commission in an attempt to streamline medical costs in New York State recommended the hospital downsize to 125 beds and merge with Eastern Long Island Hospital in Greenport, New York and Peconic Medical Center in Riverhead, New York with a strong recommendation that Brookhaven Memorial Medical Center in Brookhaven, New York also join the entity. The merged hospitals would continue to operate separate hospitals. The Commission has recommended that the hospitals formally affiliate with Stony Brook University Hospital.^[5]