QUEENS — Over the last 30 years at St. John’s Episcopal Hospital in Far Rockaway, nurse Iona Folks has treated hundreds and helped saved countless lives. Now, she believes that the lives of those who live in the community are at stake.
“If we were not here, people will die, and decreasing to 15 beds is just asking people to die,” said Folks.
She's not the only one sounding the alarm on a proposal backed by the New York State Department Health to slash the number of beds at the hospital from more than 250 to just 15.
Opponents said the move would force many of the hospital’s patients to seek treatment elsewhere.
Brianna Saks told NY1 that her husband wouldn’t be alive if he’d been forced to go to the next-nearest hospital.
"He had a heart attack in November, and they are the closet hospital on the peninsula. The only hospital, actually," Saks said. "We need a hospital on the peninsula, at least one."
In fact, there wasn’t single person who spoke with NY1 who could understand why a consulting firm would even suggest the move to the New York State Health Department.
The only reason opponents could think might have impacted their decision is that the hospital isn’t making money because of the number of Medicare and Medicaid patients it serves.
Politicians across the city are also baffled by the proposal.
Several pointed out that the coronavirus hit this community hard.
“In the middle of a pandemic, talk about taking away the one hospital they have, that's ridiculous. I don't know how the state could be more out of touch with reality," said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In May, city data ranked Far Rockaway as having the highest death rate in the borough and the second-highest in the city.
“This proposal doesn’t pass muster. It should be shredded and thrown in the trash where it belongs," said Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. "I can’t comprehend how we’re not expanding beds, building new hospitals,"
Hospital beds in the region already took a big hit when the only other hospital in the area closed in 2012. That same year, Hurricane Sandy hit, and advocates said that they saw just how vital St. John’s Episcopal was and is to area residents.
“One of the biggest problems is, we are geographically isolated,” said Dennis Graham, a retired nurse and Rockaway resident.
Graham, who is 72 years old, sees the issue from multiple sides. In addition to being a retired nurse and a resident of the Rockaways, he just completed a study on EMS response times for cardiac patients with his wife, who is also a retired nurse. They found that up to an hour can be lost by taking a patient elsewhere.
"We have a a very significant population of poverty in certain places in the Rockaway peninsula, and a lot of people with significant heart disease, hypertension, diabetes," Graham said. "So we need a hospital. We don’t need a 15-bed clinic."
Opponents also point out the move will predominantly impact people of color and the economically disadvantaged.
City data puts the demographics in Far Rockaway as nearly 45% African American, and almost 25% Hispanic or Latino.
“A lot of people who would be considered disadvantaged, the mentally ill, the patients in nursing homes, this is who we serve, along with our community residents,” Folks said.
The plan to reduce beds at the hospital would also mean that 1,000 employees would have to be let go under the micro-hospital model.