From yesterday's St. John's Queens Hospital noon rally:
"Mayor Bloomberg went on 1010WINS and said publicly that his public hospitals can handle this. They can't! They're underbedded and there is a 5-6 hour wait to see an emergency physician." - Kim Zambrotta, RN
"It's interesting that Queens is the most culturally diverse community in the United States...I think it sounds like we have a little bit of racism going on in the county of Queens. So, Governor Paterson, do something about it." - Carlos Quiles, RN
39 comments:
We don't need hospitals, we need condos! St. John's and Mary Immaculate could be turned into "luxury condos" in anticipation of the "gentrification" of the surrounding areas.
You are such an idiot.
To Juniper Park Civic Association:
You're a bunch of phonies with your banner up to bring attention to your group. Where were you this past decade when St. John's needed your support? Shame on all of you.
Hypocrites..just like all the other politicians getting on board now, grabbing the media spotlight when it's too late.
I agree, first post is an IDIOT. You will live to regret those words.
its overguys its over sad sad very sad
My mother has worked at St. John's for more than 40 years and I am the JPCA's secretary. The mother of our President, Robert Holden, worked at St. John's for 30 years in the admitting office. We live in the community that St. John's serves. The hospital was never faced with a deadline for closure before, so I am not sure why you are attacking the JPCA. I would think you would be happy that a community group came out to support you. How many other groups were there yesterday?
How are you supposed to support a hospital? Make yourself sick and then bring yourself to the Emergency Room?
I think commenter #1 was being facetious.
I agree, it would have been nice to see more COMMUNITY support out there yesterday instead of mainly hospital employees, but the fact is the community just doesn't get it.
They will not realize the dire seriousness of what happened until it's too late. And as for the low life underhanded dealings of the board of directors,DOH, administration and polititions that helped this dirty deal go down, SHAME ON YOU
Let me get this straight.
Quiles is playing the race card because his own people bankrupt the hospital ?
2 "It takes 5 hours to see a doctor"
That’s for the few people with medical insurance.
It’s mainly due to all the paperwork to make sure the hospital Bill (always inflated to the maximum) will be paid by the insurance company, patient co pays (some patients must do paperwork to put up their homes.
A simple appendoctomy is now $30.000. A stroke can set you back a $100,000 co-pay)
The Mayor said "most people" "the average"
Since most of these people are Immigrants without insurance no SS# numbers, They get treated very quickly. There is little questions or paperwork involved.
The hospital just sends the bill to the government.
The goverment then stiff them...I think thats the probem here.
The snowball has just started to roll.
There are to many people in New York sucking on services and not paying taxes.
There was no advanced notice of this rally. I only heard about it the night before at the Juniper meeting that the nurses in these videos spoke at. At 12 noon on a weekday, the community was working. Trust me, the community GETS it.
Seriously, it's Mayor Bloomberg who doesn't seem to "get it". He doesn't have to wait in any ERs for care when he is sick.
"Quiles is playing the race card because his own people bankrupt the hospital ?"
No, he is saying that because smaller community hospitals which tend to be in immigrant communities or communities of color get 1/2 the reimbursement rate from the insurance companies that large hospitals in eastern Queens and Manhattan get for providing the same exact service.
Ask yourself why that is.
St Johns & MIH were sold down the river by a corrupt board of directors, a "restructuring officer" with ties to NorthShore and the DOH. Seriously, when have you EVER seen a hospital close so quickly?
The DOH couldn't slam the doors fast enough on St Johns. Why? Are they afraid if it takes longer all this corruption which helped bring these hospitals down might be exposed?
This, unfortunately was a done deal long ago, and we were too naive to believe that the people sent to "turn things around" were, instead, deliberately sabotaging us.
Live & learn. So much for the Mission Statement.....
Copied from another board.
In researching the WARN notice, which requires a 60 day notice before closure (or be paid for the time) I don't see anywhere that bankrupcy means that requirement doesn't apply.
Aren't they required under this WARN to pay employees for the rest of the 60 days since they did not stay open 60 days after the notice was given???
Can anyone tell us the answer to this? Why doesn't WARN requirement apply to the closing of St Johns & MIH?
To Queens Crapper.....I really appreciate your comments which are typically right on point. I would have to argue that your comments regarding hospital reimbursements being 1/2 that in minority communities compared to hospitals that serve more affluent populations is not accurate. If it is accurate, please provide the reference where this data was derived. Many hospitals are struggling with poor reimbursement rates, but the issue at MIH and St. Johns is the fact that the case-mix index is low. In other words the hospitals failed to balance the low payors with services and a patient base that provide high reimbursement rates. Many of the physicians who could have provided a patient base for the hospital were pushed out by arrogant administrators....and over time the only patient base were ER admissions who were typically un, or under-insured. I agree that there is a need for these hospitals, however they have to position themselves to compete in very difficult healthcare market. This would take a leader with a vision and an understanding of the unique healthcare market in Queens.
For several decades New York City hospitals had been distinguished by their tightly regulated environment, chronically weak finances, high occupancy rates, teaching intensity, dependency on public payers, low managed care penetration, and minimal merger activity. Then in the late 1990s a rapid convergence of forces--the Balanced Budget Act, managed care growth, state deregulation of commercial rates, escalating costs, and plunging hospital occupancy rates--threw the city's hospital industry into turmoil. This period of turbulent change left most of the city's safety-net and small community hospitals near bankruptcy. These hospitals are the latest victims.
are we all that stupid????it is a race card especially in south jamaica. this city doesn't care about jamaica. where is Al S. now???his people wont have an er. does he care now. the state would of never got away with this if it was happening in bayside or glen oaks. only those people deserve a hospital, right??it was fast because it was all planned and management knew. i love the neighborhood i work in and love my hospital!if anything comes of this i'd like to see those responsible for sinking us to go to hell!!!!!!!!!
Any talk of purchasing St. John's and Mary Immaculate should include the revival of Parkway as well. The more hospitals, the better.
The city can handle St.John's volume because the city hospital is underbeded? What wait 36 hours to be treated at Elmhurst? At St. Johns the wait was only 9 hours because they bedded folks in the emergency room. Otherwise if you have a real dire emergency good luck at Elmhurst - a neighbor confided he goes to Elmhust to get his teeth fixed for free because they can't turn him away - no ID so everyone else knows have a cold? Go to the emergency room to get treated. Mr Bloomberg do you go to your city hospital for treatment ?
People in NYC need to question how has the imminent closure of 2 hospitals occurred in such a rapid fashion. How did this occur without Patterson and Bloomberg involved? How is Northshore allowed to take advantage and become a monoply in the health care market? Are the reimbursable rates for patients the same at Northshore LIJ, NY Hospital of Queens and Mary Immaculate/St. John's the same and if not WHY? How do you spell corruption ? Health care in Queens! Records should be pulled and the adminstrators should be questioned just as with the bankers and the car makers because there is inequality issue in health care in NYC. Why should hospitals in Manhattan with a less patient population be allowed extra beds while Queens has our beds cut? Our sense of fairness should be called into question. People in Queens should be able to receive affordable and complete care in Queens. To allow Northshore to take more hospitals in Queens by closing these 2 hospitals reeks of backroom corruption. Why did these 2 hospitals not become part of HHC? Why has no hospital in Manhattan been interested in an off site hospital? Sloan has offices and clinics in Suffolk Special Surgery, NYU and New York Hospital have hospitals in Queens. Queens residents deserve better representation from our politicans and representatives. Shame on all those who allowed this to happen. How about closing some of the Manhattan hospital beds and right sizing health care in NYC to where the people are concentrated? Queens has more people per hospital bed than any other borough. Neither of these hospitals were on the hospital closing list , only on the Northshore list for site preference for real estate and to move Northshore Forest Hills to a safer and structurally sound building than the one they have in the old LaGaurdia Hospital. An federal investigation should be requested to open the records going back to the days of St. Vincent's Hospital overseeing these 2 hositals to find out what happened and perhaps to learn from this experience to prevent this from happening to other community hospitals in the city.
Sure this area is teeming with new comers that is increasing despite the economic disaster that is upon us. People require emergency healthcare and the city allows these hospitals to go under, What about a homeland Security issue occurring in Queens say the Airports or neighborhoods with railroads - which hospitals will be left to respond to a huge crises? The ration of immediate population of Queens to std hospital beds should equal what Manhattan enjoys. Worse yet, Queens has a server under-counting of populations because of the sanctioned illegal residents who live here. This adds 500K folks who use hospital facilites for all of their needs - sneezing? Go to the hospital they cannot refuse you!
Poor management.
Mandated service to those who cannot pay.
Absence of regulatory oversight.
Blissful avoidance of responsibility by elected officials.
Thought this was about the banks or auto industry?
Why do the elected official drool over the trillions we pay so they can spend it on their wealthy, incompetent, political contributors, but cannot even send a condolence card to the community that just lost 2 hospitals?
Sick people are too yucky for these prissy politicians. They shit their pants, pee in bed, don't comb or brush their hair.
Now, get to GM or Citigroup. There are clean people, who take you to fine restaurants, fly you to the Caribbean, lend you private jets and limo, but, most of all, bury you in cash so you remember them. Of course they don't do these things for you, the actual source of their wealth, but for the politicians we stupidly permit to spend our money. These politicians represent us, so when Citigroup or GM lavish our tax dollars on the sleazy politicians, it's in their capacity as representing us.
Sick people die. Rich people contribute.
That's why the politicians are ignoring the closings.
I agree, it would have been nice to see more COMMUNITY support out there yesterday instead of mainly hospital employees, but the fact is the community just doesn't get it.
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Get real. You are wasting your time. This is not 1960.
The community does not care. Most are transient, dont speak the language, and compared to where they came from, care is excellent.
What is waiting 15 hours in an ER when in their country you have to walk 3 days from your village to see Doctors Without Borders?
Most to the people living in these communties come out of a National Geographic spread. Remember, Elmhurst is America tomorrow, eh Sanjek and Queens College?
Where did that kind of profile of a pathalogical civic envirnment come from?
Planted, watered, and carefully tended by the machine.
Every year, more and more Queens communties a falling into that profile.
The community does not care. Most are transient, dont speak the language, and compared to where they came from, care is excellent.
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Sort of explains the indifference of the politicans.
Who is going to suffer the political fallout for this, while around the corner they are putting in a dozen seperate projects that each have 100s of people?
No one.
The community does not care. Most are transient, dont speak the language, and compared to where they came from, care is excellent.
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Sort of explains the indifference of the politicans.
Who is going to suffer the political fallout for this, while around the corner they are putting in a dozen seperate projects that each have 100s of people?
No one.
MAYBE WE WILL SEE A PRATT STUDY ABOUT THIS.
MICKELJOHN AT HUNTERS SEEMS TO BE STUCK ON THE WORD 'IMMIGRANT' WHY DOESN'T SHE DO A PAPER ON THE NEGATIVE IMPACT THAT THAT THIS WILL HAVE?
Guys! guys! guys! you are all too caustic.
Be on the postive.
Lets await the next NYT review of these communties as they extoll the 'diverse! vibrant!' mix and 'great real estate opportunities.'
Just wanted to say thank you to Kim Z we know how hard you worked to keep us open your friends and coworkers will never for get, your one special gal!!
I'm appalled by some of the bigoted comments I have read regarding the closure of these two hospitals. This country's greatness was established on the backs of our immigrant populations. Our greatest strength should be our tolerance of other groups who may have unique cultural differences, but share the common ground to build a great country.
The failure of these two hospitals have absolutely nothing to do with race or illegal immigration. Quite simply these hospitals failed the communities they serve by not positioning themselves appropriately in a very difficult healthcare market. I practice medicine in southern Queens and it is impossible to send my patients to MIH because of its poor reputation in the community. These patients preferred to seek hospital care outside of the community. The hospitals did absolutely nothing to improve its relationships in the community.....nor did they spend any efforts marketing the commited nurses and physicians at the two hospitals. The hospitals are soley to blame for its failures......not the poor undocumented immigrant who attempts to utilize, or maybe overutilize some of the hospital services. SHAME ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, HOSPITAL EXECUTIVES, AND PHYSICIAN DEPARTMENT CHAIRS WHO DID NOTHING TO GET THESE HOSPITALS BACK ON THE RIGHT TRACK!
Then you're really going to be upset by the video I post tomorrow where the immigrant doctor says the reason the hospital is in bankruptcy is because they treated the uninsured plus they get half the rate of reimbursement that North Shore does for the same services. No matter how many "paying" patients you have, you're not making up the difference.
Come on....let's discuss facts here:
-New York ranks first on Medicaid spending per capita
-New York's per capita spending is twice the national average mostly on hospital spending
- New York ranks 6th on spending for hospital services
-Despite the high spending, New York ranks 27th among states in % of uninsured
-There is currently $847 million available for indigent care, with more to be allocated
Do you catch my drift?.....the failure of these hospitals are more complex than caring for an indigent population. The DOH should also take some accountability here.....the Berger Commission should have identified these two hospitals as "at risk" and provided close oversight and funding to: 1. consolidate the hospital services, and 2. develop or invest in their present ambulatory and primary care services. THIS WAS THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE IN THE PRESENT MARKET!.....now 2500 people will be out of a job. Shame on the Department of Health for not protecting the healthcare interest of these two communities.
TIME TO SHAME GOV. PATTERSON !!!!! Meeting @ both institutions on Tues. 2:00 pm @ SJQH and 3:30pm @ MIH. We will go to Gov. Patterspon's office on Wed. KEEP THE HEAT ON. The doors are not locked yet.
"I'm appalled by some of the bigoted comments I have read regarding the closure of these two hospitals. This country's greatness was established on the backs of our immigrant populations. ..."
... on the backs of LEGAL immigrants.
Immigrants are people who ask permission and get permission to enter this country.
Like so many millions of others, I am the progeny of LEGAL immigration. I have married into a family of LEGAL immigrants.
Nobody in my family would have ever looked for or accepted being on the dole. NEVER!
All who came here legally, immediately started a LEGAL job, loved this country for all the FREEDOMS it offered, learned the rules and not only played by those rules, but expected all the family to also obey the law.
None of us yearned to return to the "old country". We were all citizens of the US, and pledged our allegiance to this nation.
So, drop the "We are all immigrants" horseshit. Those who crossed our border illegally are ALIENS. Illegal aliens.
Immigrants are far too proud to be lawbreakers and beggars!
Asshole.....Aliens are six-legged space creatures. Immigrants can be documented or legal as you refferred to....or undocumented....whatever the case the ills of this country is not to solely be blamed on immigration issues.
Does anyone including the queens crapper know if CB 5 is meeting tomorrow? What time and where?
CB5 meets the 2nd Wed of the month. So you blew it.
Anonymous said:
"Asshole.....Aliens are six-legged space creatures. Immigrants can be documented or legal as you refferred to....or undocumented....whatever the case the ills of this country is not to solely be blamed on immigration issues."
Nothing ever embarrasses the stupid.
Even when they display their stupidity on a billboard for the world to see.
Now, it's not my job to do your homework. So, stay in your room until you finish the assignment: What is the formal, government (all government's) definition of the term "Illegal Alien"?
Don't let any of us have to hear from you until you do it right this time!
"I'm appalled by some of the bigoted comments I have read regarding the closure of these two hospitals. This country's greatness was established on the backs of our immigrant populations. Our greatest strength should be our tolerance of other groups who may have unique cultural differences, but share the common ground to build a great country."
Typical bleeding heart liberal statement. If someone states the obvious (truth) you're labeled a bigot. We're talking ILLEGALS! Not legal Immigrants. Duh there's a difference genius. Wake up and smell the coffee.
We're losing our quality of life, our hospitals, schools and standard of living due to illegal freeloaders. GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS!
Where has the authorities been for the past seven years. Many corruption complaints were made against CM and AH, but these complaints fell on deaf ears. WHY????
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