Forum on primary care expansion

Recently, the City Council introduced a plan to expand primary care services in medically underserved areas in all five boroughs. To inform the public about this initiative and solicit its feedback, the Council is holding forums - one in each borough. The first forum was held in Queens on Monday, October 6.
Medical professionals and advocates as well as patients and members of the public gathered at Elmhurst Hospital for the event. After hearing about the Council’s Primary Care Initiative, the audience raised several issues such as the borough being under-bedded due to hospital closings and waiting times to see a doctor being too long, said Jeremy Drucker, a spokesperson for Councilmember Helen Sears, a forum host.
“As a former health care professional I know these forums are very important,” said Sears. “They help round out the raw data of the report by putting real faces on the numbers.”
The report Sears is referring to is the one the Council released as part of its Primary Care Initiative. This report highlights 11 communities in the city that face the most significant primary care problems and it pinpoints types of healthcare services that need to be improved.
Of the 11 problematic areas, three are in Queens - Western Queens, Southeast Queens and Far Rockaway.
Within all the high-need communities, some barriers to accessing health care include long waiting room times as well as medical personnel not spending enough time with patients and not listening carefully enough to them, according to the report.
The Primary Care Initiative will be funded by the city and money for fiscal year 2009, $6.4 million, has already been secured, said Shirley Limongi, spokesperson in the office of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
“One of the most important and responsible ways we can improve healthcare is to provide access to quality preventive care, so that no one feels the emergency room is their only option,” said Quinn in September, when the initiative was introduced.