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Only hospital on Rockaway peninsula to receive $500,000 grant

PC_ASSEMBLYMAN PHIL GOLDFEDER
Photo courtesy of Assemblyman Goldfeder’s office

It’s the only hospital on the Rockaway peninsula, and now it has the funds needed to improve its facility.

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital services over 130,000 residents in Rockaway in addition to those in the neighboring parts of Nassau County. After being hit by Hurricane Sandy, it has been hard for the hospital to get back to its full health.

As he saw that the hospital was struggling, Assemblyman Phillip Goldfeder worked to provide the hospital with a $500,000 capital grant to help with their renovations, upgrades and expansion of its surgical facility.

“St. John’s Hospital is currently the only healthcare facility open to serve the entire Rockaway peninsula, and it is still struggling financially to cover the costs of expenses incurred two years ago during Sandy,” said Goldfeder. “This new funding will go a long way to ensure that St. John’s can modernize, grow and continue to provide quality and accessible healthcare on the Rockaway peninsula.”

This isn’t the first time he has helped secure funds for the hospital. When Hurricane Sandy hit, the hospital had to spend $4.3 million to run it and make repairs.

In June 2012, Goldfeder assisted in granting St. John’s Episcopal Hospital nearly $5.4 million under the Health Care Efficiency and Affordability Law of New York State (HEAL NY) to expand services after the closure of Peninsula Hospital.

Richard Brown, the CEO of St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, expressed his gratitude to Goldfeder for helping to keep the facility afloat.

“This allocation will enable us to purchase a variety of equipment necessary for state-of-the-art, minimally invasive 3D surgery, as well as make great strides in providing leading edge education within St. John’s surgical residency program,” said Brown. “Most importantly, minimally invasive surgery techniques allow patients to heal faster and go home sooner. St. John’s will now have the highest quality instruments available, allowing us to grow in our mission to provide the best patient care possible.”

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