PERSONAL HEALTH

Guthrie City Harbor Part Of Ithaca’s Changing Medical Landscape

By Mark Levine

The landscape of medical care in Ithaca is changing. For years the city’s needs were served from two poles, both outside the City: on West Hill was the Cayuga Medical Center and its surrounding medical buildings, and in Lansing there was the Guthrie Clinic on Hanshaw Road and Cayuga Medical’s Convenient Care Clinic and surrounding buildings o Warren Road. In February, the Guthrie Ithaca City Harbor location opened on Willow Avenue. Work is continuing on a Cayuga Medical building near GreenStar on Cascadilla Street.

“ is clinic [Guthrie Ithaca City Harbor] is serving the downtown population that has been desperately seeking care for quite some time,” notes David Ristedt, MD, Regional Medical Director, e Guthrie Clinic. “We were immediately busy as soon as we opened the doors, far-exceeding even the most generous expectations.”

Shawn Karney, MS, Associate VicePresident, Regional Operations, e Guthrie Clinic, says that the demand for health care services in Ithaca is de nitely growing: “Since we opened the facility in February of 2022, we have had over 24,000 patient care visits at this location.”

The new 60,000 square foot Guthrie facility is home to a variety of Primary Care, Specialty Medicine, and Surgical services, including Family Medicine, Orthopedics, Breast Health – Radiology, Gastroenterology, Neurosurgery, Endoscopy, ENT services and Audiology and Specialty Eye Care along with General Surgery, Colorectal Surgery and Urology. The new facility allowed for an expansion of the Cardiology and Primary Care services at the Hanshaw Road location. The new Guthrie facility also provides for a downtown Walk-In Care clinic, open Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to Noon.

Karney explains that “ is expansion allows us to o er more robust services across all specialty groups. We have also signi cantly increased our technological capabilities with respect to online scheduling through our eGuthrie portal. is has increased the ability of patients to receive care quickly and e ciently on their schedule.”

Ristedt has found that “Patients are loving the new ow: easy check-in and all patient needs (blood draw, schedule follow ups and referrals, and immunizations) being done in the same room where you see the doctor. Having primary care and the specialists in the same o ce along with our walk-in clinic provides for a one-stop health care facility. [ is is] patient-centered care at its best.”

The Guthrie City Harbor location brings a much-needed WalkIn Care clinic to the downtown Ithaca area. (Photo: Provided)