FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Wednesday, December 5, 2001

New Queens Hospital Opens

DASNY Celebrates Project with Mayor, Borough President

The front facade of the new Queens Hospital Center shows off the glass and precast structure.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony included, from left, Queens Hospital Chief Operating Officer Antonio Martin, HHC Senior Vice President Jane Zimmerman, Queens Hospital Executive Director Pete Velez, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; Queens Borough President Claire Shulman; HHC Board Chairman Richard Roberts, and HHC President Luis Marcos, M.D.

JAMAICA, Queens The new $149 million Queens Hospital Center opened today, replacing a 66-year-old antiquated facility and providing state-of-the-art health care facilities to the people of Queens.

The Dormitory Authority supervised the construction of the seven-story, 200-bed hospital on 164th Street. The Authority entered into an agreement in 1997 with the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which operates the Citys public hospitals, to provide construction project management services for HHCs $1.1 billion capital program.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony featured remarks by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Borough President Claire Shulman, both of whom are leaving elected office at the end of the month.

This modern and efficient hospital will provide superior services to the Queens community in the 21st century, the Mayor said. The new facility offers primary and specialty ambulatory services, surgery and special diagnostic services, neonatal intensive care, a mental health inpatient unit, full radiology services, and adult, pediatric and psychiatric emergency services.

The new hospital is absolutely necessary here in Queens, Borough President Shulman said. The construction of this new Queens Hospital, which replaces an antiquated plant, has been one of our highest and greatest goals. It is essential for helping us improve the quality health care delivery system in Queens.

The competitive health care environment and the impact of managed care have resulted in changing patterns of utilization at Queens Hospital, said Richard T. Roberts, Chairman of HHCs Board of Directors. This new Queens Hospital is responsive to the changing trends in health care delivery, and the demands of managed care.

The new 360,000 square-foot hospital consolidates all services into one building. The hospital has more than $20 million in state-of-the-art equipment, including a linear accelerator for radiation treatment and high-tech monitoring equipment for intensive care and emergency room patients.

In contrast to the multi-bed wards of the past, the new hospital was designed with 66 private and 62 semi-private rooms with large picture windows, providing privacy and a more personalized environment for the delivery of care.

The new hospital has several centers of excellence the cancer care center on the fifth floor, a womens health center on the second floor, and a diabetes care and management center in an adjacent building. Behavioral health services are on the fourth floor, the emergency department is on the ground floor, and the third floor has the operating rooms and intensive care units.

Our centers of excellence provide a higher level of care for patients in our community. We are responding to the needs of a very diverse patient base and are now offering treatment that was never before available to them, said Pete Velez, Executive Director of Queens Hospital Center. This project is a demonstration of HHCs continued commitment to providing the best quality care for this community.

A two-story, 150-foot glass gallery on the front of the facility connects sky-lit lobbies at the two main entrances. A 25-foot high white steel tube-trussed atrium links the new hospital to the existing N Building. Wood doors throughout the building and wood floors in many treatment areas help make the atmosphere warm and inviting. Interior corridors have colorful nurses stations, construction below distinct oval ceilings that help people find their way around the floors.

This is the second major project that HHC has completed in partnership with the Dormitory Authority. Program Director Dennis Falvey and Chief Project Manager Robert Walsh led the Dormitory Authoritys project team, working with Project Manager I Peter Jackson, Field Representative II Orel Munoz and Project Accountant III Colleen Parkinson.

Queens Hospital Center serves communities in Southeast Queens, including Jamaica, St. Albans, Laurelton and South Ozone Park. The hospital handles about 310,000 ambulatory care visits annually, including emergency room visits.

Other major projects under way in the Dormitory Authoritys HHC program are:

The modernization of Bellevue Hospitals critical care and inpatient care units, along with a new ambulatory care center;
The consolidation and modernization of patient care facilities at the Coney Island, Harlem and Jacobi hospitals;
Phase II of the Kings County Hospital project a new diagnostic and treatment center, along with the renovation of Building E for ambulatory care; and
The new DNA forensic lab, sited to be built near Bellevue Hospital.

Phase I of the Kings County Hospital project was dedicated on November 27th.

For more information, contact Press Officer Claudia Hutton at (518) 257 3382, or CHutton@dasny.org.

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