Molloy and Mercy team up

Molloy College and Mercy Medical Center recently announced a new partnership through which Mercy’s doctors will treat Molloy’s student-athletes.

The college and the hospital are neighbors on the north side of the village. While Mercy’s entrance is on Peninsula Boulevard and Molloy’s is on Hempstead Avenue, their properties are adjacent.

“Molloy College and Mercy Medical Center have always had a very close relationship,” said Mercy Public Relations Manager Elisa Gerber. “This collaboration further strengthens an already strong partnership. The excellent physicians in the department of orthopedics and family medicine and internal medicine at Mercy will be able to provide great care to the superb student-athletes at Molloy College.”

Previously, the college had agreements with several physicians to provide medical assistance to its athletes during games. But those contracts expired, so the college reached out to Mercy.

“The Department of Athletics is excited to team with Mercy Medical Center to provide medical services for more than 300 student-athletes,” said Susan Cassidy-Lyke, Molloy’s athletic director. “Our goal is to offer them the best care available, and we are confident that our partnership with Mercy achieves this objective. The proximity of the Molloy College campus to Mercy makes this agreement logistically beneficial as well.”

Mercy’s director of orthopedics, Dr. Eric Freeman, will direct the athletes’ care, joined by Dr. Michael Moskowitz and Dr. Jennifer Khachadurian. They will be on the sidelines for nearly every home game in all the contact-sports Molloy plays. They will also hold weekly orthopedic and general medical clinics for players.

Molloy is the only college for which Mercy physicians will serve as sports medicine consultants. The hospital will also offer Molloy athletes and staff travel medicine services, access to its Family Care Center and imaging and radiology services.

The college will pay the hospital a retainer — the same amount it was paying to the previous medical provider

“It’s what Division I athletic departments offer,” said James Zegers, the college’s assistant athletic director for sports medicine. “Not a lot of Division II schools our size offer things like this for their athletes.”