SJEH increased the number of patients it could accommodate
from 10,000 to 50,000 patients.
“We’ve created a 24/7 inpatient hospitals program, we’ve
converted all of our emergency room physicians through a new
contract and they’re all board certified in emergency medicine.
Through grants and other opportunities, we’ve purchased or
leased all new radiology equipment. We have two new CT scanners,
a new MRI unit, new ultrasonography and mammography units,
so our radiology department is quite state of the art. We also
enhanced all of our operating rooms and our equipment in our
operating rooms is state-of-the-art equipment,” Walsh said.
The hospital’s primary care department is located in the same
building, which Walsh said can be reached through SJEH’s newly
implemented call center that allows patients to make multiple
appointments with just one phone call.
Ongoing projects at the hospital include the construction of a
state funded, comprehensive women’s center in the Rockaways,
which is nearing its completion. Walsh said that the hub for
women’s health care will include all new ultrasound machines,
mammography units and DEXA scan machines. Patients will also
have the opportunity to get routine gynecological care or see an
onsite breast surgeon.
“Basically, the premise of comprehensive women’s care is that
they come in and they leave with a diagnosis. They leave knowing
what their planned care is going to be without having to wait and
it really is just geared towards women’s care,” Walsh said.
Another major project is enhancing oncology services for the
Rockaways, whose residents experience a higher rate of certain
cancers compared to other parts of New York City.
“We’re going to be enhancing oncology services, we’re going
to be enhancing our infusion and chemotherapy services in a
brand new building that’s going to be on the campus here at the
hospital. That building is also going to have a brand new, stateof
the- art PET/CT scanner, which is essential for our cancer care
and oncology diagnostics.”
According to Walsh, these improvements are part of the hospital’s
“strategic plan,” along with the New York State Department of
Health, to enhance ambulatory services to the Rockaways.
In addition to the larger projects, Walsh said that the hospital
will also focus on increasing primary care services and ensure
that the community is well educated in health care literacy, which
includes healthy lifestyle education, access to social services and
transportation to and from the hospital.
Since the hospital confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in Queens
nearly a year and half ago, the hospital also introduced a new
mobile health care unit to send to community health events and
administer COVID-19 screenings and vaccines.
“We have a better ability to serve the patients in the community
and with enhancing the ambulatory presence on the peninsula,
we’re going to have a greater ability to serve patients who don’t
need hospitalization where they live,” Walsh said.
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