Sneak peek inside the new Family Care Center at Catholic Health's Mercy Hospital

Catholic Health’s Mercy Hospital, in Rockville Centre, unveiled its new $12.5 million, state-of-the-art Family Care Center on July 20.

The 16,000-square-foot facility, which is set to open next month, aims to enhance patient access for its underserved populations while relocating its existing 3,500-square-foot outpatient clinic for women and children — currently inside the hospital — to a new home.

The Family Care Center will occupy the first floor of the new space, providing obstetrics, gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine, pediatrics, and neonatal care.

The second phase of the project will focus on additional clinical services, including primary care, family medicine, cardiology, endocrinology and more. The new center will also offer help for low-income families applying for food stamps and Medicaid coverage, as well as assistance in acquiring food, clothing and other necessities.

Patrick O’Shaughnessy, president and CEO of Catholic Health, said that the new facility would continue to provide exceptional health care services to people throughout the communities it serves — especially for those who are underserved.

“Catholic Health is committed to providing world-class health care to all those that enter our doors — and that includes the most vulnerable,” O’Shaughnessy said in a statement. “Mercy’s new Family Care Center is proof positive of how serious we take our mission — and how deeply we care for every member of our community.”

The center is supported in part by a $1.3 million grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, and $7.3 million in transformation funds from the state Department of Health, with the rest of the funding provided by the hospital.

“The services offered at the center have allowed us to break down barriers of care for women, children and to improve the health and the health care communities we serve regardless of socioeconomic background,” Mercy President Joseph Manopella said during the unveiling. “I’m very excited to be celebrating this next milestone and expanding access to care to those we serve.”

Manopella said that even when faced with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, the existing Family Care Center, which was established in the late 1980s, remained open for patients who needed its services.

“The center staff — and they are wonderful — understands the challenges of our patients and are committed to being a resource,” Manopella said.

Christopher Cells, vice president of ambulatory service at Mercy, said that before the pandemic, the clinic saw about 11,000 visits annually.

“Coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the needs of our community have been heightened,” Cells said. “With volume quickly outpacing the physical confinement that is our four walls, we were given the opportunity to get creative.”

Cells said that with the opening of the new Family Care Center, Catholic Health is looking to further expand its scope of clinical offerings by including family medicine and access to specialist care.

During the unveiling ceremony, Bishop John Barres, of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, also spoke about how the new center will serve in a manner consistent with the faith, before blessing it.

“The Mercy Hospital Family Care Center will serve families in the context of a beautiful fidelity to the objective truths of our Catholic faith pertaining to marriage, the family and the gospel of human life,” Barres said. “My belief is that the sanctity of human life is the foundation of every other human right … The Mercy Hospital Family Care Center will shine Christ’s light in a manner that proclaims the rights of all New Yorkers and all Americans.”

The center was built on the site of a former Congregation of Infant Jesus convent, which had been used as office space by the hospital until it was demolished in 2021. Before construction began on the new facility, Mercy executives invited nuns from the Congregation of Infant Jesus to the site to give it a final blessing. The sisters also signed a piece of sheetrock in a stairwell wall, to signify that the new space will be one that is deeply rooted in faith and tradition that was established more than 100 years ago.

Sister Marie Emma, a French nun with the Congregation of Infant Jesus, founded Mercy Hospital in 1913. It was initially housed inside a former sanitarium in Hempstead, before moving to its existing facility 1941.

Through the years, the hospital has continued to provide the community with much-needed family care services. With nearly 1,000 births each year, it is recognized as a leader in care for women and their infants before, during and after their pregnancies.