St. John's Episcopal Hospital needs funds to stay afloat

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.

Worry over future of St. John's Episcopal

From CBS New York:

The Rockaway Peninsula lost Peninsula Hospital to economic pressure in 2012. St. John’s is facing similar pressure.

More than half of the patients at St. John’s are on Medicaid, which means that the hospital has been losing money for a long time. The new Federal Affordable Care Act could worsen the money crunch.

St. John’s has 257 beds and a busy emergency room that is jammed with patients. It’s the only emergency room in that part of the city.

“There’s about 150,000 people here. We are it,” explained CEO Richard Brown.

For many people the hospital could be the difference between life and death.

Officials are hopeful that the state won’t let the hospital die and are pushing for extra aid from Albany. Hospital management is hoping to sell off its nursing homes and find a white knight.

Yet another Queens hospital closing, another on critical list

From the Queens Courier:

Health care in the borough continues to flatline one facility at a time, with Holliswood Hospital the latest to shutter its doors.

The 127-bed private psychiatric hospital in Jamaica closed on Monday, August 12 due to financial troubles, said a hospital official. Current patients will begin to be discharged, and after an estimated one to two weeks, the site will close permanently.

After Holliswood shuts off the lights, nearly 400 employees will have to look for work elsewhere, according to the borough president’s office. Some already have replacement jobs, but others do not, said hospital security guard Leroy Walker.

Walker, who has worked at the center for eight years, said the staff was informed on Friday, August 2 that the facility will close in less than two weeks.

Holliswood Hospital will let 376 employees go, including nurses, mental health technicians, nurse practitioners, occupational therapists, pharmacists, psychologists and more. The largest single group consists of 58 registered nurses, said the borough president’s office.

Starting in April, Holliswood began negotiating with PSCH, Inc., a local nonprofit provider, to receive interim financing for the facility. However, the parties were unable to resolve “certain substantive deal terms and terminated negotiations” in late July, according to hospital officials.

Without additional funds, the facility “did not have the financial resources to keep the hospital open.”

This is the sixth hospital to close in the borough in the last decade following Parkway, St. John’s Queens, Mary Immaculate, Peninsula and St. Joseph’s.

From the Daily News:

The only hospital on the Rockaway Peninsula is in critical condition after the closure of units and growing uncertainty surrounding the facility’s finances.

The 257-bed St. John’s Episcopal Hospital recently outsourced several of its clinics and closed its detox unit as cost-saving measure — and union and hospital officials will protest Wednesday outside the Far Rockaway medical center to slam the management’s “short-sided” approach to fixing its balance sheet.

“If you keep chopping away at services and staffing, quality is going to suffer,” said nurse Iona Folkes.

The hospital’s dialysis unit could also shutter, union officials said.

If the hospital closes, Rockaway residents would have to venture to Jamaica Hospital, Coney Island Hospital in Brooklyn, or South Shore Hospital in Long Island in an emergency.

They're also closing immunization clinics.

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.