Rival Hospitals Collide Over Flushing Hospital

by HOWARD GIRSKY New York Hospital Queens charged last week that the president of Jamaica Hospital Center "bit off more than he could chew" when he sought to nurse Flushing Hospital back to financial health.
The war of words between the two rival hospitals erupted after Jamaica’s president, David Rosen, charged that NYHQ had stripped services and assets from the bankrupt Flushing institution.
At a news briefing, Rosen reportedly said he "will have to take off the handcuffs" applied by NYHQ during the period it managed Flushing, the oldest hospital in the borough.
Brian Salisbury, spokesperson for NYHQ, told The Queens Courier this week that "I am offended by The inaccurate, offensive and misleading statements made by Rosen."
Salisbury, spokesperson for NYHQ president Steve Mills, said that "Jamaica will come around to the same conclusions we did when it realizes the situation over there is not rosy."
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center’s spokesperson, Tara Stenzel Fleming, acknowledged that Rosen did make the harsh comments, but had no comment in reference to Salisbury’s statement.
"There’s no silver bullet to cure Flushing’s ills," Salisbury added.
The NYHQ spokesperson said "the insulting remarks by Rosen can be traced to the fact that they realize they have bitten off more than they can chew."
Salisbury also had harsh words for the health care union, Local 1199.
"They promised to help us get the word out about Flushing’s viability," he said, "but they didn’t cooperate at all."
Salisbury said NYHQ bore the cost of a radio and newspaper advertising campaign, but the union didn’t contribute a dime.
"We even cleared the ad copy with them," he said.
Jamaica Hospital was given authority by the federal bankruptcy court to manage Flushing Hospital’s affairs. Jamaica reportedly has received promises of funding from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which is also Flushing’s biggest creditor.