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Read the press release here.

New Surgery Center Set to Open on UES With Video Call Technology

By Shaye Weaver | November 23, 2015 1:50pm
 Memorial Sloan Kettering's new  Josie Robertson Surgery Center  will begin taking patients by the end of this year, officials said.
Memorial Sloan Kettering's new surgery center
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LENOX HILL — A brand new surgery center and short-stay facility for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center patients, with video call capabilities and a real-time location tracking system, is opening by the end of this year.

The 259-foot-tall building is nearing completion, despite initial opposition from residents in 2012 who said the tower would block their sunlight.

The 16-story building, named the Josie Robertson Surgery Center, has 12 operating rooms and will serve as an alternative to spending time at the hospital for Memorial Sloan Kettering's patients who undergo surgeries like a mastectomy, which usually requires long and expensive hospitalization, according to Kristina King of CooperKatz and Company, the public relations agency of record for the hospital.

Once the facility opens at 1133 York Ave. near East 61st Street — the former site of a Potamkin Cadillac dealership — it will have the capacity for 60 surgeries each day, King said. Roughly 30 percent of those surgeries will require an overnight stay, she said.

To provide for those patients, there are 28 private recovery rooms with private bathrooms and "caregiver zones" with sleeper sofas or recliners.

"We recognize that surgery patients are better off recovering at home, so designing a way to get them there safely and quickly represents a significant advance in cancer care,” Dr. Brett Simon, the director of the new center, said in a statement. "This involves an increased effort to prepare patients before surgery, set clear expectations through education, manage their medical conditions, and then, once the procedure is complete, monitor their conditions and actions very closely."

Patients will have the option to move freely in the building, including hanging out in a "patient oasis" or lounge, and can be tracked with a real-time location system so that medical staff know where they are and where they have been. Patients will also able to speak with friends, family or other doctors through a Skype-type technology, King said.

JRSC will also have an online patient portal and phone app that will help familiarize patients with the new facility and how to prepare for their operations, including which medications to take, what to eat or drink and what they can do to reduce infection.

The new center will be staffed by more than 400 employees, for 24 hours a day for six days a week, who will also have their own communal kitchen and break space.

Memorial Sloan Kettering received the city's approval for its new 259-foot-tall building in February 2013, according to Department of Buildings records.

The new building will start taking patients starting by the end of this year and will be fully operational in 2016, King said.