EDMESTON – The Pathfinder Village Board of Directors announces plans to build a new $1.2 million community healthcare center in Edmeston to honor the life’s work of William F. Streck, MD. Dr. Streck will retire on July 1 as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Bassett Healthcare Network, Cooperstown. Dr. Streck has served concurrently as Bassett’s chief administrator and chair of the Pathfinder Village Board since 1995.

Dr. Streck joined Bassett Healthcare in 1978, and became its director in 1985. After his retirement from Bassett, he will continue to serve as head of the Pathfinder board, which provides oversight for daily operations and ensures compliance with governmental regulations. Pathfinder Village, founded in 1980, is an internationally renowned open-access planned community for people living with Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities.

Late last month, the Pathfinder board approved building a 3,800 sq. ft. facility, the Dr. William F. Streck Community Health Clinic, which will be located on State Route 80 adjacent to the community soccer field, and named to recognize Dr. Streck’s many contributions to improved patient care. Fund-raising by the Pathfinder Village Foundation will start immediately, and construction of the state-of-the art clinic is expected to begin in May 2015.

“Dr. Streck’s leadership in envisioning and creating a modern healthcare network over 30 years has been essential in providing better care to residents throughout central New York,” said Paul C. Landers, President and CEO of Pathfinder Village. “He was responsible for vastly extending Bassett’s services, which were centered at the M.I. Bassett Hospital in the 1970s. Today, Bassett operates a model network that covers nine counties and includes five satellite hospitals, 32 community clinics, and 19 school-based clinics.”