New Emergency Center to Open at Site of Former St. Vincent's Hospital
A 24/7 emergency care center will open in the fall of 2013.
St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers announced Thursday morning that they have partnered with North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and Rudin Management Company to open a new "comprehensive care center" on the site of their former hospital in Greenwich Village.
The center will include a 24/7 emergency care facility, an imaging center and a surgery facility. Rudin Management said it would spend $260 million to cover some of the debt from St. Vincent's, which filed for bankruptcy before closing in April.
"The Center for Comprehensive Care proposal is an innovative solution to the health care dilemma facing residents of Greenwich Village and other local neighborhoods, who have been without a nearby Emergency Room and other critical health care services since the closure of St. Vincent's Hospital," said Miachel J. Dowling, President and CEO of North Shore-LIJ. The proposed medical facility will employ close to 400 workers and service approximately 450 patients daily. However, the new center has received criticism from those who say it will not replace the old one.
Eileen Dunn, a nurse at the former St. Vincent's, said opening an emergency care facility is not the same as having a full-servicing hospital in a community. "It's like putting a bandage on an artery that's bleeding," she said. The new center will not have a level-one trauma unit like the former hospital. This means that patients may have to be transferred to full-servicing hospitals for life-threatening issues.
The new walk-in emergency facility is slated to open by the fall of 2013. It's part of a bigger plan under Rudin Management that will bring luxury condos, a school and a new park to the area.
