EDITORIAL
Elmhurst Hospital in Queens became a tragic
marker in the city’s ongoing fight against the
coronavirus. In a single 24-hour period, 13 patients
HOW TO REACH US
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.16 COM | APRIL 3-APRIL 9, 2020
Patients wait to get tested outside of Elmhurst Hospital. REUTERS/Stefan Jeremiah
Attention healthcare workers:
Tell us your coronavirus stories
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there died.
Accounts of the situation at Elmhurst Hospital are
quite grim. A physician at the medical center said the
facility was hit with “a tidal wave” of patients, and there
just aren’t enough beds to accommodate them all.
“The only beds we’ve been able to free up are people
who have died,” that physician told THE CITY.
For most of western Queens, Elmhurst Hospital has
been the only place for local residents to get emergency
care. It wasn’t always like that.
Three hospitals in Queens closed in six months between
2008 and 2009: Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills,
St. John’s Queens Hospital in Elmhurst and Mary Immaculate
Hospital in Jamaica. The cause of death was
essentially the same: a terminal case of massive debt
that no one could repay.
For the borough, the triple hospital closure added
pressure on Elmhurst Hospital, as its emergency department
usage went up 39 percent between 2009 and
2014. Its reliance has not eased even with more affordable
health insurance and the advent of urgent care
centers.
The hospital situation in Queens is not isolated to
the borough. It’s a reflection of the ongoing health care
problems facing the city, state and country.
In the near term, Governor Andrew Cuomo says the
state needs 140,000 hospital beds to treat coronavirus
patients. Normally, the state has 53,000 hospital beds.
Imagine that for a second: 53,000 hospital beds for a
state with a population of 19.5 million people.
New York needs to triple its hospital capacity to
meet the coronavirus crisis. But when the crisis is over
— and it will end eventually — we will revert back to
the same hospital system that we had before that was
understaffed and under-equipped before the coronavirus
showed up.
Hospitals are not seen as moneymakers in a for-profit
healthcare industry, yet they are no less a necessity
for public health. We’re going to have to build more permanent
hospitals, hire more doctors and nurses, and
put more people to work to keep us safe.
And if the city and state have to do it and take on the
costs, so be it. It’s the kind of public works that will be
necessary to restart our economy in the post-coronavirus
era.
As the coronavirus epidemic
rages on across New York City,
we want to hear from the health
care workers on the front lines
battling to save lives.
Our reporters want to speak
with health care workers about
what they’ve witnessed in emergency
rooms, medical centers,
nursing homes and other facilities
where lives hang in the balance
every day. We want to tell
their stories to show New York
City their courage but also the severity
of the conditions they work
in — and the situation they face.
We welcome submissions at
any time from active New York
City physicians, nurses, lab technicians
and other health care
workers who are helping to treat
patients.
Email Editor-in-Chief Zach
Gewelb at zgewelb@schnepsmedia.
com, and a reporter may contact
you soon. Your information
will be held confidentially; your
name will be used only with your
express permission, or withheld
upon request.
By submitting, you understand
that the content must not be false,
defamatory, misleading or hateful,
or infringe any copyright or
any other third party rights or otherwise
be unlawful.
We will use the contact details
that you provide to verify your
identity and answers to the questionnaire,
as well as to contact
you for further information on this
story. If we publish your content,
we may include your name and
location.
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