By Nathan Mayberg
ROCK HILL — July 13, 2004 – Crystal Run Healthcare held its grand opening on Sunday in a major way.
Hundreds of people attended a huge buffet to welcome a facility which already has 45 physicians and 150 non-physician staff members. Thirty of those physicians will work exclusively at the site in the Emerald Corporate Park in Rock Hill.
Managing Partner Hal Teitelbaum said he is just getting started. In a year, he expects to have a staff of about 300.
Why a new health care center in Sullivan County?
For one, said Teitelbaum, about 47 percent of health care provided to Sullivan County residents, is currently done outside the county.
"By bringing in more well qualified physicians to the area, residents will feel that much more comfortable," he said.
The doctors include those in family practice, cardiology, oncology, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, sleep medicine and urgent care.
Teitelbaum said the doctors will always be on call. If a patient is sick at 2 a.m., a doctor will come see that person at Catskill Regional Medical Center, Orange Regional Medical Center or at home.
The facility is up-to-date with some of the most advanced technologies, and Teitelbaum stressed that all doctors will use electronic records, which he believes will help keep doctors more informed about their patients.
Crystal Run is the only completely filmless facility in Sullivan, Orange and Ulster County. It is also the first facility in the three counties to use digital mammography, said Teitelbaum.
In 2003, Crystal Run Healthcare in Wallkill, was named the best imaging facility in the country by Advanced Magazine for Radiation Therapy and Imaging Professionals.
The co-owner of Crystal Run also believes that its sleep center will be a big draw. Millions of Americans have sleeping disorders, which are a major cause of motor-vehicle accidents and can also lead to serious lung diseases, he said.
Most appointments will be available from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., five days a week. Urgent care will be available seven days a week, from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The project cost about $25 million, estimated Teitelbaum. He said he received tax breaks on construction materials from Sullivan County’s Industrial Development Agency. The building is also in the Empire Zone, which will give it further tax credits, while reimbursing the local governments.
Teitelbaum was born in New York City, and raised in Valley Stream on Long Island. His grandparents started the first bagel bakery in Sullivan County – on St. John’s Street in Monticello.
The store was sold to the Fleishman family in 1962, and now sits on Broadway in Monticello. Coincidentally, Sandy Doti, whose grandparents bought the Bagel Bakery, is now a partner with Crystal Run.
"I spent virtually every summer in Sullivan County," said Teitelbaum.
He trained in internal medicine at New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center, and then in oncology and hematology at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.
He stayed on the staff there, before moving onto the staff at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, before moving onto private practice.
He started his own practice in Middletown. In 1984, he was joined by Robert Dinsmore. After 10 years of practice, they "realized that physicians had lost control of patients . . . health care was being driven by insurance companies."
In order to gain control over which specialists they were referring their patients to, they began Crystal Run Healthcare, he said.
In his new facility in Sullivan County, Teitelbaum introduced his chemotherapy room, CAT Scan, Electric Digital Cardiogram, MRI, nuclear stress test equipment, ultrasound equipment and a host of other hi-tech mechanisms.
He said most of the physicians working at Rock Hill, would be living in Sullivan County.
"It is important for availability and to be part of the community,” Teitelbaum said. “And we want them to be part of the practice community."
At the grand opening on Sunday, politicians and residents alike were ecstatic.
Gerry Litt of Woodridge, called the facility "long overdue." He and wife Lorraine were happy that Crystal Run Healthcare would accept their insurance.
"It’s also nice to be able to come to a new, clean facility. It’s enticing," Lorraine added.
Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, who has 29 years of experience in the healthcare field, called it "the final part of progress for our county."
She added that she was glad her late husband, Jake, was also involved with the project.
"In addition to the great paying jobs and economic vitality . . . it will improve the quality of care for Sullivan County," said State Senator John Bonacic.
Sullivan County Legislator Sam Wohl said it was "probably the biggest thing to happen in my district."
County Manager Dan Briggs, who helped bring the project along, as a member of the Emerald Corporate Center Local Development Corporation, said "Crystal Run is everything we thought it would be."
He also thanked its other members for their hard work, including Susan Loughlin and Jay Weinstein.
Sullivan County Legislator Sam Wohl said it was "probably the biggest thing to happen in my district."
On why he started the project, Teitelbaum said, "I decided we needed to work for change in healthcare."