By Zach Patberg
At a Feb. 8 meeting, the group, made up of about three physicians and several nurses from around the borough, asked Community Board 8 members to review its proposal in light of what they saw as severely starved health care services in Queens after St. Joseph's closed in March. The proposed facility would reopen the Flushing hospital as a center that would handle mostly minor injuries and ailments and relieve existing hospitals of some of the burden.”These interested professionals hope to prevent, lessen the impact on our community of a crisis – yes, a catastrophe – as we see the dwindling of health services in our community,” said Dr. Patricia Thomas, of New York Hospital Queens.Thomas said the biggest shortage is in ambulances. She compared the 45 minutes it took for an ambulance to arrive recently when one of her patients was in the beginnings of a heart attack to the three minutes one took to arrive for a similar situation years ago.”The loss of health services to our community is very real,” she warned.Dr. Peter Heffer, a Queens cardiologist, said last week that they already have found a financial backer for buying and renovating the empty building at 159-05 Union Turnpike — a project that could cost at least $8 million. Now, he and his colleagues say, they want CB 8's help in the form of a covenant that would make the property permanently designated for health care use.But CB 8 Chairman Alvin Warshaviak was doubtful that his board could make that happen.”I'd love to have it as a health care facility, ” he said. “It's probably in the community's best interests. But people sometimes think we have powers in excess to what we have.”He added: “Our stance is if you have the money backing, go and purchase it.”Heffer has yet to name the benefactor and acknowledged that a deal has not been sealed. But they are much more confident, he said, than in October when the group first brought the proposal to CB 8's doorstep.St. Joseph's closed just months before its umbrella company, St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers – the state's largest Catholic health-care provider- filed for bankruptcy protection as did Forest Hills' Parkway Hospital.Reach reporter Zach Patberg at news@timesledger.com or at 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
