The state Health Department has approved a major facelift of a western Queens hospital.
Mount Sinai Hospital Queens in Long Island City is moving forward with a sweeping $113 million expansion that would erect a state-of-the-art five-story medical building on its campus.
“We need a medical facility to accommodate the growing neighborhood,” Assemblywoman Aravella Simotas told the Daily News on Monday. “There are many young families moving in.”
The state issued a contingent approval letter last month, an important hurdle before construction can begin on the facility, agency officials said.
The operator, which is part of the larger Mount Sinai hospital network, will still have to submit legal documentation to the agency before final approval, Health Department spokesman Peter Constantakes said.
“The project will provide significant improvements to emergency and urgent services, imaging, endoscopy, ambulatory surgery, physician space, operating rooms and patient support spaces,” according to an executive summary prepared following an April hearing.
The hospital expects to break ground in September and complete construction in 2016.
A coalition of nine elected officials have been pushing for approval since 2012.
Mount Sinai spokeswoman Shelly Felder said in a statement that they were “delighted” the project is moving forward.
The 235-bed primary care center on 30th Ave. in Long Island City has seen an increase in visits in recent years, according to hospital figures provided to the state.
Between 2007 to 2011, emergency room visits have jumped by 6,000 more patients, or more than 13%. In that same period, surgeries spiked by 1,459, with Mount Sinai staff conducting 5,144 procedures in 2011, data shows.
“The emergency room is overflowing,” said Rose Marie Poveromo, president of the United Community Civic Association. “It is a long time coming.”
Under the current parameters, the expansion would add four more operating rooms and a new emergency department that would comprise 36 “treatment bays” and eight “observation beds,” according to the summary.
Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said the expansion is a vital lifeline for an area that has seen an influx of new residents in recent years.
“I have been a longtime advocate for Mt. Sinai’s expansion in western Queens where it remains today the only hospital in an area that has seen a dramatic growth in housing and new residents,” Marshall said in a statement.
Source: nydailynews.com
