A beloved 25-year Elmhurst Hospital veteran, union worker and Corona community leader who died from COVID-19 at the height of the pandemic, was honored Saturday, June 12, with a street co-naming ceremony near LeFrak City.
The northeast corner of 98th Place and 57th Avenue was renamed Priscilla Carrow Way as her daughter and son gathered with dozens of her neighbors and friends.
“Priscilla Carrow Way will be a symbol in our neighborhood memorializing a woman that impacted lives in more ways than one,” Councilman Francisco Moya said. “Priscilla was an advocate, a champion and a crusader, fighting for housing, fair wages and so much more for so many.”
Moya said co-naming 98th Place and 57th Avenue in her honor was another opportunity to “memorialize her legacy and share our admiration and love for Priscilla” with her children Tasheen Carrow and Keyana Reaves — as well as “everyone whose life she made an impact on from Elmhurst Hospital and CWA Local 1180 to NYSNA and Community Board 4, and so many more.”
Carrow died at age 65 from COVID-19 on March 30, 2020, as the pandemic overwhelmed Elmhurst Hospital, where she worked as a coordinating manager.
“Having my mother’s name on a street is historic,” Reaves said. “She was a full-time mom, full-time activist and was so involved in the community. My mom deserves this. We feel so honored that her name will be here forever and I know she would be extremely happy.”
Carrow was a member of First Baptist Church since 1976 the Sherwood Village Tenants President and a member of Community Board 4. She also served as the executive director for the LeFrak City Youth & Adult Activities Association and program director of the Kenny Anderson Classic at LeFrak City.
“When people say the term, ‘you have to put in the work,’ my mother actually put in the work and she deserved every bit of it,” her son Tasheen said. “To see Priscilla Carrow Way is just inspiring. It’s a reminder to keep going, to strive to be the best you can be, be a productive person in your community and care for people. It’s not about talking about it but being about it, and my mom was about it.”
He went on to thank everyone at Elmhurst Hospital, calling them her second family.
“Priscilla Carrow was a valued and treasured member of the Elmhurst family. She was also a person who led by example and left a deep impression on all those who met her,” NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Helen Arteaga Landaverde said. “As a union leader, friend and mentor to thousands of employees, she touched many lives. We miss her daily and are deeply honored to participate in co-naming a street in the heart of Queens, and in a neighborhood she loved, in her honor.”
Carrow was due to retire at the end of the year from Elmhurst Hospital where she served as the Joint Labor Management assistant co-chair.
“Priscilla Carrow was a mighty, caring, dynamic individual who fought for workers’ rights with her whole heart,” said Rose Green, Elmhurst Hospital Joint Labor Management Committee co-chair and NYS Nurses Association representative. “She is greatly missed and her memory will never fade from our hearts.”
