by Brooklyn Eagle (edit@brooklyneagle.net), published online 10-31-2011
 

Will Allow 6,000 More Emergency, Urgent Care Visits Each Year

CENTRAL BROOKLYN — Last week, leading federal, state and city elected officials joined healthcare advocates and community leaders to officially break ground on the new, state-of-the-art emergency room and emergency department facilities at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.

In increasingly tough times in healthcare, many Brooklyn hospitals are in financial and programmatic crisis. In contrast, Kingsbrook, while experiencing similar challenges, has a clean balance sheet and is able to welcome Brooklyn leaders to its campus to break ground on major new initiatives, which will allow their emergency department to serve over 6,000 more emergency and urgent care cases each year.

“At a time when our hospitals are struggling to stay off life support, I’m thrilled that Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center — which I have been proud to support — is able to invest in its future and the community with an expanded and modernized emergency department,” said Borough President Marty Markowitz. “The ER will not only improve the quality of emergency and urgent care at Kingsbrook, but each year thousands of additional residents from Central Brooklyn and beyond will be able to depend on the hospital for their most critical health care needs.”

“We are at a pivotal juncture in our society where it is increasingly difficult for individuals to access medical care. In addition, our health institutions face the daunting task of making sure they survive in times of great austerity,” stated Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. “For this reason I am grateful that despite these tough economic times, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center has managed to navigate through these challenges and build a new facility to better serve the residents of central Brooklyn.”

“Despite the everyday challenges that we, like many peers, face, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center is on the move,” said Kingsbrook CEO Dr. Linda Brady. “Today’s groundbreaking provides ample evidence that KJMC can and will continue to step up and serve our community in Central Brooklyn, which has been hit especially hard by the continued poor economy and significant drop in funding for social services.”

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