By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
Queens residents rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday to demand that Mayor Zohran Mamdani work with the City Council to help fill a $150 million hole in funding to construct a much-desired trauma center on the far-flung Rockaway peninsula. <\/p>\n
Rallygoers, led by local City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, continued their call for the city to fill the gap in Rockaway\u2019s health infrastructure by building a hospital to treat shooting, drowning and other trauma victims.<\/p>\n
The rally comes as the Council and mayor prepare to enter into the most serious portion of the budget negotiation process. <\/p>\n
The mayor\u2019s proposed executive budget included no funds for the healthcare center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people of Far Rockaway deserve the same access to life-saving health care as every other New Yorker,\u201d said Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, flanked by local advocates and other electeds from the peninsula and beyond. \u201cWe are asking City Hall and Council leadership to continue moving this project forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPoliticians often talk about how much they love the Rockaways,\u201d she added. \u201cThey come to our beaches, they come to our boardwalk, they talk about the strength of our community. Yes, but love is an action verb. If we truly love the Rockaways, then we must invest in the Rockaways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brooks-Powers told the Eagle that the goal is to fill the $150 million hole this year in order to reach the $200 million needed to begin construction on the trauma hospital, should the state approve the plan. <\/p>\n
An initial $50 million was allocated in last year\u2019s budget by the Adams administration. <\/p>\n
The Queens legislator said that the full $150 million may not come to pass under the constraints of this year\u2019s budget, but the hope is that they can chip away at that larger number. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe previous administration put money where their commitment is, so we’re looking for this administration to also put money where their commitment is,\u201d she told the Eagle.<\/p>\n
City Hall did not respond to a request for comment about the rally and the call to include trauma hospital funding in the budget. <\/p>\n
Support for the center, once thought to be a local pipe dream, has steadily increased in recent years. <\/p>\n
On top of funding allocations under Adams, backing for the proposal has extended to other parts of Queens. <\/p>\n
\u201cEquitable emergency care is a right, not a privilege,\u201d said Queens Councilmember Lynn Schulman, who chairs the Council\u2019s Health Committee. \u201cI’m going to continue to push this administration.\u201d <\/p>\n
The closest trauma center to the Rockaways, Jamaica Hospital, is in Schulman\u2019s central Queens district. <\/p>\n
In order to receive trauma care, Rockaway residents need to trek more than 40 minutes through the often congested Van Wyck Expressway. Pediatric cases are often sent to Cohen Children’s Medical Center in Glen Oaks, which could take an hour to get to from parts of the peninsula. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not about politics, this is not about bureaucracy, this is about whether a child, a parent, a first responder, or a visitor to our community has a fighting chance when the worst day of their life hits,\u201d said Brooks-Powers. <\/p>\n
Michael Greco, the president of Local 2507, the union that represents EMS workers, said that Rockaway\u2019s isolation often creates a domino effect that leads to a shortage of ambulances throughout the region. <\/p>\n
An ambulance could be put out of commission for several hours after taking a patient to Jamaica from Rockaway, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen one gets taken to a trauma center in Jamaica, that is an extra hour plus without services, so we all know in healthcare seconds matter, and right now it’s taking hours,\u201d he said at the rally. He added that sometimes the ambulances don\u2019t even make it back to the Rockaways because they are called for another job. <\/p>\n
Rockaway\u2019s lack of trauma care has gone on for more than a decade, dating back to the closure of Peninsula Hospital in 2013.<\/p>\n
The issue was highlighted in March 2024 when Police Officer Jonathan Diller, who was shot on-duty in Far Rockaway, had to be brought to Jamaica Hospital to receive treatment. <\/p>\n
That was despite being shot just a few blocks away from Rockaway\u2019s only hospital, St. John\u2019s Episcopal, which does not have trauma treatment capabilities. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to be treated fairly and equitably,\u201d said State Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson. \u201c[Rockaway] understands how important it is not just for us to get this trauma center, for us to no longer be kicked or treated at New as New York City’s stepchild.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach Queens residents rallied outside City Hall on Wednesday to demand that Mayor Zohran Mamdani work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-264245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}