Stony Brook Medicine's new emergency department aims to shorten Hamptons ambulance trips, save lives

Kate Mueth said she will never forget the night in January 2004 when she thought she might bleed to death.

She had been losing blood heavily for hours after a miscarriage and didn't want to risk waiting for an ambulance. So her husband drove them 17 miles from their home in Springs, a hamlet in East Hampton, to the emergency room at  Southampton Hospital, where her condition was stabilized.

Mueth, now 59, believes the new Stony Brook East Hampton Emergency Department — set to open this spring about 10 minutes from her home — could have helped avoid a close call.

“It’s extremely needed,” Mueth said. 

Her harrowing trip took more than 30 minutes and likely would have taken longer in the summer, when East Hampton's population swells from fewer than 30,000 year-round residents to more than 100,000 people, according to the town supervisor’s office.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, tourists head out east and flock to the South Fork's beaches and high-end restaurants. Because the Hamptons are such a popular summertime destination, Montauk Highway, the area's only main road, is often clogged with traffic, making it hard to get anywhere fast — especially in an emergency.  

Emergency medical technicians on the East End — most of whom are volunteers — often navigate those delays to get patients to Southampton Hospital, or in more severe cases, Stony Brook University Hospital. The influx of seasonal residents adds to emergency call volume and response times.

The new emergency department, a freestanding facility located at 400 Pantigo Place that will be operated by Southampton Hospital, is awaiting approval from the state Department of Health. Officials expect to open it later this spring.

It was conceived to improve access to emergency care and reduce ambulance response and travel times in a community where people now have to drive 30 minutes or more to reach the nearest ER. 

By comparison, a 2024 report commissioned by New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal (D-Manhattan) found that the statewide average for EMS call time — the duration from 911 call to hospital admission — was about 14 minutes.  

A long time coming

Many East End residents said the new facility fills a long-standing need.

“I’m thrilled that it’s there,” said Emily Toy, 31, of Sag Harbor.

Toy, a former restaurant server at Almond in Bridgehampton, recalled how she and coworkers used to count ambulances passing by on Montauk Highway.

“The record was 26 on an August evening," Toy said. "Most of the ambulances were from Springs and Montauk. It’s just too far."

Stony Brook East Hampton Emergency Department will not count as a “rural hospital” when it opens. That designation is reserved for facilities outside metropolitan areas, according to the Department of Health.

But East Hampton, with its remote location far out east on Long Island and small year-round population, shares many characteristics with one despite technically being in the New York metropolitan area. An emergency department is vital in communities like East Hampton, said Alan Morgan, chief executive for the National Rural Health Association. 

“You just don’t want to live in an area where you’re more than 30 minutes from a 24/7 emergency room service, just from a safety standpoint,” said Morgan. “You will often have a clinic or physician office that operates 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., which is great, but emergencies don’t always follow the 9-to-5 schedule.”

The idea for the facility was proposed by Southampton Hospital a decade ago, according to the Southampton Hospital Foundation. After securing town approval, the hospital launched a capital campaign in 2019. That effort was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The foundation ultimately raised $30 million from more than 500 donors and received a $10 million state grant, according to a foundation spokesperson. Construction began in 2023 and finished late last year.

The facility was planned with help from first responders and the East Hampton Healthcare Foundation, whose adjacent medical center offers family medicine, pediatrics, mental health services and various other practices — but not emergency care. Sheila Rogers, the foundation's executive director, said she recommended locating the ER  near their building, where many local doctors already practice.

The new 22,000-square-foot facility includes a cardiac resuscitation room and fast-track treatment rooms for pediatric, OB-GYN and ophthalmologic care.

There are 11 general exam rooms, imaging equipment and dedicated ambulances for hospital transfers, as well as a helicopter landing zone.

The emergency department will be open 24 hours a day, year-round, said Emily Mastaler, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital’s chief administrative officer.

Some critical cases — including strokes and heart attacks — may still require transfer, said Eric Niegelberg, Stony Brook's assistant vice president of emergency services.

But the facility will handle triage and treatment for most emergencies, hospital officials said.

Stony Brook Medicine is waiting for the state Department of Health to approve its operating certificate. In a statement, the department said the review is ongoing but gave no timeline.

In the meantime, first responders and staff workers have been training at the facility, which is already nearly fully staffed with doctors, nurses and aides. Rotating physicians from Southampton Hospital will supplement coverage.

About 40 people will work at the emergency department, hospital officials said. Staffing will increase in the summer, but the hospital is planning for full-time, year-round operations.

“We have staffed it as a traditional ER would function, day or night,” Mastaler said. 

Meeting a need

The new facility is expected to cut response times significantly during the summer rush, said Mary Mott, East Hampton Village ambulance chief.

Mott said that in the warmer months, an ambulance trip from East Hampton to Southampton Hospital can take 35 to 40 minutes, even with lights flashing and sirens blaring.

After drop-off and paperwork, crews return to their East Hampton headquarters without emergency signals, often getting stuck in traffic.

“We have three ambulances,” Mott said. “There are many times where we get one call, then another and another. Then we’re out of ambulances, and that first ambulance hasn’t returned.”

In Montauk, the easternmost community on Long Island, the fire department's all-volunteer ambulance company faces similar summertime surges, said Lt. Agnes Cindrich. But she's relieved that year-round residents will have closer care.

"We have a lot of elderly people here," Cindrich said. "They don't like driving all the way to Southampton."
 

Ellen Dioguardi, 63, president of the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce, said the new facility will be a boon for the community.

She recalled a traumatic ambulance ride 20 years ago with her mother, who had Parkinson's disease and was struggling to breathe.  

“She was turning [blue]," Dioguardi remembered of the trip from her home in Springs to Southampton Hospital. "I got to sit in the passenger’s seat. The emergency crews were having a hard time keeping her breathing. ... All the lights were flashing and the sirens were going, and people just weren’t moving over. It was really scary.”

Dioguardi’s mother made it to the hospital and survived the incident. But the chamber president said East End traffic has gotten only worse, especially since the pandemic.

The 2020 census showed a 20% increase in the year-round population in both East Hampton and Southampton since 2010. 

“I think it’s tremendous,” Dioguardi said of the new emergency department. "It’s about time we had something like this.”