Clinic At Day Care Site?

More than half of East Hampton's year-round residents - 57 percent - have no insurance and are not eligible for Medicaid, according to Edna Steck, the town's director of human services. They need affordable medical care that only the County Health Department can provide through its clinics.

Mrs. Steck appealed last week for the former East Hampton Day Care facility on Cedar Street, soon to be vacant, to be converted to a medical clinic. The land belongs to the East Hampton School District, and the day care center has said it would donate the buildings.

On hand to support Mrs. Steck's plea to the East Hampton School Board were East Hampton Town Supervisor Cathy Lester, Dr. John J. Ferry, Jr., president of Southampton Hospital, Dr. Donald F. Bruhn, medical director of the county's Riverhead and Southampton clinics, Diane Mercieca of the South Fork Community Health Initiative, and Matthew Grady, executive director of the East End AIDS Wellness Project, who said the AIDS clinic off Route 114 will need to move within weeks, as its building has been sold to the Ross School.

Mr. Grady suggested the Cedar Street facility be renovated and shared by the county, the AIDS center, and Planned Parenthood, which rents part of a limited county clinic on Montauk Highway in Amagansett. Ms. Lester reported it would take just $40,000 to make the three portable buildings usable, according to town engineers.

The Amagansett clinic is "overloaded," Dianne Astorr, the nurse at East Hampton High School, told the School Board, and the Cedar Street location would be "good for those 12 years old and up."

But Robert Peters, a neighbor, said traffic "would be a nightmare. I'm surprised that the Supervisor would be so calloused as to put this in the middle of a [residential] neighborhood."

The new East Hampton Children's Museum has also asked to use the property. Both groups may be disappointed, however. Noel McStay, the District Superintendent, has said he may recommend razing the buildings and keeping the land for future district use.