Two hospitals in Far Rockaway recently received a much-needed infusion of cash – to the tune of $3.1 million.
City Councilmembers James Sanders, Jr. and Eric Ulrich announced that Peninsula Hospital Center would receive $2.3 million and St. John’s Episcopal Hospital $800,000, respectively, from funding secured during the City Council’s Queens Delegation budget negotiations.
The money comes at a time when hospitals in Queens have been impacted by the closure of other borough hospitals and the H1N1 virus outbreak.
“In a time when we are seeing our hospitals closing and in desperate need of resources, I am blessed to have been able to aid them in expanding and modernizing their facilities,” said Sanders.
At the Wednesday, July 1 press conference at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, senior hospital administrators acknowledged the necessity of these funds to the continuous delivery of quality care, not only for Rockaway residents but to all Queens’s residents.
“We are very thankful to the New York City Council for granting St. John’s Episcopal Hospital funds for the renovation of our Emergency Department,” said John Gupta, chief executive officer at the 257 bed St. John’s Episcopal Hospital. “In addition the renovation will help to ease the increased number of patient cases we have experienced since the closing of Mary Immaculate and St. John’s Queens Hospitals earlier this year.”
St. John’s Episcopal emergency room, which treats 30,000 patients annually in an ER designed to accommodate 12,000 patients, has not been expanded or renovated in 25 years.
The hospital plans to use the $800,000 to create a “fast track” private space for the more serious emergency patients and also move the pediatric emergency cases to a more discrete and sheltered area. Planners hope these efforts will increase efficiency and decrease overall ER waiting time.
To improve Peninsula Hospital’s cancer care services, the $2.3 million will be used to replace the hospital’s linear accelerator in its radiation oncology department with new, state-of-the art technology that offers pin-point accuracy. Currently, Peninsula Hospital Center offers the only radiation oncology services in the region.
“Peninsula Hospital Center is extremely grateful to both Councilmembers James Sanders and Eric Ulrich for their involvement, interest and dedication to healthcare in the Rockaways,” said Robert V. Levine, president and chief executive officer at the 173-bed medical facility. “With their help and advocacy, Rockaway residents can continue to receive the excellent healthcare they deserve.”
Councilmember Ulrich, who just concluded his first round of budget negotiations, noted how, in light of the recent healthcare issues Queens’s residents have faced, it is important that the hospitals be prepared.
“In this day and age, when hospitals are closing, ‘new and improved’ viruses and diseases are threatening our lives, and with our senior population growing larger year after year, we need to be investing in healthcare,” he said.
