Strong Memorial Hospital gets federal funding for large expansion project

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — More than 110,000 patients visited the emergency department at Strong Memorial Hospital last year.

That’s twice the number hospital officials say it was designed to accommodate.

That is why it is tripling the emergency department.

Rep. Joe Morelle announced Tuesday that $1 million in federal funding for Strong Hospital’s new emergency room in-patient tower. He spoke alongside hospital leaders at a conference on Tuesday.

Morelle, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand helped to secure the funding, which will help to control hospital overcrowding that escalated during the pandemic.

Kathleen Parrinello, chief operating officer at URMC, said the expansion to Strong Hospital is long overdue.

The funding, made possible through the 2023 Federal Omnibus Spending Bill, will also triple the pediatric emergency department and the psychiatric emergency program.

“The challenges that everyone face, people are trying to cope in different ways around the country,” Morelle said. “No one is coping better than the Rochester community, and this organization, URMC, is extraordinary at what they’re doing. Again, the men and women who make this up, who made this happen, are continuing to have such positive impacts on people in the region.”

Strong Hospital announced its plans in March 2022 to expand its emergency department by 2027. It will be the largest expansion in Rochester history.

The project includes building a nine-story patient bed tower west of the hospital’s main entrance, at 601 Elmwood Ave. The hospital will also renovate its current patient tower along with adding more than 200 examination, treatment, and patient observation stations.

In total, the project will add 650,000 square feet to the hospital. The emergency department will expand from 46,000 to 175,000 square feet. You can see the full press conference here: