Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Filling the ambulance void

From the Daily News:

The closure of two bankrupt Queens hospitals added more than 2,500 names to the ever-expanding unemployment rolls and left central Queens residents with fewer health-care options.

But the loss of Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica and St. John's Queens in Elmhurst also cut a gaping hole in ambulance coverage in central Queens - forcing the FDNY and other area hospitals to fill the void.

Together, the now-defunct hospitals covered 28 tours - or eight-hour shifts - per day.

Sixteen of those tours were for advanced life support - an ambulance staffed by a paramedic. The rest were basic life support - an ambulance staffed by an emergency medical technician.


Click the link to find out how they made up for it.

Photo by Xavi Calvi on Flickr

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh what this recession has been doing... I never believe that health care or food (or anything that contributes to a person's physical life) should be receiving budget cuts. So for hospitals to shut down is sad and just plain wrong, I mean how about all those people who need medical care?

Anonymous said...

Yes, let's cut essential services and then have the government fabricate make-work stimulus programs.

The best "stimulus" is money carefully and productively spent, whether it is by government or industry. $1,900 dollar "parchment" wastebaskets by big wigs in industry are just as sickening as government pork.

Our country is circling the drain because of budget practices that wouldn't fly in any decent working-class home.

KG2V said...

I drove past St Johns on Sunday. There was a manned BLS Bus parked in the ER Driveway, ready to roll. Guess the Buses (Bus = Ambulance) might as well wait on station there as anywhere else, particularly if someone who "didn't get the word" shows up at the ER

Anonymous said...

My friend had to switch from one FDNY house to the queen FDNY station now because of hospital closures.

Anonymous said...

Where is Joe "The Crooner" Crowley?
He gets the okay for Chinese
developers to build oversized buildings on Queens Blvd. & Broadway jeopardizing the Subway
and create overcrowding, yet He does nothing to help the Hospitals.
What good is He? Throw a dollar in his cup and he'll sing a song for you. Time to get rid of Dead Wood!
The HEAD of the Democrats and He
can't do anything?? Maybe because
he lives in Virginia! Mmmmmmmmm

Anonymous said...

My friend had to switch from one FDNY house to the queen FDNY station now because of hospital closures
----

You are lucky to have a firehouse. In western Queens they build 50 story buildings AND close firehouses fully confident that the locals say nothing.

You know what? True to fashion, they don't.

Anonymous said...

What good is He?
-------

He keeps a seat warm for the 'bhoys.'