NEW YORK—The disparity between health care demand and supply in Queens was bad enough with the closing of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospital earlier this year, but the H1N1 flu outbreak added insult to injury. It’s gotten so bad that City Comptroller William Thompson said that hospitals in Eastern and Central Queens are in a “state of crisis.” He urged the state to take action to alleviate hospital bloat immediately.
At the height of flu season, worried patients flooded the waiting rooms of hospitals across the city, especially in Queens, where the outbreak was more serious. More than 10 schools in that borough had closed temporarily due to flu concerns.
St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospital each addressed approximately 50,000 emergency room visits annually. When they closed after filing for bankruptcy, other hospitals in the area were left to shoulder increased patient demand.
At Queens Hospital Center, ambulance arrivals rose 51 percent; that at North Shore University Hospital in Forest Hills rose by 40 percent.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall foresaw the trouble that would ensue should Queens hospitals be needed to respond to a health crisis.
“I warned the Governor’s office that the hospital system in Queens would not be able to handle a major emergency,” said Marshall in a press release.
Marshall and Thompson said that the closing of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospital were not well-planned and openly discussed with the public and all appropriate government agencies. They hope that the H1N1 flu outbreak will inspire all parties to have the conversation that was overlooked.
“The city and state need to pull key health care providers and other stakeholders together immediately to share information, identify problems and develop solutions to address the current surge in demand stemming from the H1N1 virus,” Thompson said in a press release. “If the State Department of Health had begun planning in December 2006, as I suggested, it is likely that much of the current impacts in Queens could have been minimized or avoided entirely.”
At the height of flu season, worried patients flooded the waiting rooms of hospitals across the city, especially in Queens, where the outbreak was more serious. More than 10 schools in that borough had closed temporarily due to flu concerns.
St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospital each addressed approximately 50,000 emergency room visits annually. When they closed after filing for bankruptcy, other hospitals in the area were left to shoulder increased patient demand.
At Queens Hospital Center, ambulance arrivals rose 51 percent; that at North Shore University Hospital in Forest Hills rose by 40 percent.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall foresaw the trouble that would ensue should Queens hospitals be needed to respond to a health crisis.
“I warned the Governor’s office that the hospital system in Queens would not be able to handle a major emergency,” said Marshall in a press release.
Marshall and Thompson said that the closing of St. John’s and Mary Immaculate Hospital were not well-planned and openly discussed with the public and all appropriate government agencies. They hope that the H1N1 flu outbreak will inspire all parties to have the conversation that was overlooked.
“The city and state need to pull key health care providers and other stakeholders together immediately to share information, identify problems and develop solutions to address the current surge in demand stemming from the H1N1 virus,” Thompson said in a press release. “If the State Department of Health had begun planning in December 2006, as I suggested, it is likely that much of the current impacts in Queens could have been minimized or avoided entirely.”
