Peninsula Hospital expected to close

Administrators of the Peninsula Hospital Center and the MediSys Health Network, which operates the 200-bed Far Rockaway facility, will not officially say that the hospital is closing, but two Five Towns dentists who are members of its dental department have confirmed that the hospital is closing.

The hospital is said to be $60 million in debt, with one-third of the total owed to its primary union, Local 1199, according to information that came out of discussions among the New York State Department of Health, MediSys, Peninsula and Episcopal Health Services, which operates St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.

Peninsula’s current operating deficit is approximately $10 million, the same as last year.

It is expected that the dental department will close in about a month, and the hospital will be shuttered toward the end of the year.

“I cannot imagine how St. John’s Episcopal Hospital — the only other hospital on the peninsula — will be able to handle the overcrowding in the emergency room that will take place as a result of the closing,” said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, noting that Peninsula would be the fourth hospital to close in Queens in less than 10 years.

A proposal that came out of those discussions would save nearly 300 Peninsula jobs. Those employees would be hired by Local 1199 and used in several different hospitals — including St. John’s, to deal with the anticipated increase in patients. The proposal also calls for both hospitals to work to save the physician residency training program.

The proposal also recommends that an organization other than Peninsula take responsibility for urgent care, ambulatory surgery and private ambulatory care onsite. Local 1199 is awaiting state approval of this part of the proposal, which would save additional jobs.

“It’s a very sad day, and another black mark on a place that’s been neglected,” said Dr. Leonard Schiffman, a Woodmere-based oral surgeon who has been affiliated with Peninsula for 38 years and served as chief of its dental service for 13 years. “There is no hope of turning it around. There seems to be no place for a small community hospital with less than 400 beds.”

Out of a meeting of department heads on Tuesday, Schiffman said that those doctors offered to have their salaries cut or work for free for a specified time period if it would help the hospital's financial situation.

There is expected to be a community rally for the hospital on either Monday, Aug. 1 or Wednesday, Aug. 3, Schiffman said.

Should Peninsula close, St. John's officials said as of Wednesday they would be willing to hire up to 250 Peninsula employees, particularly nurses, depending on their needs.

"We will do our best to be sensitive to the needs of Peninsula employees," said Nelson Toebbe, chief executive officer of St. John's. "But we have to strike a balance between our anticipated operational expansion, growth of resources, demand for services and our own financial position long-term."

Dr. John Santopolo, a Woodmere-based endodontist, said that the anticipated closure was surprising, considering that the dental department hired eight residents in June, including a few who already had a year or two of residency at the hospital.

“I was a resident here in 1975, and the hospital was educating dentists before that and always had a good dental department and a good residency program,” Santopolo said. “It is a shame to see it die like this.”

Officials from neither Peninsula nor MediSys would comment, but MediSys did issue a statement through a spokesman, Ole W. Pedersen. “The management of Peninsula Hospital Center and the MediSys Health Network Inc. have been working with the New York State Department of Health and other parties to find a workable solution to the deep financial crisis facing Peninsula Hospital Center,” Pedersen said. “Peninsula has been struggling financially for several years prior to its sponsorship by MediSys, the Queens- and Brooklyn-based network that has attempted to make Peninsula financially viable in the current difficult economic market.

“A series of meetings have been held recently that included discussions with St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Local 1199 and state officials, among others, to develop approaches to meet the health care needs of the Rockaway communities,” Pedersen continued. “Without a long-term solution that puts Peninsula Hospital Center on the path to fiscal recovery, an organized closure may be the only option. Everything possible is being done in the best interest of the communities’ health care needs, and we will continue to work with the state DOH and other parties during this process.”