$1.5 M Allocated to Mount Sinai Queens

By Alicia Venter aventer@queensledger.com

$1.5 million has been allocated to Mount Sinai Queens in Astoria, with funding to go towards a new, 22-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Announced by Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. on Friday, Feb. 24 — Day four of his “Borough Hall on Your Block: Western Queens” Initiative — the capital funding reflects a concerted effort to provide quality health care to Queens residents.

“We need to make sure hospitals like Mount Sinai Queens are outfitted with the best possible facilities so we can offer the best possible care,” Richards shared at the event. He discussed the dedication that healthcare workers showed the community during the pandemic, and how this funding is a part of his personal efforts to invest in healthcare. The new ICU will replace the existing eight-bed ICU.

“Like many other hospitals, the pandemic quickly led to the ICU being overwhelmed with patients. Those dark days showed us that we need Mount Sinai Queens and all our hospitals to be in a better posi- tion to handle a sudden huge influx of critically ill patients,” Richards said.

Dr. Cameron Hernandez,

Executive Director of Mount Sinai Queens, expressed his excitement for the $1.5 million in funding, and jokingly added that the hospital “will ask for a wee bit more,” funding next year, drawing a laugh from the Borough President.

Hernandez highlighted the need for Mount Sinai Queens to be “a destination and not a pitstop for Manhattan.” Residents that need serious care should be able to find it in Astoria, he stated, and that with the continual growth of the hospital, he hopes they no longer need to cross the East River to find it.

“You can do as many procedures you want here in Queens, but what you really need is the post care,” he said. “We need all of these people to do their best work and the only way that they can do their best work is by having a state-of-the-art 22 bed ICU.”

Dr. Nazia Mashriqi, Director of Critical Care, shared that the need for transfers to Manhattan will likely diminish as post-care becomes available at Mount Sinai.

Funding for the expansion comes from Richards and the City Council.