St. John’s Episcopal Hospital celebrates pediatric care

In honor of its inaugural year, the St. John’s Episcopal Hospital Primary Care Pediatric, Pediatric Specialties and Internal Medicine office, that opened in September of last year, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house was held on Oct. 28 at 495 Beach 20th in Far Rockaway, across the street from the hospital.

The office is home to approximately three pediatric, one internal medicine and three pediatric specialty doctors, according to office manager Venus Terry-Smith, and serves about 20 to 25 pediatric and 10 to 15 internal medicine patients daily.

“When we opened this site a year ago for pediatrics, we opened it with the intention that our patients would visit the [emergency department] and have follow up visits at this location,” said St. John’s CEO Gerard M. Walsh. “As the only hospital on the peninsula, we have a responsibility to meet the health care needs of our community.”

Within the Far Rockaway community, there is a high need for primary care services, Renee Hastick-Motes, senior director of government and external affairs at the hospital, said. “This site was specifically designed to reduce the emergency visits to our emergency room,” she said. “Now people can have a one on one relationship with their doctors.”

Dr. Cynthia Criss, who has been on the hospital medical staff for 15 years and serves as the pediatric department chair, said: “I truly feel that we’re providing a medical home. But, this is also my home.” Dr. Criss highlighted the team’s efforts to implement particular services to cater to the community’s specific needs, such as multilingual staff members and doctors that specialize in obesity and asthma, two notable issues in the area.

The pediatric team at the hospital includes: Dr. Cynthia Criss, Dr. Allan Steinberg, Dr. Lesly Gracias Michel, Dr. Arthur DeLuca, Dr. Rami Grossman, and nurse Debbie Steiger Cohen.

Rochelle Ginis, the art therapist at St. John’s for 27 years who has since retired, donated 20 prints of her original drawings as a gift to the pediatric and internal office. They are children’s book illustrations of “iconic characters that really shaped our lives,” she said, such as Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan.

State Sen. Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. (D-Ozone Park) and Councilman Donovan Richards Jr. (D-Laurelton) both attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Cutting a ribbon on something like this is absolutely astonishing,” Addabbo said, “and it’s great and it should be commended because this is what it’s about, providing health care in a peninsula that certainly needs it.”