An urgent care facility to offer medical services may be coming to Cobleskill.
How much that facility may affect Cobleskill Regional Hospital is unclear.
The urgent care center is planned for the former Countryman building at the corner of East Main Street and Legion Drive. Developers would demolish the existing building and erect a smaller one with green spaces and 28 parking spaces.
Negotiations are ongoing to purchase the building.
The Cobleskill Village Planning Board approved the site plan in June, and the Schoharie County Planning Commission approved the plan September 8.
Among the unknowns is the name of urgent care firm. The engineers, Bohler Engineering submitted the site plans for the developer, Patrick Alan LLC.
Such a process, with an unknown tenant or owner, isn’t rare, according to Codes Officer Mike Piccolo.
“It’s like a developer building a mall,” he said. “Nobody knows who the tenants are going to be.”
Mayor Becky Terk knows the firm but isn’t divulging the name. She said she recruited the urgent care facility in early December, right after her term as mayor began.
“Just by word of mouth, I heard from many people that there’s a need,” Mayor Terk said, adding that it would help with the ‘overflow’ from Cobleskill Regional Hospital’s Emergency Department.
Planning Board Chairman Dan Schulte agreed. He said the facility would take care of ‘little stuff’ and ease pressure at the hospital.
“They told us if it was something they couldn’t handle, they’d send the person to the hospital,” Mr. Schulte said.
But hospital President and CEO Eric Stein disagreed.
“There will definitely be an impact on the Emergency Department,” Mr. Stein said.
And, he added, there would be an impact on primary care doctors in the area.
Mr. Stein said the idea that the Emergency Department is overloaded isn’t entirely true. It’s overloaded only occasionally, he said.
Mayor Terk said the facility would have about six employees and that urgent care facilities are typically open from 7am to 7pm every day.
The Emergency Department often sees patients whose needs aren’t emergencies, Mr. Stein said, and those patients could be seen at primary care facilities––doctors’ offices.
The Cobleskill Basset Clinic, which is next to the hospital, offers same-day appointments, has evening hours and is open Saturday, Mr. Stein said.
“So the services offered here are more accessible than typically might be in other communities,” he said.
“There are issues that need to be looked at specific to our community.”