Esteemed physicians Elias Lader, MD, Somsak Bhitiyaku, MD and O+ Festival honored May 5 at Diamond Mills in Saugerties
KINGSTON, N.Y. (May 10, 2023) – The HealthAlliance Hospital Gala was held on Friday, May 5th at Diamond Mills in Saugerties, successfully providing support for the hospital’s cancer infusion center and oncology support program.
More than 250 people were in attendance, including many of the Westchester Medical Center Health Network’s (WMCHealth) esteemed physicians, founder of the O+ Festival, and members of the greater Kingston community. The gala also featured a number of moving speakers, some recounting powerful personal stories of how HealthAlliance Hospital’s infusion provided them with life saving care.
Additionally, the hospital presented awards recognizing a number of community leaders and medical professionals who have made a positive impact on the Kingston region. A full list of honorees and gala sponsors can be found below.
Exceptional Honorees
2023 HealthAlliance Hospital Gala honorees:
- Ellis Lader, MD – Dr. Lader has had a long and distinguished career serving the Kingston community, where he began practicing in the 1980s. He is currently Director, Division of Cardiology, HealthAlliance Hospital.
- Somsak Bhitiyaku, MD – Dr. Bhitiyakul practiced internal medicine and nephrology for over 50 years. Dr. Bhitiyakul founded the first dialysis unit in Ulster County in 1977 and served as its Medical Director for 34 years. He also served as President of the Medical Staff at the former Kingston Hospital as well as Chief of Medicine there and the former Benedictine Hospital, as well as President of the Mid-Hudson Society of Internal Medicine.
- Joe Concra/O+ Festival – The O+ Festival was established in 2010 in Kingston by a small group of artist-activists. The effort helps to provide healthcare to creative professionals. Joe Concra is an O+ Festival co-founder.
HealthAlliance Hospital Gala Sponsors
- Leadership Sponsors: Dr. and Mrs. Somsak Bhitiyakul.; HealthAlliance Medical Staff and Medical Associates HV.
- Honoree Sponsors: Bruderhof Communities and Ulster Savings Bank.
- Patron Sponsors: Darlene Bover, Gateway Hudson Valley, The Rothlein Family, Sholes & Miller, PLLC, SVN Deegan-Collins Commercial Realty and Ulster Federal Credit Union.
- Event Underwriters: Hudson Valley Hospice, Rondout Savings Bank and Turner Construction Company.
New HealthAlliance Hospital
In December, the newly reimagined HealthAlliance Hospital opened after a $113M expansion and enhancement project that included a new, two-story, 79,000-square-foot building adjoining the hospital’s legacy structure and a full renovation of 48,000 square feet of the previous hospital environment.
View photos from the gala here.
About Westchester Medical Center Health Network
The Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMCHealth) is a 1,700-bed healthcare system headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with nine hospitals on seven campuses spanning 6,200 square miles of the Hudson Valley. WMCHealth employs more than 13,000 people and has nearly 3,000 attending physicians. The Network has Level I (adult and pediatric), Level II and Level III trauma centers, the region’s only acute care children’s hospital, an academic medical center, several community hospitals, dozens of specialized institutes and centers, Comprehensive and Primary Stroke Centers, skilled nursing, assisted living facilities, home-care services and one of the largest mental health systems in New York State. Today, WMCHealth is the pre-eminent provider of integrated health care in the Hudson Valley. For more information about WMCHealth, visit WMCHealth.org or follow WMCHealth on Facebook.com/WMCHealth or Instagram.com/WMCHealth.