The Brothers of Mercy Center

On October 16, 2024, The Brothers of Mercy Wellness Campus opened the Russell J. Salvatore Health Center on the first floor of the north wing within The Brothers of Mercy Center, formerly known as Sacred Heart Home at 4520 Ransom Road.

This new 5,800-square-foot health center will serve Campus residents, employees and volunteers as well as surrounding communities. Health care partners that have moved in to provide a variety of services include:

• Dr. Nikil Satchidanand and the University at Buffalo Aging & Resilience Research Center
• John V. Akiki, Chiropractor
• Dr. Stephen Ross, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist
• Alicia Kohlhagen, LCSW-R, PMH-C, Mental Health Counseling

The UB program will focus on the biology of aging and frailty as well as resilience, or what allows some older adults to bounce back more quickly from injuries or illnesses.

“We designed the Russell J. Salvatore Health Center as a complementary, collaborative facility that will provide additional outpatient health care services to residents and the greater community in which we serve,” said Peter Eimer, Chief Executive Officer of The Brothers of Mercy Wellness Campus. “With this new facility ready to open, we will continue welcoming additional health care providers to become tenants as we work to preserve quality of life and address any emerging health needs of the community at large.”

The Russell J. Salvatore Health Center features energy-efficient LED lighting and a high-efficiency heating and cooling system for all tenants. This facility concept became a renovation opportunity when the new Sacred Heart Home Assisted Living & Memory Care Community opened on the Wellness Campus in December 2020.

The center was named the Russell J. Salvatore Center in recognition of a $300,000 gift from the philanthropist and restauranteur. Additional funding came from The Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, James H. Cummings Foundation, The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation and Daniel C. & Beatrice M. Fisher Fund (Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo). The facility was designed by Akos Seres, President of Professional Drafting Service, and Picone Construction was the general contractor on the project.

“I am a firm believer that our mental and emotional health are just as important as our physical health and wellness. More often than not, we put ourselves on the back burner, taking care of others’ needs and then ignoring our own. In the world we live in, it’s also easy to push our emotions to the side and tell ourselves we “shouldn’t” feel this way. Living well doesn’t have to mean sacrificing your needs for others, it might just mean, we chose to intentionally put our energy into things that fill us up and allow us to feel more centered.

Therapy can be a place for you to explore your thoughts and feelings, learn how to manage and make space for them and grow from the experiences we have endured. I believe that we all deserve the space to take care of ourselves and my hope is to cultivate that space in our sessions.I approach my work in a collaborative and interpersonal way. I utilize an eclectic intervention approach pulling on different treatment modalities that fit my patients needs, specially DBT, CBT, PMAD’s and trauma processing. Additionally, I specialize in providing gender affirming care and can provide gender affirming surgery assessments and letters.”

Click here to see Alicia’s Psychology Today profile:

Call 716-344-0809 to discuss scheduling a 15-minute phone consultation.