A health care facility set to provide care to 25,000 underserved New Yorkers will be built in downtown Flushing.
During his time in Queens as part of “City Hall in Your Borough” week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on July 18 “Healthview,” a 77,000-square-foot facility to be constructed at 40th Road and College Point Boulevard. The new center will create more than 140 new jobs in its first three years of operation, according to the legislator.
Healthview, a state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly facility, will be operated by the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center. The new center will be a primary care access point that provides medical, dental, mental health, pediatric, gynecological and patient support services to the community.
The center will be designed to provide “culturally competent care” and ensure primary care is available to all, regardless of ability to pay or immigration status.
The new project serves as a “study in contrast” to the current health care discussion taking place on Capitol Hill, de Blasio said at the July 18 event.
“We keep reaching people who need help, regardless of what’s happening in Washington, D.C.,” the mayor said. “We’re celebrating that more people will be getting health care. We’re celebrating that health care will be easier for people in the Flushing community and in Queens to get because of this new facility. While, literally over these weeks in Washington, people have been talking about how to take health care away from millions and million of Americans.”
Hours before the mayor’s announcement about the Flushing facility, efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act were halted when two more Republican senators declared that they would oppose the Senate Republican bill. Still, de Blasio said, the fight is ongoing.
“We have to remain vigilant,” de Blasio said. “No one who cares about healthcare should be resting on their laurels right now … This is still a very live situation in Washington.”
As part of the mayor’s Caring Neighborhoods initiative, the city is providing $1 million for the Healthview project. Queens Borough President Melinda Katz’s office contributed $3 million and the New York City Council secured $2 million.
A groundbreaking is expected this fall.
“As New Yorkers, we believe people shouldn’t have to be afraid,” first lady Chirlane McCray said. “They shouldn’t have to empty their bank accounts when they get sick, and no matter how they came to our country and our city, people shouldn’t have to live in the shadows, especially when it comes to healthcare. Those are our values.”
