Residents of Rochester now have better access to medical care with the opening of UR Medicine Primary Care’s Manhattan Square Family Medicine center on Jan. 18, in a renovated space downtown.
The facility not only welcomes residents, but University students and staff as well, encompassing students at the Eastman School of Music campus along with those from the River Campus.
One of the practicing physicians with Manhattan Square Family Medicine, Dr. Natercia Rodrigues, shared her insights and positive outlook on the new facility. “We’ve been really excited about our opening here downtown, and having a diverse patient population to serve,” she said.
She joins a team of four physicians that are “all ready to welcome new patients,” according to Dr. Wallace Johnson, director of UR Medicine Primary Care. In an article by the University of Rochester Medical Center Newsroom, he elaborates on how they “know that people prefer to see primary care doctors near where they live or work. [Their] aim is to make quality care easily accessible for city residents and to offer a convenient option to those who work downtown.”
The facility will be easily accessible to Eastman students, being located a few walkable blocks away; River Campus students will have the option to take a bus that stops directly at the new facility. They are open until 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, 5 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday. On Monday, they have evening hours, open until 7 p.m. They open at 7:30 a.m. every day.
Rodrigues explained that students are welcome to visit or make an appointment with them at any time.
The opportunity for students to intern, shadow, or work with the physicians and other health professionals in the facility was also brought up by Rodrigues. “I think once we’re up and running, and we have a better sense of our schedules, since right now all of our patients are brand new, so in terms of med students and pre-med students, I’m sure we would welcome that—just [not] until we get a sense of how things roll.”
Manhattan Square Family Medicine’s space spans 7,500-square-feet that includes 15 exam rooms and a UR Medicine Lab. The location is easily accessible by public transportation, complete with free parking.
Although the physicians and staff of Manhattan Square Family Medicine began seeing patients on Monday, they will formally invite the public at a community open house from 5 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 29.
