In an attempt to save St. Josephs Hospital, a health care facility in northeast Queens for more than 40 years, local politicians, hospital staff and local residents staged a rally last week in support of keeping it open.
The rally came after Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, the umbrella organization that runs St. Josephs, decided on April 19 to close, within the next year, the 65-bed facility, as a way to conserve operating costs and circumvent the high price of upgrades.
As a result of the closure, the hospitals inpatient services, which treat nearly 100 people per day, would be relocated to nearby hospitals St. Johns and Mary Immaculate.
The move has St. Josephs physicians, nurses and advisory board members in an uproar. They say cost-saving measures place the jobs of 430 employees in jeopardy and compromise the personal care of patients at the hospital.
"St. Josephs Hospital, with its fully trained and licensed physicians on duty 24 hours a day, must be kept open at this location," said Ken Cohen, chair of St. Josephs community advisory board. "This community has the largest population of elderly residents who depend on this facility for their medical and surgical care, and these services must continue."
According to Patrick Wardell, senior vice president and executive director of St. Josephs Hospital, the decision was made for budget reasons. He noted that the relocation would not affect patient services.
The hospital sustained operation losses of approximately $68 million last year. And according to Wardell, it would cost an additional $40 million in order to upgrade the facility.
"The cost to use the hospital for medical purposes is just not feasible," said Wardell. "The real issue is that, in order for it to be a modern inpatient facility, it would take approximately $40 millionbut even then, St. Josephs would still only accommodate 84 beds."
But according to St. Josephs staff, its the small size and personalized care that set the hospital apart.
"Throughout Queens and at other hospitals, patients are stored waiting for beds," said Cohen. "And now they want to shut St. Josephs downtheyre putting money ahead of quality health care."
In a letter to David Speltz, president and CEO of Saint Vincents Catholic Medical Centers, Councilman James Gennaro, seeking to mediate between the two sides, wrote, "With over 12,000 patients visiting St. Josephs emergency department just this last year, I am concerned that relocating them to other area hospitals may overload these facilities and cause delays in delivering time-sensitive medical attention. If the closing cannot be avoided, I urge you to engage in an open dialogue with the St. Josephs advisory board, local elected officials and the community to develop a comprehensive transition and closure plan that fully addresses the health care needs of the community as well as the economic needs of the displaced employees."
According to Wardell, Saint Vincents is working with Lcoal Union 1199 and Local 803 in order to keep as many jobs as possible. Additionally, they are working with 1199s job security fund in order to retrain St. Josephs employees for placement elsewhere. "Were trying to make this as easy a transition as possible," said Wardell.
"Closing St. Josephs would deprive this community of the kind and compassionate care they love so much," said Eileen Miller, a registered nurse who has collected more than 3,000 signatures on a petition to keep the hospital open. "Especially our elderly patientsthey have worked all their lives, and they deserve the dignity, respect and personal care we afford them."