FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

CONTACT: Theresa Mulkins, Director of Public Relations
OFFICE: (845) 483-6418
MOBILE: (845) 416-0377
tmulkins@health-quest.org

Poughkeepsie, NY – April 13, 2012 –Health Quest and its flagship hospital, Vassar Brothers Medical Center addressed the community on April 13, 2012 at a breakfast at the Dutchess Golf and Country Cub in Poughkeepsie. The event was attended by approximately 150 business and community leaders, physicians and staff.

Michael Weber, President and CEO of Health Quest and CEO of Vassar Brothers discussed the health system and hospitals unwavering commitment to enhancing the quality and availability of services for the Hudson Valley, in spite of the changing state of healthcare. Mr. Weber discussed new initiatives to reduce readmission of patients and shorten their length of stay while increasing patient safety and satisfaction. He also highlighted new services that have been brought to the region that have been greatly needed including microsurgery for breast reconstruction and neurosurgery programs.

As the new President and COO of Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Janet Ready, RN, FACHE celebrated Vassar Brothers “125 Years of Caring” focusing on many of the “firsts” for the Hudson Valley achieved by the Medical Center as well as the ”only’s” that the hospital boasts. Those include the area’s only cardiothoracic surgery and advanced cardiac services programs (both rated among the Top 5% in the US by HealthGrades), the first hospitalist and intensivist program and the only pediatric hospitalist program, as well as the regions only certified comprehensive cancer program. These impressive programs lead to more than 600 patients being transferred to Vassar Brothers from other area hospitals for advanced levels of care in 2011, an increase of nearly 25 percent  from 2010.

The next 125 years promises even more advances for the hospital. Near-future plans include new services in neurology including a focus on Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related diseases and enhancements in GYN oncology.

Vassar Brothers Medical Center is a 365-bed facility that has been serving New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley since 1887. Located on the banks of the Hudson River, Vassar Brothers has established centers of excellence in cardiac services, cancer care and women and children’s health services. As a regional medical center, Vassar houses the area’s first and only cardiothoracic surgery center between Westchester and Albany and delivers more babies than any other hospital between Manhattan and Montreal.

Vassar Brothers is an affiliate of the Health Quest hospital system, which also includes Northern Dutchess Hospital in Rhinebeck and Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel.

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