Peninsula seeking additional staff

Now that Peninsula Hospital has been saved from extinction by Revival Home Health Care, officials say things are looking up at the facility.
“This hospital is an integral part of the community’s health care,” said Todd Miller, chief restructuring officer. “Peninsula will remain a not-for-profit institution, providing the services that people need and want.”
Miller said he is looking to hire additional staff. Currently, nearly 1,000 employees work at the hospital and its associated nursing home, most coming from the surrounding neighborhoods of the Rockaways, Queens and the Five Towns.
One nurse’s aide said she had been at Peninsula for over a decade and, like most other employees, lives nearby. “I have two children, and being close to home for work is just great,” she said. “To me Peninsula feels like home.”
With fears of the hospital’s closure now subsided, community members are scheduling mammography appointments, visiting the emergency room and getting their annual checkups as usual.
A study released by Consumer Reports on Health indicated that Peninsula had the distinction of being the only hospital in the metropolitan area to achieve a zero blood infection rating in 2010. It is also the only hospital in New York with its own heliport, which allows patients to be airlifted for more specialized treatment.
The Angels on the Bay Pediatric department offers expert care for sick children. For stroke victims, Peninsula’s 20-bed Traumatic Brain Injury/Stroke Rehabilitation Unit provides specialized rehabilitation services. Butterflies by the Sea, Eisenstadt Hospice Care, offers comprehensive and compassionate end-of-life care. And over 35,000 patients visit the Family Health Center each year.
The hospital has just completed a modernization of its Department of Emergency Medicine, including a complete renovation of patient treatment areas and the modernization, expansion and upgrade of its mammography suite. Expansions have also been seen in Peninsula’s radiation oncology services, surgical services, and both adult and pediatric diabetes programs.
Meanwhile, plans are already underway for the acquisition of a new linear accelerator, a new cardiac catheterization lab, the upgrade and renovation of the inpatient dialysis unit and the acquisition of new health information technology.
“While offering the kind of technology usually found only in the largest hospitals, the Peninsula Hospital Center staff understands that providing quality health care goes well beyond the technology of medicine and comes from the hearts of the people providing the care,” said Miller. “We have great plans for the future of this hospital and everything we do will make the lives of community residents better.”