PHOTOS: LIJ Forest Hills Hospital hosts Lunar New Year celebration

Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Forest Hills Hospital joined community members and elected officials to celebrate the Lunar New Year with a traditional lion dance performance. It condemned the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes outside of the Great Wall Chinese restaurant at 104-37 Queens Blvd. on Saturday, Feb. 11. 

The site is where deliveryman Zhiwen Yan worked and was killed in a senseless act of violence last year. The event was originally scheduled for Jan. 28, but was postponed. 

The hospital, in partnership with the Forest Hills Asian Association and the Coalition of Asian-Americans for Civil Rights, were joined by Yan’s family, Rep. Grace Meng who championed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act to help combat the rise in anti-Asian hate during the pandemic, Borough President Donovan Richards, Senator Leroy Comrie, Assemblymen Andrew Hevesi and Steven Raga, and Councilwoman Lynn Schulman.

Following remarks, Lorraine Chambers Lewis, PA-C, executive director of LIJ Forest Hills, led participants on a roughly one-mile stretch of Queens Boulevard and Austin Street where she distributed red envelopes — which are a traditional gift symbolizing good wishes and luck for the coming year — to Asian-American businesses along the route. 

“This is our community,” Chambers-Lewis said. “The majority of our hospital staff, including physicians and nurses, live in Queens and we stand in celebration and solidarity with our Asian-American community members.”