Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday introduced New York State will make investments $27.5 million to develop maternal and pediatric well being care services at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.
She stated the State’s funding will enhance entry to high-quality prenatal and psychological well being care by increasing the hospital’s Ladies’s Pavilion to greater than double its present dimension.
The governor stated this funding will even allow the hospital to construct a brand new, state-of-the-art Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), which can enable extra native households to entry take care of critically in poor health and injured kids with out touring miles away to different hospitals.
“Our funding will ship higher well being take care of mothers and youngsters all through the Queens neighborhood,” Hochul stated. “As New York’s first mother governor, addressing the maternal mortality disaster is private for me.
“Whether or not it’s investing in maternal well being sources, securing first-in-the-nation paid prenatal depart or rising entry to doulas, I’ll by no means cease working to make sure protected, wholesome pregnancies for mothers throughout our State,” she added.
Hochul stated this new funding continues her actions to deal with the maternal mortality disaster, which continues to disproportionally impression ladies of shade in New York and throughout the nation.
She stated Elmhurst Hospital primarily serves neighborhoods together with Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Corona, that are among the many highest birthrate communities in Queens.
At Wednesday’s announcement, the governor additionally highlighted that New York’s first-in-the-nation prenatal paid depart coverage will take impact on January 1, with employers required to offer pregnant staff with 20 hours of further paid depart for prenatal care appointments.
She stated a brand new $20 million state funding will allow Elmhurst Hospital to develop its Ladies’s Pavilion from 16,000 sq. toes to 35,000 sq. toes – greater than doubling its dimension and including three new flooring to the power.
“This vital growth will enhance the hospital’s capability to ship high-quality prenatal care, together with normal obstetrics and high-risk being pregnant companies, diet companies, household planning sources and prenatal training together with breastfeeding courses,” the governor stated. “This funding will even enable the hospital to offer extra companies throughout night hours as requested by a current survey of sufferers from the local people.”
Moreover, she stated the expanded Ladies’s Pavilion will provide a variety of recent sources, together with take care of pelvic ground problems, gynecological cancers and breast well being, in addition to psychological well being counseling for postpartum despair and anxiousness, amongst different new companies.
Hochul stated new gear added to the Pavilion will embody state-of-the-art sonogram machines, ultrasound machines and mammography gear.
She stated a brand new $7.5 million state funding will allow Elmhurst Hospital to construct a brand new, roughly 1,500-square foot PICU.
Hochul stated the hospital presently doesn’t have a PICU, “which implies that many critically in poor health and injured kids from native communities should be transferred miles away to different hospitals which can be higher geared up to take care of them.
“This has positioned an undue burden on many Queens dad and mom and households who should always journey to go to a critically in poor health little one,” she stated. “Constructing the brand new PICU will lastly tackle this downside by guaranteeing that native households with critically in poor health kids can simply entry high-quality care near dwelling.”
The governor stated the power will embody new gear reminiscent of superior screens with modules for A-lines, CVP monitoring, EVD monitoring, capnography, Devoted ECG and different state-of-the-art gear.
New York State Well being Commissioner Dr. James McDonald stated, “This can be a vital funding within the well being of people that give start, kids and the Queens neighborhood. Individuals who give start deserve entry to companies that may enable them to have a protected and empowering birthing expertise.
“It’s also an essential funding for critically injured or sick kids, who, together with their households and family members, deserve care that’s compassionate, prime quality and native,” he added.
NYC Well being and Hospitals CEO and President Mitchell Katz, MD stated, “NYC Well being and Hospitals/Elmhurst is such a trusted, neighborhood point of interest for high-quality care, and this growth will solely additional develop companies for girls and youngsters. I wish to thank Governor Hochul for her dedication to public hospitals. She understands how important they’re to communities reminiscent of Elmhurst.”
NYC Well being and Hospitals/Elmhurst CEO Dr. Helen Arteaga-Landaverde stated, “Governor Hochul’s historic allocation of $27.5 Million for our Ladies’s Pavilion and Pediatric ICU illustrates her robust dedication to serving to New York’s ladies and youngsters, and Ideeply admire her help.
“This funding will assist us cut back toddler and maternal mortality, present care to ladies at each life stage, and be certain that we ship vital care to our smallest sufferers once they want it most,” she added. “We thank Governor Hochul for investing in Elmhurst Hospital and giving us the sources to safe a wholesome, thriving future for our neighborhood.”
Assemblymember Catalina Cruz stated, “Elmhurst Hospital by no means asks how or why; it successfully and effectively serves hundreds of my neighbors irrespective of their monetary or ethnic background. In the course of the worst of instances, it has stood as a beacon of hope for many who typically have little to no entry to care.
“The Governor’s multimillion greenback funding into our Pediatric Care Unit and the Ladies’s Pavilion is extra than simply an infusion of funds; it’s an affirmation of New York’s dedication to a neighborhood that’s wealthy in cultural variety however typically economically marginalized,” she added. “As a proud affected person of the Ladies’s Pavilion at Elmhurst Hospital, I do know firsthand the important function this establishment performs in our on a regular basis well being care, however significantly for the hundreds of uninsured ladies all through Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Corona.
“This funding ensures that extra ladies and youngsters in our neighborhood will obtain the standard healthcare they deserve,” Cruz continued. “I thank the Governor for her help and sit up for seeing the real-life impression of right this moment’s announcement.”
Assemblymember Steven Raga stated, “Governor Hochul’s historic $27.5 Million funding for Elmhurst Hospital will save lives in Queens. The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit can be important for guaranteeing that critically in poor health kids in our neighborhood obtain the suitable medical consideration and help they want throughout their most susceptible moments, whereas the Ladies’s Well being Pavilion will tackle the precise well being care wants of ladies in an inclusive and supportive setting.
“This help from our Governor will make vital strides in well being care companies for our neighborhood, which was the epicenter of the epicenter of COVID-19 in the US,” he added.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr., whose father hails from Jamaica, stated, “Elmhurst Hospital is the heartbeat of Northwest Queens and certainly one of New York Metropolis’s most important hubs of high-quality well being care. The success of this neighborhood is instantly linked to the success of the hospital in delivering for the households who search its care.
“With this unprecedented funding in facility’s skill to ship elite well being care outcomes for newborns and their dad and mom — a number of the most susceptible sufferers handled there — in addition to kids of all ages, numerous lives can be saved or in any other case improved,” he added. “I’m deeply proud to associate with Governor Hochul on such an funding and I thank all of Elmhurst Hospital’s well being care heroes for his or her sacrifice.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Hochul participated in a roundtable dialogue the place she introduced $1 million to develop entry to psychological well being care throughout the borough by partnering with community-based suppliers.
She stated 5 suppliers, together with Charles Wang Neighborhood Well being Heart, Transitional Providers for New York, Little one Heart of New York, Korean Neighborhood Providers and Enterprise Home, can be awarded $200,000 to develop their psychological well being programming in Queens.
“The psychological well being disaster is the defining problem of our time and once I took workplace, I vowed to remodel our psychological well being system,” the governor stated. “Struggling New Yorkers deserve a system that’s suited to and conscious of their wants, and this $1 million funding will develop entry to care throughout Queens so that each New Yorker has the instruments and sources they should succeed.”
