Throgs Neck Urgent Care – the original urgent care facility on East Tremont Avenue – is back under its original management.
If his career in medicine were a book, then Dr. Wagdi Mitry would be starting a new chapter at the age of 65.
He pioneered the concept of urgent care and was one of the first practitioners in the country to implement the model when he opened the original Throgs Neck Urgent Care in 1983.
Mitry pioneered the care of injuries and ailments that could be treated by a doctor’s office if an appointment time was available, but did not rise to the level of being seen by emergency room physicians.
The refurbished facility, at 3594 E. Tremont Avenue, across the street from the Throggs Neck Clipper and next to Rite Aid, will be run by Mitry, along with two partners – Dr. Mitchell Strand and Dr. Tony Rovo.
Mitry ran Throgs Neck Urgent Care from its founding to its being leased by Cornell/New York Presbyterian Hospital in 2002.
“A lot of people tried to copycat me, but it didn’t work,” Mitry said of two former employees who opened similar types of practices in the Throggs Neck area.
Some of the services provided by his re-opened medical facility include x-rays, physicals, flu shots, immunizations, and treatment of sprains, fractures and minor lacerations, said Mitry.
In its peak years, he said the center served about 20,000 patients per year.
Dr. Strand, who trained with Mitry in emergency medicine at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Hospital, recalled that when he first met Mitry in 1984, he had already pioneered the use of Urgent Care – something between an emergency and a doctor’s visit – that needs to be handled the same day.
“He told me he had started an urgent care center, but at this point I didn’t know what it was,” said Strand. “It was totally embraced by the community, but it was a brand new concept that was totally non-existent at that time.”
The center is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends. It’s number is (718) 684-3939.
Patrick Rocchio can be reach via e-mail at procchio@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 742-3393
Photo by Patrick Rocchio
