Columbia Presbyterian's Rapid Medical Evaluation Center Cuts Wait Time

The former chairman and CEO of the New York City-based Oppenheimer Group, Inc., Stephen Robert is also the co-founder of the Source of Hope Foundation. Leading the foundation along with his wife Pilar Crespi Robert, Stephen Robert has directed Source of Hope’s anti-poverty work across the globe.

With projects in places like Ethiopia, Palestine, and Columbia, Source of Hope also funds domestic projects. For example, the foundation made a generous financial contribution to establish the Stephen Robert and Pilar Crespi Robert Rapid Medical Evaluation Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Located in a low-income on the west side of Manhattan, more than half of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital’s patients are either on Medicare or uninsured.

Since many uninsured patients use the emergency room as their primary source of care, the emergency room at Columbia Presbyterian was overcrowded before the expansion, with patients waiting up to nine hours for care. The 8,000-square-foot rapid medical evaluation center is equipped with 22 new treatment bays, new bed-side diagnostic equipment, and a full staff of doctors and nurse practitioners. The addition of the new space has improved patient care by allowing medical staff to make diagnoses faster and treat and release patients more promptly.