Bad Economy Causes Two Queens, NY Hospitals To Close Doors, Lay Off 2,500 Employees

Monday, March 2, 2009
Linda Young - AHN Editor New York, NY (AHN) - Two hospitals in Queens have closed their doors throwing 2,500 people out of work.
St. John's Hospital in Elmhurst and its sister facility, Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, stopped accepting patients on Saturday. A skeleton staff remained on duty to care for the remaining patients until they could be transferred to other hospitals.
Hospital officials placed plywood over the doors of St. John's Hospital on Monday and ambulances stood ready to transport patients elsewhere in case anyone showed up for emergency treatment unaware that the facilities had closed.
The hospitals fell victim to the worsening economy despite an attempt, earlier this year, by state officials to provide enough funding to keep the facilities open. Rising costs, coupled with a rising number of uninsured patients who couldn't pay was finally too much for the hospitals. The parent company declared bankruptcy last month.
Other hospitals nearby are already running at capacity, which means it will be hard to absorb patients who normally would go to St Johns and Mary Immaculate hospitals.
Some of the laid off nurses from the two hospitals are reportedly worried about finding new jobs. Although health-care was once thought recession proof, the growing number of Americans who have lost their health insurance means that people are foregoing medical elective care and often can't pay for emergency care.