Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center Completes Renovation to Expand Comprehensive Care for Teens
The newly renovated Adolescent Health Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center has added dental and optical to its comprehensive services.
The Adolescent Health Center at The Mount Sinai Medical Center is celebrating the completion of a multi-million dollar renovation that will allow it to expand its services to include dental and optical. The renovation also includes enough new space to provide care for an additional 5,000 New York City teens each year.
"Only a handful of health centers and services across the country focus on adolescents, not enough to serve the more than 40 million teens in the United States. Too few centers provide comprehensive services, especially for free,” said Dr. Kenneth L. Davis, President & CEO of The Mount Sinai Medical Center. “We are proud to open the expanded and refreshed Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center – the largest and most comprehensive adolescent health center in the United States."
The Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center is one of few centers of its kind in the world, providing comprehensive medical and mental health services to more than 10,000 of the city’s most vulnerable adolescents each year, ages 10 to 22, regardless of their ability to pay. According to a study conducted by the Center, its efforts have resulted in lowered rates of teen pregnancy, substance abuse, and untreated mental health issues and learning differences. Following the expansion, the Center plans to increase its reach, and in a few years achieve its goal of serving 15,000 individual adolescents every year.
"I am so proud that we are now able to serve even more teenagers and give them the services they so badly need, such as dental and optical care,” said Angela Diaz, MD, MPH, Director of the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center. “When you offer teenagers access to great quality services, they become much more responsible for their health care needs. This renovation will allow us to expand not only our patient base, but our research capabilities as well."
The renovation added approximately 5,000 square feet of new space and also expanded its existing clinical facility, adding six new exam rooms, new mental health suites, an exercise and dance suite, and several counseling offices. The renovation also includes a treatment suite for minor medical procedures.
Two new clinical suites will provide free dental and optical care for the first time at the Center to an estimated 4,000 New York City adolescents who otherwise would not receive care. Nationally, an estimated 25 percent of youth suffer from tooth decay, though among inner city youth the percentage is higher. Similarly, children in poor urban environments have been found to have twice the normal rate of vision problems and face greater barriers to receiving vision care. Research suggests that vision problems and academic achievement are linked, highlighting the need to deliver adequate eye care to New York City’s disadvantaged youth.
The Adolescent Health Center held a ribbon cutting ceremony in which attendees were also able to tour the new space. Two teens who have received care at the Adolescent Health Center also spoke about the importance of the Center and the role it plays in their lives, and its success in bringing quality health care to inner city youth, regardless of their ability to pay.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of few medical schools embedded in a hospital in the United States. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 15 institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institute of Health funding and by U.S. News & World Report. The school received the 2009 Spencer Foreman Award for Outstanding Community Service from the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2009, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital among the nation’s top 20 hospitals based on reputation, patient safety, and other patient-care factors. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 530,000 outpatient visits took place.
For more information, visit www.mountsinai.org.