NYU Langone Medical Center and its longtime trustee Ronald O. Perelman, chairman and chief executive officer of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc., announced a $50 million gift to create the Ronald O. Perelman Center for Emergency Services (Perelman Emergency Center). The Perelman Emergency Center, expected to be completed in April 2014, will be a 22,000 square-foot state-of-the-art emergency care center located in Tisch Hospital on the Medical Center’s main campus on Manhattan’s east side. The Perelman Emergency Center more than triples the size of the former Emergency Department (ED).
“We are delighted that The Ronald O. Perelman Center for Emergency Services will soon transform the way emergency care is delivered in the community, hard-hit after Superstorm Sandy caused our emergency department to close," said Robert I. Grossman, MD, dean and CEO of NYU Langone Medical Center. “Mr. Perelman’s generous gift will allow us to provide the community with access to advanced adult and pediatric emergency services, and is central to our ability to run a 21st century academic medical center.”
The new Perelman Emergency Center is part of NYU Langone’s sweeping campus transformation designed to modernize its infrastructure in order to more efficiently and effectively meet the health care demands of today’s complex health care delivery system. Located at 570 First Avenue, it will include:
- A separate, dedicated entrance on 33rd Street and 1st Avenue for adult walk-in and ambulance patients;
- For the first time there will be an area solely dedicated to pediatric emergency services;
- Spacious waiting rooms and improved wayfinding to increase patient flow and enable patients and families to be more comfortable;
- Increase in treatment rooms designed to allow flexibility of use and to meet patients’ needs, improved patient privacy and infection control and enhanced visibility and contact between caregivers and patients;
- Expanded state-of-the-art imaging facilities that are fully integrated into emergency care procedures to enable faster diagnosis, including two new X-ray units and a dedicated ED ultrasound unit; and
- A new disposition lounge will accommodate patients as they prepare for discharge, which makes treatment areas available for new patients quicker.
In addition to being an accomplished businessman, Mr. Perelman is a generous philanthropist, contributing to the arts, education, research, and Jewish causes among other areas of interest. In fact, in 2012 he was ranked #27 in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s ranking of America’s top donors. For Mr. Perelman, the impetus behind his financial contributions is about creating a long-lasting, extraordinary impact. Mr. Perelman’s holding company, MacAndrews & Forbes, which includes Revlon, is one of the country’s largest privately-held businesses.
Mr. Perelman has been deeply involved with NYU Langone for three decades. He previously provided the Ronald O. Perelman Fund to support bio-molecular medicine at NYU School of Medicine and continues to support the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at NYU Langone.
“I am very proud of my long association with NYU Langone Medical Center,” said Ronald O. Perelman. “The need for a state-of-the-art emergency center is of paramount importance to the people of the City of New York and I look forward to this facility playing a crucial role in emergency patient care.”
Though the original ED remains closed at this time, in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy NYU Langone immediately established an Urgent Care Center to help address the community’s need for emergency services. Though New York City Fire Department (FDNY) 9-1-1 ambulance service has not yet returned, the Urgent Care Center’s patient volumes currently equal or exceed the ED’s previous daily patient visits, signaling that the expanded and renovated space will be critical additions.
