About Us > History

"First There Was a Dream..."

First, there was a dream. In the mid-1940s three visionary local residents, a lawyer, a farmer and a clergyman, conceived of building a hospital in Riverhead.

They knew good medical care was a basic requirement of a strong community. They wanted their families and neighbors to have access to quality doctors and modern medical technology. These three men recruited other local leaders and the idea of a hospital grew.

The founders encountered many obstacles along the way.  They fought distant bureaucrats who claimed a hospital was not needed in the area. They struggled to raise funds at a time when land and building costs were skyrocketing.

But they achieved their dream. In 1951, Central Suffolk Hospital opened its doors. In its first year of operation, the 58-bed hospital treated 1,890 patients and performed 770 operations. Throughout the next five decades, the hospital expanded and progressed, every step forward accomplished in partnership with a community that remains dedicated and supportive.

Now known as Peconic Bay Medical Center, the 214-bed facility includes a 60-bed Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center and a certified home care agency. The medical center is a regional provider of orthopedics through the Hamptons Orthopedic & Rehabilitation Institute, and home to the Richard Rubenstein, MD Center for Bariatric Surgery. Through a unique partnership with Stony Brook University Hospital -- Long Island's only academic medical center -- PBMC has trauma-trained specialists staffing its Emergency Center. Stony Brook physicians also staff and manage our Center for Advanced Medical Imaging (CAMI).

Peconic Bay Medical Center is still about people with dreams -- the loyal patients who put their trust in us, the dedicated doctors, nurses and staff who work every day to care for their neighbors, and the selfless benefactors and volunteers who give generously so that good healthcare will be available to all.