The borough of Queens is shuttering hospitals at an alarming rate. Since September 2008, three local hospitals have closed in Queens, taking with them more than 2,500 jobs and scores of valuable hospital beds. 
Caritas Healthcare, which operated St. John's Hospital in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early last month. The two hospitals officially closed their doors on March 2. The closures follow the shuttering in September of the 251-bed New Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills. New Parkway was forced to close as part of a state plan to consolidate services and cut costs.
Understandably, both workers and administrators at the hospitals had strong reactions to the closures. "Things happened so fast that I didn't have a chance to look for another job," Dr. Mohammad Ahsan, an emergency room attendant at St. Johns told NY1 News. "I don't know. Maybe go home and stop by unemployment--that's the plan we have now."
In recent weeks demonstrators held protests asking Albany for more funding for the hospitals but state officials replied that they had already provided Caritas with $50 million and couldn't come-up with additional financial support. Catherine Wilkinson, a nurse at St. John's for more than 30 years, expressed concern for local residents. "I'm upset for the patients and where are they going to go for quality healthcare," she told NY1 News.
Unfortunately, official statistics paint a grim picture and only serve to underscore the dearth of available beds in Queens. According to a recent study by the Queens Borough President's office, in Queens there are 1.3 beds per 1,000 people as compared to 7 beds per 1,000 people in Manhattan.
St. John's nurse Eddie Drinnkman told the New York Post that the hospital closures could turn a healthcare crisis into a disaster. "Governor Patterson is trying to save money by killing the residents of Queens," he said.
Mayor Bloomberg's response to the hospital closures was one of pragmatism. "We're just going to all have to do more with less, and whether it's less hospitals or less of anything, we're just going to have to adjust to a new reality," the mayor told WNYC radio in New York.
Comments