In Appreciation, Pathfinder Village
Names Health Clinic For Dr. Streck
By JIM KEVLIN • allotsego.com
EDMESTON – Just before dignitaries this morning at Pathfinder Village held a ceremonial groundbreaking on the William F. Streck Community Health Clinic, state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, announced he had obtained a $250,000 state grant which will largely complete the $1.2 million needed for the facility.
Among audience members were Marian Mullen, the executive director in the early 1980s who envisioned the New England-style village that has been home to the center for Down syndrome children for the past three decades.
Dr. Streck, who retired last summer after 30 years as president/CEO of the Bassett Healthcare Network, chaired the Pathfinder board for much of that time, and continues in that role today.
He drew on his German-Irish heritage in his remarks, recalling how he would tell his children he was “German enough to be a physician and Irish enough to enjoy it.” In the context of today’s ceremony, he said his German side told him he wasn’t worthy of the honor; his Irish side told him to savor it nonetheless.
Among other speakers was U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-19th, toured Pathfinder with President/CEO Paul Landers in March and since has helped move legislation helpful to the facility. “Every human has dignity, every job has value,” he said of Pathfinder’s residents and staff.
During the outdoor ceremony at the village’s east end, a breeze whipped up, toppling the Stars and Stripes on a pole next to the lectern. Gibson, a retired Army colonel, leaped to his feet and grabbed the banner in mid-air. He stood by, holding the pole for the rest of the program, just in case.
The new facility is intended to serve residents of the Edmeston/Burlington community, and is part of a national strategy to move primary care from large facilities like Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown into localities. Dr. Vance Brown, Streck’s successor as Bassett CEO, reported the existing clinic served 3,200 patients last year. The new facility – the foundation is already in place, and its completion is expected this fall – will serve double that, Brown said.
