LISH Care Opens Port Jefferson Station Clinic, Celebrates 10-Year Milestone

Where families once ordered ice cream sundaes, Suffolk County residents can now schedule primary care appointments and mental health visits. Long Island Select Healthcare cut the ribbon on its newest clinic in Port Jefferson Station on March 9, 2026, converting a former Friendly's Ice Cream location into a full medical facility and marking the occasion alongside the organization's tenth anniversary.

Around seventy community leaders attended the ceremony, where Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine presented a proclamation honoring LISH Care to Board Chairman John Lessard and CEO Aaron Clark. Also on hand for a tour of the new site were Deputy Suffolk County Executive Dr. Sylvia Diaz, Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson H. Pigott, and LISH Care Marketing-Development Director Theodore Massillon.

"Long Island Select Healthcare serves anyone who walks through its doors, regardless of insurance status or ability to pay," Clark said.

The Port Jefferson Station clinic brings LISH Care's network to seven sites across Suffolk County, joining existing locations in Central Islip, Hauppauge, Smithtown, Manorville, Center Moriches, and Riverhead. The new site will offer primary care and mental health services, fitting within a broader organizational menu that spans twelve specialties across the network, including dental, psychiatry, psychology, podiatry, optometry, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy.

LISH Care traces its origins to 2016, when the clinical operations of three Long Island human services agencies merged to address a persistent gap in healthcare access for people with developmental disabilities. Those founding organizations were the Developmental Disabilities Institute, Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, and the United Cerebral Palsy Association of Greater Suffolk. Today, the organization holds dual designations as a 16-specialty Article 28 Federally Qualified Health Center and a NYS Article 16 Rehabilitation Clinic, and serves more than 8,500 patients, many of whom have intellectual or physical disabilities, complex mental health disorders, or substance use disorders.

The organization's reach extends beyond clinic walls. LISH Care has purchased shares in a local farm and is building a community garden, using three large vegetable boxes to provide patients with access to nutritious, seasonal produce. The organization also runs on-site job training and job placement programs for adult patients with intellectual disabilities, placing participants either within LISH itself or with employers in the broader community.

LISH Care has also stepped into state-level advocacy. CEO Aaron Clark joined fellow community health center leaders at a press conference organized by Harmony Healthcare Long Island to call on the New York State Legislature to protect the 340B drug pricing program, which allows federally qualified health centers to purchase medications at reduced costs and stretch limited resources further for vulnerable patients.

Patients across the network can reach the organization at (631) 650-2510 or through the patient portal at LISHcare.org, where online scheduling is available for primary care and psychiatry appointments. Extended evening hours are offered at the Hauppauge location on Thursdays until 8:00 p.m. and at Central Islip on Mondays and Wednesdays until 8:00 p.m.

The Port Jefferson Station opening adds a meaningful geographic foothold in the Three Village area, where LISH Care's sliding-scale, insurance-agnostic model fills a gap that conventional practices often leave open.