Peninsula to stay open

The 104-year-old Peninsula Hospital Center in Far Rockaway will remain open, thanks to Brooklyn-based Revival Home Health Care, which has acquired the hospital.

Discussions with Revival — a 10-year-old for-profit agency known for serving the New York area’s Orthodox Jewish community — had been under way for a few weeks when an agreement was reached last Friday. The acquisition includes Peninsula’s nursing home, but details of the deal have yet to be released.

As the parties await state approval, Peninsula’s board of directors has permitted Todd Miller, Revival’s chief operating officer, to work as chief restructuring officer. Miller is meeting with hospital employees to reorganize Peninsula’s operations.

“Revival is very proud to be able to step in and save Peninsula Hospital Center for the Rockaway community,” Miller said. “We know that the staff at the hospital center shares Revival’s values of providing quality health care for the community, and we look forward to being able to continue the outstanding work already being done at the hospital.”

Peninsula is approximately $60 million in debt, and a third of that money is owed to its principal union, Local 1199. The hospital’s current deficit is $10 million, the same as last year. The 200-bed facility serves approximately 100,000 Far Rockaway and Five Towns residents.

The agreement has received union support in spite of the money the hospital owes its union. “We have reviewed Revival’s efforts and support their proposal pending final approval from the Department of Health,” said Leah Gonzalez, a union spokeswoman. And although it has yet to finally approve the agreement, the state Health Department also supports the acquisition, hospital officials said.

“I am very happy the hospital has been saved,” said Dr. John Santopolo, a Woodmere endodontist who teaches in the facility’s Dental Service Department. “It is good for the Far Rockaway community.”

The Dental Service Department is one of the few programs in which resident doctors do dental implants, Santopolo said. The program has seven residents, who are serving at Peninsula until next June.

Peninsula’s possible closing was first announced in July. Officials began making plans to close departments, and the emergency department was on the brink of shutting down when Medisys Health Network, which was financially supporting Peninsula, ended its relationship with the hospital on Aug. 22.

But the emergency department remained open on the eve of Hurricane Irene, even though the hospital was operating under “ambulance diversion.” There were two ambulances stationed outside Peninsula to take patients to other facilities if needed.

“Emergency care is vital for a multitude of accidents and medical conditions, and so, I applaud the board of directors at Peninsula and all concerned parties for their willingness to work day and night in a tireless effort to keep this hospital open,” Queens Borough President Helen Marshall said in a prepared statement.

Though there was no official closure plan submitted to the state, the hospital had transferred patients to other facilities. Some of them have returned, others were discharged from the other facilities and a few have not returned, according to Liz Sulik, Peninsula’s spokeswoman.

As Peninsula prepared to close, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, also in Far Rockaway, was preparing to expand its operations. It planned to increase its emergency department capacity by 25 percent to accommodate an estimated 15,000 more patients per year. St. John’s currently treats 36,000 emergency patients annually.

The plan also included adding a total of 319 beds, including 51 for medical/surgical use, 10 for critical care and one for pediatrics, along with 17 emergency departments bays.

What will become of those plans remains unclear. “We haven’t discussed that yet,” said Dr. Eric Nazziola, chair of St. John’s emergency department. “I am not in a position to comment.”