Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

New clinical space for pediatric neuromedicine and behavioral health

New Neuromedicine and Behavioral Health Center at 200 East River Road
Alex Crichton
New Neuromedicine and Behavioral Health Center at 200 East River Road

A new facility will soon be open to serve children and families dealing with autism spectrum disorder.

The ribbon was cut today on UR Medicine's Neuromedicine and Behavioral Health Center on East River Road.

Dr. Nina Schor is Pediatrician-in-Chief at Golisano Children's Hospital.

She says the center will serve as an outpatient facility.

"So many of these children see specialists in all of these areas. This will be one stop shopping. It'll also mean that the doctors who subserve different areas and different aspects of brain function will be able to conference with one another without any effort at all," she said.

Neutral environment inside the center
Neutral environment inside the center

And that will better serve patients, according to Dr. Susan Hyman, Division Chief of Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics at the Golisano Children's Hospital.

"It's critical that we're all together, because we share the clinical care of the patient population. We share research interest, and we share training goals for all of our trainees that will be facilitated by this co-localization," she said.

The environment in the 90 thousand square foot clinic is designed to meet the unique physical, sensory and environmental needs of patients.

Noah Levine is a sophomore at Allendale Columbia, and has autism.

"This center, basically what it's going to do, it's going to give kids the opportunity to go into and get their help without being overwhelmed by noises, by colors, by all these things that contradict the actual autism spectrum disorder," he said.

Levine says dealing with autism hasn't been an easy journey, but one that has defined his character and given his life purpose.

The new facility was funded through private donations and funding from the National Institutes of Health.

This story was produced by WXXI’s Inclusion Desk, focusing on disabilities and inclusion.

Here's Dr. Susan Hyman talking about how staff and patients had input on the design of the new center:

Noah Levine, a 10th grader at Allendale Columbia, talks about dealing with autism spectrum disorder: