Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) is a hospital with 550 beds located in the East Side of

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

and a member of the

Great Lakes Health System {{unreferenced, date=December 2017 Great Lakes Health System is a healthcare system for Western New York and it includes Kaleida Health, the State University of New York at Buffalo, Erie County Medical Center Erie County Medical Center (ECMC) is a ...

. It is the primary teaching hospital for the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 18 ...

. It is also a New York State public-benefit corporation.

Organization

The Erie County Medical Center Corporation, as it is known when filing financial reports to the

New York State Comptroller The New York State Comptroller is an elected constitutional officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the New York state government's Department of Audit and Control. The New York State Comptroller is the highest-paid state auditor or ...

and the

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, is guided by a 19-member board of directors, 4 of whom are non-voting. There are eight voting members who are appointed by the

New York State Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York and the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces.New York Constitution article IV ...

and there are seven voting members who are appointed by the Erie County Executive. The management team is headed by CEO Thomas J. Quatroche, Jr. In 2017, it had operating expenses of $636.03 million, an outstanding debt of $272.51 million, and a staffing level of 4,023 people.

History

Erie County Medical Center (then known as Buffalo City Hospital) was formed in 1912 when the nearby Municipal Hospital on East Ferry Street had become overcrowded due to outbreaks in scarlet fever and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

and opened in 1918. Three years later, ECMC opened its first medical library, and later a social services department. The hospital would be named for Dr. Edward J. Meyer, its first chairman, in 1939. The current hospital facility would be opened in 1978 and was renamed Erie County Medical Center. In 1989, it would open its burn treatment center.Evolution to the Erie County Medical Center Corporation (ECMCC). (n.d.)
.

Care and services

ECMC is designated as Western New York's designated trauma and

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

treatment center. It also features the Roger W. Seibel Burn Treatment Center, which is the regional burn center for Western New York.

Buffalo Public Schools Buffalo Public Schools serves approximately 34,000 students in Buffalo, New York, the second largest city in the state of New York. It is located in Erie County of western New York and operates nearly 70 facilities. History The Buffalo Public Sc ...

' P.S. 84 (Health Care Center for Children @ ECMC), the designated school in the district for students with severe disabilities/illnesses, is housed at ECMC.

Cafeteria and patient menu controversies

On January 19, 2015, the '' Buffalo Evening News'' indicated that a report by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine criticized ECMC for "serving some of the least-healthy food options of any public hospital in the country. The hospital received the fourth-lowest score, out of 200 hospitals reviewed, because it is home to three fast-food restaurants and because its cardiac patient menu has some items that aren’t heart-friendly." In 2019, ECMC replaced the previous food provider, Morrison Healthcare, with Metz Culinary Management. In 2021, ECMC pursued legal action in an attempt to terminate a lease with Benderson Development, and remove the fast-food restaurants from their lobby, in order to replace them with healthier options.

References

External links