Calling 2011 a year of crisis, the new president of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center looked to the future. Bruce Flanz, president and CEO of Jamaica Hospital, told people at the Community Board 9 meeting on Tuesday that the hospital has faced several challenges this year since he was appointed in March after the former CEO, David Rosen, was removed amid a pay-to-play scam.
In September, Rosen—who was also the head of the Medisys Health Network—was convicted for his part in a scam involving pay- ing off disgraced state legislators in exchange for their support in obtaining more state funding for Medisys. Since that time, Flanz said, Jamaica Hospital—which serves 1.2 million people in Queens and Brooklyn—has been facing problems thanks to the closure of nearby hospitals since 2008.
Both Mary Immaculate Hospital, formerly on 89th Avenue, and St. Johns Queens Hospital on 90-02 Queens Blvd. closed in March 2009, while Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills shut down in 2008.In addition, he said funding from local, state and federal government levels has been sparse, as the current economic crisis has left governments lacking the means to support local medical facilities, thus placing the burden on hospitals to support themselves.
“We have been challenged, and stretched out as much as we can,” said Flanz. “We would like very much to have facilities with an environment that can accommodate everyone…but there is no doubt that in today’s environment, health care facilities are really under the gun.”
According to the administrator, in order to get back on track, hospital officials are focusing on a new 10-point plan centered on improving quality at the hospital.
Next year will be a transitional year for Jamaica Hospital, as officials prepare to ‘hit the ground running’ for 2013. According to the CEO, sometime next year the hospital will be disassociating from Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center in Brooklyn, giving them a chance to refocus more resources at their own hospital.
The hospital also dissolved their affiliation with Peninsula Hospital located on the Rockaway Peninsula.
All these factors, Flanz says, will set the table for the hospital as they make efforts to reposition themselves for 2013.
Future vision includes more community-based programs to the hospital, although the specifics of what those programs could be are unclear.
“Despite the challenging times, we think that the future for Jamaica is very bright, and the future is in our hands,” Flanz said.
“And as long as the future is in our hands, we have no doubt that we will be successful.”
In other news, Community Board 9 voted 46-2 to table a motion to convert 84th Street from a one-way northbound street to a one-way southbound street from Liberty Avenue to Atlantic Avenue.
The motion was tabled following concerns from the local fire department—overheard by several board members—that the conversion would block their use of the street as a return to their fire station.
By Jean-Paul Salamanca
