From the Daily News:Local leaders are eyeing a prescription that would keep an ailing Rockaway hospital in stable condition.
Two officials introduced a bill to reimburse St. John’s Episcopal Hospital — the only hospital left on the peninsula — the $4.3 million it spent sheltering, feeding and caring for thousands of Hurricane Sandy victims.
“They need all the help they can to get back on their feet,” said Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Beach), who introduced the bill on Monday. “We’ll beg, borrow and steal to make sure the hospital stays open.”
State Sen. James Sanders (D-South Ozone Park) introduced the bill in the senate.
Goldfeder also sent a letter to Gov. Cuomo this week asking that the hospital receive a portion of the $1.2 billion the state sets aside for hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities across the state.
Rockaway counts about 170,000 year-round residents, Goldfeder said. Hundreds of thousands more flock to the peninsula’s beaches during the summer.
The 257-bed facility has seen an influx of new patients since Peninsula Hospital closed in 2012. To cut costs, St. John’s recently got rid of its detox center, outsourced some of its clinics and laid off several dozen employees.
During Sandy, the hospital was a beacon for residents.
2 comments:
If Goldfeder has anything to do with St.John's Hospital consider it closed.
Him and his incompetent, do nothing staffers are on the job for one reason and one reason only - a steady paycheck on the taxpayers dime.
Look for a donation to his war chest by real estate developers when St. John's Hospital takes it's last gasp.
Why isn't Goldfeder getting the Hurricane Sandy money due the hospital? 311 was sending everyone there but the City has not made good on what it owes them.
There are plans for Rockaway that have nothing to do with the people who call it home. The real estate scions want it to go the way of the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, Harlem, Washington Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant
Closing St. John's is part of their game plan.
James Sanders and his staff has kept that hospital open and the bill to reimburse the hospital came from Sanders office.
Sanders and his staff and SEIU 1999 are the only ones we see actually working in the Rockaways to save the hospital. The others just put out press releases.
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