Thursday, January 29, 2009

Hospitals may close by the end of February

From the Times Ledger:

Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, Caritas Health Care Inc. sent a letter to the more than 2,500 employees of St. John’s Hospital and St. Mary Immaculate Hospital this week informing them that they could be permanently out of work as early as Feb. 14.

In the letter Caritas Chief Executive Operator John Kastanis painted a bleak picture, saying it does not appear the company will be able to obtain enough state aid to stave off filing for Chapter 7 liquidation proceedings before Thursday.

The letter goes on to say that in the event of a bankruptcy filing following a meeting of the board of directors on Jan. 29, all employees of both hospitals would be terminated between Feb. 14 and Feb. 28.


From the Queens Courier:

“This past Tuesday, January 20,” said Dario L. Centorcelli, [Elmhurst Hospital] spokesperson, “there were 144 people at one time in the emergency room. In the hospital, we were at 101 percent capacity.

“This means that 30 [patients] were waiting for beds,” he continued. “We keep them in the ER, where they are well cared for, but it backs up the ER.”

St. John’s and Mary Immaculate hospitals provide health care services to approximately 200,000 Queens residents annually, and employ 2,500 medical professionals and health services workers.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who cares? All studies show that Queens people are HAPPY!

So your taxes will go for bike lanes of the Tower People along the waterfront.

Toby and the gang will show up, get a photo op, tell everyone they are concerned ... and go home.

You are happy.

They care for you.

Stupid assholes

Queens Crapper said...

Exactly what I thought when I saw that rally coverage. These pols showed up to get on TV. They should be lobbying Paterson, Obama and everyone else under the sun and booking buses to Albany for the staff. Instead they are in hiding until this blows over.

And the mayor? Walked past a crowd of people begging for Queens hospitals to stay open with his nose in the air and his approval rating is 69%. Go figure that one.

Anonymous said...

Don't waste our time with this - it makes Queens look bad.

You should run this site they way astorians.com is run.

http://www.astorians.com/community/index.php?topic=13777.0

See how its done? You take a bit of unpleasant news, violent muggings in Astoria, for example, and change it to a discussion about .... DOGS!!!

Now lets get some feel good headlings with 50 story buildings rendered in 2 inch square pictures.

Anonymous said...

Thanks I am starting to add that blog to my morning coffee walk around town

http://www.astorians.com/community/index.php?topic=13836.0

You see, if you ban the real world (and its people) you too can be happy!!

The community is going into the toilet and they think everything is just fine.

What is for dinner tonite, Mandy, shall we go to the Peruvian place, the Phillipino place, or the Bengladeshi place? Or should we just get a quick snack at the taco truck?

Ah Astoria, a world of choices!

Anonymous said...

Chapter 7? What will happen to the 12 million owed to local 1199? Why was this sale of the hospitals allowed in the first place? DOH new Caritas was a start up company with the backing of Wyckoff. Do you remember Wyckoff terminating thier CFO 3 months after the purchase when it was discover he placed a decimal in the wrong place. This has been a scam from day one. When you by a business your also buying its debt, DOH new immediately after the sale that they did not have the dollars to support this transfer of ownership. Instead of voiding the sale DOH buried it with full knowledge it was doomed. Now they need to get this right. this closure can put thousands on the public payroll or support it to allow it to in time support itself.

Anonymous said...

As long as the clubhouse keeps on lining its pockets with developers' kickbacks (well laundered of course) and their weak-lie newspaper/rags keep pumping out whatever crap they like besides the real news...Queensites will continue to suckle off half truths and phony promises from the likes of Stavisky & Co.

C-mon folks,
we're living in a diverse and bustling paradise....yeah a FOOLS PARDAISE!

Don't worry be happy!

Anonymous said...

Oops...typo...
I meant PARADISE .

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised that this did not happen sooner. Illegal immigrants go to the emergency rooms when they are ill, give fake names and don't pay their bills. If you live in an apartment building in Queens look at the piles of undelivered mail in your lobby to fictitious names to the apartments of illegals. You know these people and you know that's not their names.

how do you think they can afford to have all those jackpot/anchor babies? Catholic Charities did this to these hospitals by aiding and abetting illegal immigration.
Will Mexico, Bangla Desh, Korea or Ireland pay the illegal's hospital bills to save these places from closing?

What do these countries care? They are dumping their problems on the US and most of them wind up in Queens.

Anonymous said...

Oh, poor Kate and Chris. Where oh where will they meet in the future. I'm sure Chris is going to miss the crying at work because someone talked back to her.

You remember her arriving at 10 am when she said 3 hrs earlier that she was on the way. We all remember waking her up when she was on call with a problem and her saying "Why are you calling, you woke my family".Or " No I didn't get the page " when you already saw the printout of the calls in the fax. How bout her telling Christine that she was suspended until further notice
for an emotional outburst which occured 2 weeks prior. Than told her she had to see Dr. Smith in Manhattan for clearance to return because see was mentally ill. How much did that cost Chris and company.Wow talk hostile work envirement.
How she hated other woman in the garage. Yvonne,Tina all felt her wrath. Watching her walk by the mechanic than asking you when the truck will be fixed. How about her giving you the day off then calling on the day to tell you see's canceled the day off a to come in.
Memories, Good bye Kate I hope your next employer is just like you.

Anonymous said...

Bankrupcy Chapter 11- liquidation. The end has come.