The Home Depot Foundation gifted NYU Langone Health $10 million last week to expand the medical center’s reach at an emergency department in Brooklyn, which has since been named the Home Depot Emergency Department.
The department, which is under the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Ambulatory Care Center—Cobble Hill, aims to use the donation to improve emergency services for underserved communities in Brooklyn. The location has an average wait time of less than 10 minutes and offers advanced imaging services and emergency-trained nurses, having served over 76,000 people since its opening in April 2023.
“We’re honored our 15-year partnership with NYU Langone has helped enable innovation across research, medical education, and patient care,” Ted Decker, Home Depot CEO, president and chair, said in a press release. “The Home Depot Emergency Department gives the neighbors who live in and around Cobble Hill — including many of our own Home Depot associates — access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical care right in their own community.”
The Home Depot Foundation previously donated $10 million to NYU Langone in 2015 to fund medical school scholarships for veterans and $1.5 million the same year to enhance its mental health services for veterans and their families. Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone became the medical center’s namesake after donating $100 million in 2008.
“The Home Depot Foundation has been an exceptional partner, seeking always through their generosity to change lives and help families, and sharing our vision of increased access to world-class care,” Robert Grossman, NYU Langone CEO and dean of the Grossman School of Medicine, said in a press release. “This gift deepens our partnership.”
The foundation primarily donates to foundations supporting veterans’ health, housing and safety. It also donates to disaster relief funds and organizations that aim to make trade school more accessible.
In August 2025, Langone will step down from his position as chair of the medical center’s board of trustees and continue as a board member. Grossman — who will also retire in August from his roles as CEO and dean — became the namesake of the Grossman Long Island School of Medicine following a $200 million donation from Langone and his wife, Elaine Langone, in July 2023. The donation allowed the Long Island school to offer full-tuition scholarships to all its students, following suit with the Grossman School of Medicine in Manhattan — which was also named after the CEO.
NYU Langone has invested $500 million in expanding its hospital in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. The medical center has also scaled access in Queens, opening a second location in the borough in March and with plans to relocate three of its programs there.
Health care access in New York City has historically suffered from a lack of equality across boroughs, with most facilities located in Manhattan. In 2018, the ratio of health care workers to the overall population was 0.14 in Manhattan and 0.09 in Brooklyn. NYU Langone has expanded its services across all five boroughs and into New Jersey and Florida, repeatedly emphasizing accessibility at its newest facilities.
Correction, Dec. 2: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Ambulatory Care Center—Cobble Hill was renamed, not its emergency department. The article has been updated and WSN regrets the error.
Contact Chantal Mann at [email protected].