By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
TRIBECA — A new 24-hour urgent care center opening late next month in TriBeCa promises to see all patients within 15 minutes, or else their visit is free.
Dr. Steve Okhravi, founder of the 3,500-square-foot center at 200 Chambers St., said he has long been concerned about slow emergency room service, especially downtown.
"The closure of St. Vincent’s exacerbated the problem," Okhravi said as he presented his plans to Community Board 1 last week. "We’re here to provide a service to a community that desperately needs it."
Okhravi said his for-profit center, called Emergency Medical Care, would relieve the burden on local emergency rooms by treating patients with everything from broken bones to asthma attacks.
Patients with more serious conditions, like those who are having a stroke or need surgery, would be stabilized and transferred to area hospitals, which have already agreed to accept them, Okhravi said.
Pat Moore, chairwoman of CB1’s Quality of Life Committee, said Okhravi picked a good location for the center, in a densely populated area near several schools.
"With loss of St. Vincent’s, it’s great to have another medical facility," Moore said. "But we’re not going to be able to tell [how helpful the center is] until it starts service."
Okhravi, who is chairman of the emergency department at St. Mary’s Hospital in New Jersey, said the center’s doctors would all have at least 30,000 hours of emergency room experience, and he has already received accreditation from the Joint Commission.
The center will have one doctor on duty at all times, plus specialists on call. Okhravi hopes to see 15,000 to 18,000 patients a year.
Okhravi plans to accept Medicaid and all types of health insurance, though he is still negotiating with insurance companies. He is not marketing the center as a free clinic, but he said he would never turn away a patient who could not afford the fees.
"We’re not going to be selective," Okhravi said. "We’re not going to cherry-pick who we see. We’re here to serve the community."
Jonathan Slaff, a Greenwich Village resident who is advocating for a new full-service hospital to replace St. Vincent’s, said an urgent care center isn’t sufficient for the neighborhood.
"People with AIDS have a complex mix of medical needs that can’t be addressed in an urgent care center," Slaff said. "It’s useful for some people, but not people in a lot of trouble."
