Elmhurst Hospital, a cornerstone of Queens healthcare, is poised for significant growth with ambitious new development plans.
On Thursday, Nov. 14, the hospital hosted a Media, Business, and Community-Based Organization (CBO) Roundtable to unveil its vision for the future as New York City’s second-oldest municipal hospital.
Dr. Helen Arteaga-Landaverde, the Hospital’s CEO, spoke about her pride in the project, how the organization survived the COVID-19 pandemic, and their work with vaccines.
“It was decided here at Elmhurst Hospital with the federal government that we should not charge for the vaccine. Those decisions affected the entire nation. While the pandemic was a sad time for us as a community, it also showed us the strength we have here at Elmhurst,” she said.
Arteaga-Landaverde went on to announce a new partnership with EHL Hospitality Business School in Switzerland. They are the number one hospitality school in the world and have never worked with an international hospital before now. The goal of this partnership is to improve the welfare and comfort of any patient who enters Elmhurst Hospital.
“Whether you’re coming here for your physical, to have your baby, to have a hip replacement, or for an emergency, we want to make sure that when you walk through our doors, you feel that we got you and we’re going to treat you,” Arteaga-Landaverde added.
“Whether you need a little hug, an extra medication, or you just need someone to bring you a photo of your dog to make you feel better, that’s what we’re going to do.”
She also reiterated her commitment to building a Pride Center with services including Behavioral Health, Virology, Hormone Replacement, Nutrition, and Social Work. This is set to cost around $4 million.
Another upcoming project is the relocation of inpatient beds, which means that before the hospital gets bigger, it will have to get smaller. The construction will mean that some units will have to temporarily shut down and this will cost about $18 million.
A new Women’s Pavilion is also coming to the hospital with a cost of $50 million. A large chunk of this cost will be towards a hugely important bridge that will allow women in labor to go straight across into an emergency room rather than outside the hospital to get to a separate building.
Dr. Milenko Milinic, COO, then came up to speak about ‘Elmhurst 2.0’, which is the name given to the overall hospital construction project starting in 2025.
The summary of current and planned projects at Elmhurst includes Major Renovations and Service Expansions, Infrastructure Improvements, Major Medical Equipment, and Energy Efficiency Initiatives. The total figure for all of these is expected to be $239,713,781.
Over the past year, the hospital has acquired many new pieces of major medical equipment already. These include two new robotic operating rooms and ancillary equipment upgrades, including nuclear camera, cath lab, and mammography machine replacements.
The entire Labor and Delivery wing of the hospital will be renovated, and this is expected to take 18 months to complete in different phases.
“The recovery section of this unit is original to the construction of this hospital in 1957. So, as you can imagine, being nearly 70 years old, it really needs an upgrade,” Milinic added.
The Adult Emergency Department is also set to be renovated entirely, a project that has been in the works for 10 years but was pushed back due to COVID-19.
The Second Cath Lab in the hospital will be replaced by fall 2025, and a Second MRI Suite is also being designed, with a completion date of spring 2026.
The designs to replace the hospital entranceway and renovate the lobby are nearing finalization. Construction is set to begin in spring 2026 and be completed by summer 2028. This takes slightly longer due to the difficulty of maintaining access points to the hospital while construction is underway.
Milinic acknowledged and thanked Gov. Kathy Hochul for her award of $27,500,000 to Elmhurst Hospital.
“We were extremely gracious and honored to have her come here and provide some funding for what will go towards a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit,” he stated.
The next few years are going to see huge changes at Elmhurst Hospital but the project will undoubtedly provide the Queens community with even better care and hospitality.
