(Fred Mogul)
North Shore-LIJ’s proposed emergency room at the site of the old St. Vincent’s Hospital in the West Village has won final approval from state health authorities.
There are still a few paperwork requirements, but a spokesman for North Shore said the network doesn’t need to raise any money for the $110 million project and will pay for it from cash reserves. It’s not clear exactly when construction will begin.
It will be the first facility of its kind in this region.
Last month, a powerful advisory board said North Shore should be able to convert the old St. Vincent’s distinctive white O’Toole Building into a freestanding emergency room -- basically, an ER without a hospital.
People with severe traumas wouldn’t go there, and people with lesser emergencies, such as heart attacks or strokes, who do come there, will need to be transferred elsewhere, if they need to be admitted for inpatient care. Some neighborhood residents and healthcare experts have argued such a facility won’t serve the community’s needs.
Fred Mogul has been covering healthcare and medicine for WNYC since 2002. His beat takes him to hospitals, community clinics, doctors offices, health agencies, public schools and research labs across the metropolitan area. His work has appeared on NPR and in the New York Times, Time magazine and Philadelphia Inquirer, among others.
Comments [1]
This is a travesty and a death knell to many residents of Greenwich Village. This facility will only be able to help people with minor injuries or aches and pains--problems a country drug store would be able to cope with. New York's hospitals are already overwhelmed with emergency room patients liying for days on gurneys in the corridors.
Leave a Comment
Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.