On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a “transformational” $140 million investment in SBH Health System (formerly called St. Barnabas Hospital), which will increase emergency department capacity, upgrade equipment and expand community health partnerships at the 160-year-old institution.
SBH, located at 4422 3rd Ave. in the Bronx, sees 75,000 to 80,000 emergency department visits per year but was only designed for about 55,000, said Hochul.
Hochul said the dedication and passion of SBH staff is “contagious” despite challenging conditions and praised CEO and President David Perlstein and local elected officials for repeatedly advocating for this kind of funding.
Hochul said the investment will make much-needed improvements, especially for residents needing behavioral health care. Since the pandemic, “There’s so much more need now,” she said. “People are desperate.”
The mood among the crowd of doctors in white coats, elected officials and service union members was celebratory. “We’ve been waiting for this day for a very long time,” Perlstein said.

He said SBH has long understood that its importance in the community goes beyond just medical care. “We have a bigger role to play than just putting Band-Aids on folks,” he said. The grant will enable the hospital to continue its work on the social determinants of health — factors such as stable housing, nutrition and fitness that help keep people out of the emergency room.
With the new funding, SBH will partner with Cityblock Health, which calls itself “a healthcare provider that exists to fill gaps,” and Union Community Health Center, which offers walk-in clinics, urgent care and more at multiple locations, to increase access to behavioral health services and improve overall local health outcomes.
State Sen. Luis Sepúlveda said his dedication to SBH is personal. His son had a serious medical problem a couple years ago, and SBH saved his life, he said.
“I got a little emotional” hearing about the grant, said Sepúlveda, who said the funding — along with Hochul’s other Bronx investments, such as the 83-unit senior affordable housing building now under construction — will impact people young and old alike throughout the borough. “You’ve changed the lives of many generations,” he told the governor.
Assembly Member George Alvarez said he too had to visit the SBH emergency department not long ago and experienced “good service, great staff but horrible conditions.”

Since then, Alvarez said he vowed to secure investments in the hospital, and now, “The long wait is over.”
The funding comes from Hochul’s Healthcare Safety Net Transformation Program, established last year for public hospitals serving low-income communities to partner with other organizations and leverage the strengths of both institutions. Under the program, the governor also recently announced a $180 million investment for Jamaica Hospital and Memorial Sloan Kettering to construct a cancer center serving the borough of Queens.
As for SBH — and the Bronx as a whole — “I really cherish this place,” said Hochul. “The people of the Bronx deserve nothing but the best.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes