New York Medical Center says it has admitted its first clients and celebrated its first graduates from a 25-bed inpatient substance use disorder treatment program in Irving, marking an early milestone for a facility built inside a long-vacant rural hospital. The center, located at the former Lakeshore Hospital site, held its grand opening on Thursday, November 12, 2026, after a renovation effort that local leaders say took more than a year to complete.
According to EIN Presswire, the program includes five medically supervised withdrawal-management, or detox, beds. The center describes its treatment model as one that combines medical care, psychiatric services and therapeutic programming, built around an individualized plan for each client, and says the facility itself was designed with a residential-style setting featuring natural light, common areas and quiet spaces. As reported by the Observer Today, the facility planned to begin operating with 20 beds, along with five additional specialized detox beds, inside the building that had sat empty since the prior hospital's closure.
A Long Road From Shuttered Hospital to Reopened Doors
The Observer Today reported that getting to opening day meant more than a year of planning, permitting and renovating a building that had stood vacant. That building was previously home to TLC-Lakeshore Hospital, a 45-bed facility that, before it closed in 2020, was described as the only area hospital offering behavioral-health and substance-use-disorder specialty treatment, per healthcare-brew.com. The outlet reported that TLC-Lakeshore shut down after posting a $7.1 million deficit in 2019, following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization that had run from 2013 to 2017.
New York Medical Center CEO Ray Manning said the project has been years in the making. “Opening New York Medical Center was a long road. I am proud of what our team has accomplished,” Manning said, according to the same press release distributed through EIN Presswire. Manning also said the center was built to provide specialized care with dignity and hope, and that its first clients and graduates show what is possible.
Leaders From State, County and Seneca Nation Turn Out
Several dozen guests attended the opening celebration, held Thursday, November 12, 2026, the Observer Today reported. State Senator George Borrello and Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel spoke at the event.
Expansion Plans Carry Some Uncertainty
New York Medical Center has described the 25-bed program as the first phase of a planned 162-bed behavioral health campus, according to the EIN Presswire release, with the Observer Today reporting that the facility is expected to be fully operational with a total of 162 beds by the end of 2028. An earlier project report from Healthcare Design, however, said in 2025 that the planned facility would house 180 beds — leaving the exact scope of the full build-out unclear between the two figures.
The expansion comes amid data pointing to significant regional need. Chautauqua County recorded 88.4 behavioral-health hospitalizations per 10,000 people using 2019 figures, compared with 60.6 statewide, according to Healthcare Brew. The outlet also reported that the county's opioid overdose death rate stood at 20.2% per 100,000 people in 2022, versus a statewide rate of 14.9 per 100,000.
New York Medical Center is an inpatient substance use disorder treatment program.
