St. Mary’s Hospital for Children received nearly $1 million in capital funding toward outfitting a new 18-bed inpatient unit on the fourth floor of the hospital. The funds were secured by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who presented hospital staff and patients with a large check during a press conference in the lobby of the hospital’s Bayside campus on Dec. 15.
The existing unit is currently being renovated and expanded to create a new unit, which will allow the hospital to provide inpatient care to an additional 18 children. According to a news release from the hospital, this expansion will help St. Mary’s to reduce its waiting list of medically complex children with special healthcare needs, whose families have been trying to admit them to the hospital for inpatient care.
The hospital noted that more than 90 percent of patients at St. Mary’s require a level of care that exceeds what their families can afford and what Medicaid is able to cover.
Several speakers delivered speeches about the importance of the funding at Monday’s press conference, including Richards; Sean Lally, St. Mary’s president and CEO; and Carla Cangemi, St. Mary’s vice president and chief medical officer.
Jennifer Love, whose child is currently being treated in St. Mary’s inpatient unit, has been a strong advocate for medically fragile children and spoke about her experience seeking care for her child during the press conference.
Richards, father of a 10-year-old child, said he could not imagine the anxiety that comes with ensuring critically ill children get the immediate, high-quality care they need and deserve. That’s why he said he is proud to allocate $992,000 to help St. Mary’s expand the hospital’s capacity.
“While I don’t have a big white beard or a sleigh,” Richards joked, “I’m grateful to provide this gift in support of St. Mary’s and its healthcare heroes as we work to reduce the hospital’s waiting list and no child in need of care is delayed or denied from receiving it over lack of capacity.”
Lally thanked Richards, and Council Member Vickie Paladino for working together to secure the funds. He said Richards has been a tireless advocate for children with special healthcare needs across the city.
“These funds will help St. Mary’s to expand our capacity to provide the best possible care to New York’s medically complex children and we wouldn’t be able to do it without our partners in city government,” Lally said.
St. Mary’s Hospital for Children, founded in 1870, is the only center for pediatric long-term and rehabilitative care in New York City and has served the city’s children for more than 150 years. The children’s hospital provides a continuum of care to children with medically complex conditions through an inpatient hospital facility in Bayside, as well as home care services and community programs.
