Demise of three Queens hospitals 11 years ago
adds to pain of borough’s coronavirus tragedies
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
More than a decade ago,
the densely packed neighborhood
of Elmhurst — with a
population of over 88,000 in
a 1.1-square-mile area — was
served by two major medical
centers. Only one of them remains
in operation today.
Elmhurst Hospital Center,
now called NYC Health +
Hospitals/Elmhurst, is currently
inundated amid the
coronavirus epidemic hitting
the city. In recent days,
thousands have lined up outside
the medical center, at
the corner of Broadway and
Baxter Avenue, to get tested
for COVID-19. Thousands
more have been rushed there
in search of treatment from
the illness.
The situation took a particularly
grim turn Wednesday,
when it was reported
that 13 coronavirus patients
died at the hospital in a
single day. There were additional
reports that staff is
overwhelmed by the number
of patients seeking care, and
that resources are running
low.Over the last 11 years,
Elmhurst Hospital has been
the closest and only refuge
for Elmhurst residents in
need of medical help — but
the hospital also serves the
surrounding, dense communities
of Jackson Heights, Corona,
Woodside and beyond.
Prior to February 2009,
the Elmhurst area also had
the services of St. John’s
Queens Hospital, formerly
located at 90-02 Queens Blvd.
It was founded in 1891 by the
Catholic Sisters of St. Joseph
and remained in the hands of
the Catholic Church for most
of its existence.
But financial turmoil
doomed St. John’s in 2009
along with an affiliated hospital,
Mary Immaculate Hospital
in Jamaica. The twin
closures came months after
another nearby medical center,
Parkway Hospital in Forest
Hills, also closed its doors
amid bankruptcy.
The three closures left
Elmhurst Hospital as the primary
source for emergency
care in much of western
Queens. In the decade that
followed, emergency room
visits continued to grow.
And just when the hospital
People wait in line to be tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while wearing protective gear, outside Elmhurst Hospital Center on
March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Stefan Jeremiah
was set to begin a long
awaited expansion of the
emergency department, the
plague of the 21st century arrived
at its doorstep.
Financial failure
Up until 2006, St. John’s
Hospital had been operated
by the St. Vincent’s Catholic
Medical Centers. Along
with serving Elmhurst, it
was also a preferred medical
destination for other western
Queens neighborhoods including
Glendale, Maspeth,
Middle Village, Rego Park,
Corona and Forest Hills.
St. Vincent’s filed for
bankruptcy in 2006 due to
mounting debts in operating
its medical facilities. The
debts, like those incurred by
many other medical centers
nationwide, were the result
of rising costs combined
with lack of payment from
uninsured patients, or slow
reimbursement from health
insurance companies or government
agencies for care
provided.
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.4 COM | APRIL 3-APRIL 9, 2020
It was reported that both
St. John’s and Mary Immaculate
were running operating
losses of up to $4 million a
month.
During its bankruptcy
proceeding, St. Vincent’s sold
St. John’s and another hospital
in Queens that it owned
— Mary Immaculate Hospital
in Jamaica — for up to $50
million to Wyckoff Heights
Medical Center, located on
the Brooklyn/Queens border
near Ridgewood.
Wyckoff management created
an off-shoot organization
called Caritas Health
Care to operate St. John’s and
Mary Immaculate. Caritas
had made promises to invest
capital in updating the hospitals
so they could compete
with other medical centers
across the borough.
But Caritas soon found
itself in the same economic
trouble that St. Vincent’s
had. The outfit was unable
to restructure the massive
debt. The timing of the situation
didn’t help matters; the
economy slumped amid the
Great Recession that hit between
2007 and 2009.
A closure crisis
On Feb. 6, 2009, Caritas
filed for bankruptcy, and the
organization announced it intended
to close St. John’s and
Mary Immaculate in 30 days
time. The hospitals were saddled
with more than $100 million
in combined debt.
Of the debt, Caritas owed
close to $60 million to the New
York State Dormitory Authority,
which had provided loans
just to keep them in operation.
Late in 2008, Parkway Hospital
closed doors amid its own
financial troubles. Suddenly,
Queens was on the verge of losing
three hospitals.
That prospect raised alarm
across the borough. Local
elected officials scrambled to
avoid — or at least deal with
— the impending loss of the
combined 216 hospital beds
and 1,600 hospital jobs at St.
John’s and Mary Immaculate
Hospitals.
A week later, on Feb. 13,
both St. John’s and Mary Immaculate
were ordered not to
accept any emergency room
patients, a precursor to a hospital’s
closure. Almost immediately,
that led to a spike in
patients at other nearby hospitals
across Queens, including
Elmhurst Hospital.
The closures of St. John’s
and were ultimately approved
by the state Department of
Health, which promised relief
for other Queens medical centers
impacted by the decision.
That included a $3.6 million
grant to the New York City
Health and Hospitals Corporation
to expand emergency
room services and inpatient
capacity at both Elmhurst and
Queens Hospital Centers.
Months later, then-Queens
Borough President Helen Marshall
released an “autopsy”
report on the closure of the
three medical centers. The report
outlined that even though
Caritas had been working
to pay down the debts on St.
John’s and Mary Immaculate,
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