Mysterious fire ignites on top of Far Rockaway hospital

 

PIX News 

In one of Mario's Son's last attempts to abuse his power to benefit his donors before all those woman exposed what a serial sexual deviant he was, Andy tried to downsize this hospital during a pandemic.

And who knows how many thousands would have survived if he didn't kill Peninsula Hospital 9 years earlier.

More "affordable housing" promised by developer for Peninsula Hospital site and Councilman Richards

The 

Rockaway Times

“The clock officially starts now,” Councilman Donovan Richards said before a packed house at the RISE Center, where many gathered for an information session on the plan for the future of the old Peninsula Hospital site.

The ULURP (Uniform Land Use Review Procedure) for the redevelopment plan has officially begun and principals, Alex Arker and Dan Moritz, from the developer, Arker Companies, were on hand on the evening of Tuesday, May 7, to present the latest details of their plan. As a Councilman, Richards explained that he and City Council will have the final say on the plan, so it is important to gather input directly from the community now. “We want to make sure we give the community a lot of say on the things they’d like to see in a specific project and we want the developers to understand the needs of the community. I want to make sure that towards the end of this process, when it comes before City Council, that I feel comfortable with your input in the plan,” Richards said.

Arker first revealed their mixed-use development plan for the site in early 2018, after purchasing the property in 2016. The presentation of the latest plan showed that some changes have been made since the original plan was presented, but at Tuesday’s meeting, many pointed out that the plan still needs to be revised, including Councilman Richards. “I’m currently not in support of the plan that has been proposed. We have a long way to go with negotiations,” Richards said.

 A major concern for a few community members is the density of the project, with the development of 2,200 units. Some expressed concern that this would bring in at least 6,000 new people to the neighborhood in a place that lacks certain resources, transportation and adequate infrastructure. Councilman Richards said that at least 50 percent of the units, and likely more, would be reserved, with first priority given to people that already live in the neighborhood. The developers also explained the reasoning behind such a high density, saying it was necessary to allow for the building to be affordable, and to support some of the community benefits that the project will bring, such as the supermarket. Richards added that it was likely that the number of units will eventually be scaled back to some degree.

 Some also questioned what “affordable housing” means and urged that the development should accommodate a mix of incomes. “You say you’re building affordable housing, but the idea is to give people an opportunity for an economically diversified neighborhood. I don’t think the plan you’re putting forward does that,” Arverne resident Glenn DiResto said. “A majoriy is for those at 80% AMI or lower. It doesn’t balance out incomes. I understand the need for affordable housing, but only 13% is going to be for people with 80% AMI or higher, so if a wife makes $35,000 and a husband makes $35,000, they do not qualify. You very much need to look at a balance of income here.” Richards and the developers said they agree that a mix of incomes is necessary.

Peninsula Hospital to become 1,900 "affordable" apartments

From Curbed:

The former Peninsula Hospital site in the Rockaways will be transformed into a massive residential complex, with nearly all of the apartments slated to be affordable units, Politico first reported.

The news follows two years after the development firm Arker Companies teamed up with Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation to purchase the development site for $19 million.

Plans for the project were revealed through an application filed with the city—the development will be required to go through a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP). The developers are hoping to build 2,200 new apartments, about 1,900 of which will be affordable; new open space, a gym, a medical facility, and over 151,000 square feet of retail all spread out over 17 buildings. Of the total units 270 would be reserved for seniors.

Peninsula Hospital sold to affordable housing developer

From DNA Info:

A real estate developer and an affordable housing corporation have teamed up to buy the former Peninsula Hospital site for $19 million, according to city records.

The Arker Companies and the Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation bought the site in May from Congregation Zichron Yitzchok Vmoshe Eliyahu, a non-profit based in Borough Park and owned by Yosef "Joseph" Brunner, records show.

They bought it under two recently-formed limited liability companies, Peninsula Rockaway Housing Development Fund Corp., affiliated with NEBHDCo; and Peninsula Rockaway Limited Partnership, affiliated with the Arker Companies, records show.

The new owners plan to build multi-family housing and commercial buildings, according to paperwork filed with the city.

The project — which applied for a mortgage tax exemption because the developers exclusively build affordable housing, according to documents — would need to go through the city's ULURP rezoning process before it could move forward.

Group wants to turn Peninsula Hospital into veterans' housing

From the Daily News:

The shuttered Peninsula Hospital building has caught the eye of a nonprofit group that wants to transform it into housing for veterans and senior citizens.

But Rockaway residents, who haven’t given up hope the hospital will reopen as another medical facility, are wary of the plan.

Kim Atkins, CEO of V.I.P. Housing and Services, said the vacant property on Rockaway Beach Blvd. is “like a gift that fell from the sky.”

Atkins said she would like to create independent living for seniors at the site, along with an adult day care program and transitional housing for returning veterans.

The real reason Peninsula Hospital closed

From Crains:

Peninsula Hospital Center was awash in red ink two years ago when a white knight suddenly arrived on the scene, pledging millions of dollars in loans and promising to save 1,000 hospital jobs by taking over the Far Rockaway, Queens, institution.

It wasn't long, however, before the plan cobbled together by affiliates of Revival Home Health Care, a Brooklyn home-care agency, dramatically unraveled. Instead of saving Peninsula, the company doomed it. Within weeks, Peninsula declared bankruptcy. The Revival team was accused of mismanagement. A judge-appointed Chapter 11 trustee soon took over, closed the hospital, and sold Peninsula's nursing home.

Now the trustee, Lori Lapin Jones, is going after Revival Home Health Care. In late August, she filed civil racketeering charges against Revival, its related entities, its owners, the former president of Peninsula and business associates. Citing the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, she alleges the defendants committed fraud, falsified information to the bankruptcy court and creditors, and lied to the state Department of Health.

Peninsula "suffered actual damages in an amount to be determined at trial, but believed to be at least several million dollars, plus punitive damages," according to the lawsuit.

In the eyes of Ms. Jones, Revival's offer to save Peninsula was an elaborate plot to milk the hospital for revenue that would be diverted to a web of Revival entities. She alleges that the engineer behind the plot was Steven Zakheim, a Brooklyn health care executive who had already been blacklisted by the state Department of Health for misconduct and whose involvement would have been a red flag for regulators—had they been told he was bankrolling the plan.

Mr. Zakheim's wife, Faye, owned Revival, but the lawsuit claims that Mr. Zakheim controlled all Revival entities as well as several other related companies. The Peninsula takeover was Mr. Zakheim's "illegal scheme to acquire the debtors [Peninsula and its nursing home] and integrate them into his health care empire," according to the lawsuit. Mr. Zakheim and Peninsula's president, who was secretly on Revival's payroll, duped the DOH in part because the state did not have the power to fully investigate its suspicions that Mr. Zakheim was backing Revival, the suit alleges.

It was only through Ms. Jones' broad powers, granted under bankruptcy law to pursue millions of dollars owed to Peninsula's creditors, that Mr. Zakheim's allegedly deep involvement in Peninsula came to light.

But the resolution of the suit, filed in late August, is far from certain. Mr. Zakheim died earlier this month.

Using the trustee's subpoena power to access documents and take depositions, Ms. Jones describes—through daily email exchanges between Mr. Zakheim and Mr. Miller—how Mr. Zakheim was allegedly pulling the strings at Peninsula for his own gain. He hired a longtime Revival executive, Todd Miller, as the hospital's president, even though Mr. Miller did not have any hospital management experience. Mr. Miller reported directly to Mr. Zakheim. Mr. Zakheim was even given an authorized Peninsula identification card in September 2011 that allowed him to "come and go throughout the facilities as he pleased."

On Feb. 23, 2012, the DOH suspended the hospital's lab services after finding "serious deficiencies in the administration and operation relating to the clinical laboratory," according to the lawsuit. That was the hospital's final blow. When Mr. Miller learned the news, he immediately emailed Mr. Zakheim, according to subpoenaed emails.

Mr. Zakheim's response: "Can't we bribe anyone?"

Problems at Far Rockaway nursing home

From the Daily News:

Sandy has piled on to a hospital bankruptcy debacle to write a prescription for disaster.

Conditions have deteriorated at a Rockaway health facility that cares for some of the most at-risk patients, sources told the Daily News.

The Peninsula Center for Extended Care and Rehabilitation is under siege with an overload of patients, frazzled employees and a lack of fresh food, several staffers told The News on Thursday.

The nursing home, affiliated with the shuttered Peninsula Hospital, has been receiving patients from nearby facilities severely compromised by the superstorm.

“It’s exasperating. We’re short-staffed,” said one employee who requested anonymity. “It’s a nightmare. It just seems like there’s no end in sight.”

The 200-bed nursing home is filled to the brim and doesn’t have enough staff to properly care for the frail patients, employees said.

The number of residents assigned to each nursing team has nearly doubled, several staffers said, and there isn’t a working kitchen to provide the residents with food. Meals are being shuttled in from an outside facility.

“The patients are starting to act out,” said the staffer. “They’re used to a certain standard of care and it’s lacking on all sides. I feel very sorry for them.”

“Patient safety is at risk,” said another worker who also requested anonymity.

Who allowed the nursing home to repopulate when these problems were evident?

Lack of hospital services in Rockaways

From the Times Ledger:

Since state Department of Health officials closed Peninsula Hospital Center in April, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway is experiencing a 35 percent increase in emergency room visits and inpatient volume has climbed 11 percent, according to a St. John’s representative.

In an effort to match the higher volume of patients, the hospital has stepped up staffing across its departments. St. John’s’ top executive said Peninsula’s closure has raised health care concerns in the area.

St. John’s submitted plans to the state DOH to expand its emergency department with an observation unit and more treatment bays, including a comprehensive psychiatric emergency program. When those plans are completed, the emergency department’s capacity will increase to 50,000 patient visits per year, according to a hospital representative.

Even with a potential increase in staff at St. John’s, elected officials still contend the closing of Peninsula has created a health care crisis in the Rockaways — one that will only get worse as beach weather comes to the borough.

Peninsula Hospital closed for good

From NY1:

The signs posted on the doors of Peninsula Hospital in Far Rockaway, Queens are directing patients to St. John's Episcopal Hospital. At 9 a.m. Monday, Peninsula's emergency room officially closed, completing a total shutdown of the facility.

Former employees said dozens of their former colleagues turned out for a prayer vigil at 9 a.m. for one last emotional goodbye.

Former employees said the hospital feels like a ghost town. Most of them had already cleaned out their lockers a month ago when they were laid off.

The hospital had faced financial trouble for several years and had its lab closed by the state in February for a number of violations. They were ordered to cancel all surgeries and were forced to transfer patients to other hospitals nearby.

By mid-day Monday, crews took down the emergency room billboards.

Workers rally in support of Peninsula

From the Daily News:

A potential white knight for Peninsula Hospital is blowing in from the windy city Tuesday, the Daily News has learned.

People’s Choice Hospital, a Chicago-based group, has expressed interest in taking over the floundering Far Rockaway facility, which is slated for closure.

But thus far Peninsula’s court-appointed trustee has balked at the offer of a lifeline, sources said.

“There are problems that need to be solved, but if all parties are reasonable, there’s a deal to be struck,” said Dr. Seth Guterman, president of the umbrella company, comprised mostly of doctors.

Guterman is coming from Chicago on Tuesday night to pitch his plan to local stakeholders in the Rockaways. He said his group would be willing to pony up as much as $20 million to rescue the distressed hospital.

“They need senior management that understands how a hospital works,” he said.

But trustee Lori Lapin Jones, who was appointed by the bankruptcy court to oversee hospital operations, has yet to agree to meet with Guterman, he said.

“There’s a moral commitment to [the community] when there’s a decent option on the table,” Guterman said.

Helen gets bumped from behind!

From DNA Info:

A car carrying Queens Borough President Helen Marshall and two top aides was rammed on Tuesday morning by a Channel 4 news truck following Marshall to an early-afternoon tour of a Queens hospital, sources said.

Neither Marshall nor three staff members in her car were seriously injured when the TV van plowed into the car's rear bumper at Beach 35th Street and Seagirt Boulevard, said Marshall's spokesman, Dan Andrews, who was riding in the car.

Marshall's car was stopped at a red light at about 11:45 a.m. when the news van jarred the four passengers.

Marshall's car was headed at the time to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, where she was going to check the condition of the emergency room following news yesterday that nearby Peninsula Hospital will close.

Andrews admitted he may have unintentionally misled the police into thinking the accident had led to serious injuries.

When police asked Andrews if everyone in Marshall's entourage was OK, Andrews told them they were heading to the hospital. He said the cops, not knowing about Marshall's scheduled tour of St. John's, probably thought they were going to St. John's to seek medical treatment.

Another hospital bites the dust

From the Daily News:

Peninsula Hospital’s recovery efforts have flatlined and the hospital will be closing, officials confirmed Monday.

The troubled Far Rockaway facility had flunked a state inspection of its lab last month, forcing ambulances to be diverted and most patient care to be suspended.

Peninsula was months — not weeks — away from reopening the lab, according to bankruptcy documents filed by trustee Lori Lapin Jones on Monday.

The state Department of Health “determined that substantial additional time, effort and expense would be required before the laboratory would be eligible for re-certification,” Jones wrote to the bankruptcy court.

With insufficient money to keep the hospital afloat for that length of time, Jones wrote that closure was necessary.

What will happen to Peninsula Hospital next?

Hospital may not make payroll

From the Daily News:

The federal judge overseeing the Peninsula Hospital bankruptcy case expressed her frustration Monday, urging the stakeholders to hammer out a deal before the financial axe drops on the hospital later this month.

Without a much-needed cash infusion, the Far Rockaway facility will be unable to meet payroll after Dec. 26 — a fact that is causing “enormous anxiety” among employees, union officials said.

Judge Elizabeth Stong urged Peninsula and its creditors to settle their differences before the eleventh hour.

“It’s not a good idea to wait until the last minute,” Stong said.

She noted during the hearing at Brooklyn federal court that she refused to let the stakeholders’ “emergency” become the court’s “problem.”

Before the embattled facility can get a cash infusion, the court must approve terms of the loan, including compensation for creditors. Peninsula filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September following a precarious summer when it seemed it may close, potentially putting hundreds of people out of work.

Peninsula Hospital lays off employees

From the Daily News:

A troubled Far Rockaway hospital will be taking a scalpel to its staff roster amid ongoing restructuring plans, the Daily News has learned.

Peninsula Hospital sent out layoff notification letters to more than 50 employees on Monday as its new owner tries to stabilize its finances, several union delegates told The News.

Peninsula is currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings under the stewardship of Revival Home Health Care. Revival had taken over Peninsula from MediSys Health Network in September, after the hospital was struggling with more than $60 million in debt.

Peninsula Hospital may be saved

From NY1:

If Peninsula closed for good, it would have been the fourth hospital in Queens to shut down since 2008, leaving only St. John's Hospital to serve the Rockaways. But now, Revival Home Health has stepped in and offered a financial life line.

"The Department of Health is reviewing it as I understand and then our board of directors have agreed to it," said Peninsula Hospital Director of Public Affairs Liz Sulik.

"We've actually convinced the DOH that we do have staffing; we do have supplies; and that we do have money to restructure this hospital," said Peninsula Hospital Board Member Joe Mure.

Mure says Revival Home Health COO Todd Miller has been named the hospital's chief restructuring officer, and that he's very excited to overhaul the hospital.

While the deal still needs to be signed off on, the diversion order has been lifted. Ambulances are now once again allowed to bring patients to the ER. And Peninsula should be a fully-functioning hospital by the end of the Labor Day weekend.

Rockaway residents are delighted.

Peninsula not shutting down...yet

From NBC:

The hospital is on the verge of bankruptcy and had been searching for potential investors. A spokeswoman announced Monday the emergency room would stop taking walk-ins at 11 p.m. Wednesday.

But on the day of its scheduled suspension, spokeswoman Liz Sulik said the closing was lifted and the emergency room would stay open. It will continue to accept walk-ins, and no current patients will be transferred out.

All signs signifying the closure have been taken down.

The emergency room is still not accepting ambulances.

How about a solution?

Statement on Peninsula Closing
"Look at the attached press release from Y. Phillip Goldfeder and what do you see?

First is Joanne Shapiro, the former staffer for Audrey Pheffer, which shows that politics in Queens is a revolving door of the same old faces with connections.

Second is the vagueness and brevity of Goldfeder's statement and lack of a plan or solution to save the hospital.

Shouldn't Goldfeder at least try to come up with a solution, or will he simply express sympathy, attend a protest and then mourn the hospital once it closes?"

- a local voter.

In fairness, since I received a press release from the Deacy campaign, I thought I would include that:

Deacy.PeninsulaHospital

Another Queens hospital to close

From Crains:

New York City is about to lose another financially troubled hospital. Sources say Peninsula Hospital Center, one of two hospitals serving Far Rockaway, Queens, is set to close 90 days after state officials confirm a closure plan for the 200-bed hospital. Some 1,000 workers would lose their jobs if the plan goes forward.

Spokesmen from the state Department of Health and MediSys were not immediately available for comment.

Hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens are among the most financially strained in the city, largely because they serve poorer communities and rely heavily on Medicaid for revenue.

Peninsula Hospital in Queens May Close: MyFoxNY.com

Queens may lose 3 more hospitals

From the NY Post:

One-third of New York City's private hospitals could lose their life support and shut down if Gov. Cuomo goes through with his vow to cut between $2 billion and $3 billion from the state's massive Medicaid program, The Post has learned.

"There are 10 to 12 hospitals that are teetering on the edge [statewide]," said Stephen Berger, a member of Cuomo's Medicaid redesign team, who previously headed a state hospital restructuring panel.

"How many of them are really necessary? How many can be saved? How many can be merged? That's what we have to ask," added Berger.

"Given the amount of money we are spending, we ought to be putting together a much more efficient health-care system with better patient care."

Many of the hospitals teetering on the brink of financial collapse are located in the city's poorer neighborhoods and serve a high number of patients covered by Medicaid, the public insurance program for the needy.

Hospitals considered to be in the fiscal intensive care unit include Brookdale, Kingsbrook, Wyckoff, Interfaith and Brooklyn in Brooklyn, Jamaica and Peninsula in Queens and many institutions in The Bronx including Westchester Square.

So we lost St. John's and Mary Immaculate and were told to go to Wyckoff and Jamaica. I wonder where they will tell us to go when they close those 2?