Saturday, November 21, 2009

Jamaica Hospital adds new beds

From the Times Ledger:

Jamaica Hospital has been making progress in its efforts to expand its services to not only handle the void left after Queens lost two major hospitals, but also to serve the influx of patients, the medical center’s administrator said last week.

The hospital completed part of the renovation of its facilities to include 14 new medical surgery beds. The expansion is part of a multimillion-dollar effort to meet the growing needs of patients in southeast Queens who head to the hospital for both urgent and long-term care, according to David P. Rosen, president and chief executive officer of Jamaica Hospital.

The new beds are on the sixth floor of the hospital, at 89-00 Van Wyck Expwy. The floor used to hold three auditoriums, clinical departments and medical offices, according to Rosen.

Those facilities were moved to the hospital’s former nursing and rehabilitation center, Rosen said. Work will continue for the rest of the year and when completed the floor will have a total of 39 beds.

Since the closing of Mary Immaculate and St. John’s hospitals in the spring, other Queens medical facilities have reported great increases in emergency room visits. Jamaica Hospital has seen a 20 percent increase in ER visits, according to Rosen.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am pleased to hear they are expanding this hospital. However, this will not make up and should not be even considered to cover the losses of beds elsewhere. This hospital is not geographically in the same areas as the closed hospitals.

New hospitals must be established to replaced the closed ones. If there is an emergency situation - gas explosions, plane crash, 911 type situation - people will be left with no place to be taken or jammed into this and other hospitals that already full. wher is Grandma President on this issue? Does she not fear for Queens - or even herself or family if someone gets sick, yet alone who she represents? God help us if anything happens!