Forum Photo by Michael V. Cusenza
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center
By Michael V. Cusenza
Eighty-six New York hospitals—including four Queens medical centers—will receive more than $680 million of a new $10 billion allocation designated for “hot spot” health facilities, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) announced Saturday.
Schumer said he pushed the Trump administration for the targeted funds because “across the state of New York, hospitals and health systems report that they are losing hundreds of millions of dollars per month because of cancelled elective procedures, increased staffing and overtime costs, expanded bed capacity, and increased spending on supplies and equipment to meet the surge in COVID-19 patients. The strain on hospitals and health systems is felt even more acutely in regions like the New York metropolitan area where the bulk of COVID-19 patients are being treated at this time. These costs obviously do not exist evenly across the country, and it is therefore crucial that subsequent rounds of funding provide an adjustment for hot spots like New York.”
Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Richmond Hill will receive $1,128,335; St. John’s Episcopal Hospital at South Shore in Far Rockaway is set to get $8,700,257; Flushing Hospital Medical Center will receive $11,265,905; and NYC Health + Hospitals—Queens in Jamaica will get $760,265 in emergency funds.
“Health care workers have risked their lives and fought tirelessly to keep New Yorkers safe during this outbreak,” Gillibrand added. “This critical federal funding will help provide health centers with the resources needed to treat patients and save lives.”
