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NYHQ Growth Aids Health Crunch

A new wing on NYHQ will be able to ease the borough’s overburdened medical facilities.

By Lee Landor

The largest private medical center in Queens is preparing for a large “modernization” program to accommodate its growing size, pending approval from various departments in New York City.

The expansion and renovation of New York Hospital Queens in Flushing is a necessity, according to a report put together by he hospital’s president and CEO Stephen Mills. The hospital has been working at capacity, operating at an occupancy rate of 90 percent since 2000.

Several Queens medical centers have filed for bankruptcy and one hospital has shut down, resulting in a surge of visitors to NYHQ. Since 2005, the hospital has experienced 70,000 emergency room visits and 30,000 inpatient discharges, volumes that its current size can barely handle. According to the report, the hospital is “bursting at the seams,” now operating at an overall capacity approaching 100 percent.

Having noticed the growing trend over the last decade, hospital management began plans to expand and renovate the building and announced them in January of 2005. NYHQ filed for a Certificate of Need for expansion from the state and was granted approval from the Department of Health in October 2005. Finally, the hospital is awaiting approval from the Department of City Planning so that it can proceed through the next four steps of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure and eventually begin construction.

The hospital plans to create a new wing on the existing property, adding 80 acute care beds to the 439 occupied and staffed beds it already has. That wing will also allow NYHQ to double the ambulatory surgery services’ operating rooms from five to 10, better equipping the emergency department to provide early treatment of admitted patients. A new area in the wing will house cardiac diagnostic suites with advanced technology, several 24-hour interventional laboratories and patient recovery areas.

The increase in patient volume has also caused a lack of parking, especially since NYHQ is located at a busy intersection and has more than 2,000 employees and physicians. To resolve this issue, the modernization program includes a new, three-level parking garage with an elevated walkway, allowing patients, guests, physicians and hospital workers to safely enter the hospital. Several area buildings will be demolished to build the garage, a process that will take three to five years, but make available hundreds of parking spots and ease local traffic.

While the demolition and construction of the garage take place, NYHQ will use a temporary parking solution. After a negotiated agreement with the Parks Department, NYHQ rented a portion of a park on the corner of Main Street and 56th Avenue and in December began creating a parking lot there. Part of the agreement with the Parks Department stated that the hospital must erect a playground in the park and complete it before the parking lot was finalized. Both projects are near completion. NYHQ has also agreed to maintain the park and pay for its restoration upon dismantling of the temporary parking garage.

Throughout the decade, the hospital has been updating itself and adding necessary facilities, such as the birthing and postpartum facility and level III neonatal intensive care unit. In its 50 years, the hospital has welcomed the diverse population in Queens and provided well for it, according to the Mills. He said that this expansion would be of great service to Queens residents, visitors of the hospital and its physicians and workers.