Health services in Southeast Queens are dispensed in equal doses of quality care, compassion and affordability by some of the nation’s most prestigious physicians, diagnosticians and nurses. The following is a glimpse at the places we go to for the sake of our health:

The Queens Hospital Center is preparing for a long awaited, planned move this spring . . .right across the street from its current location.

After 10 years of dreaming and hard work by Borough President Claire Shulman, more than two years of construction, and $147 million, Queens Hospital Center will move into a new, five-floor building across the street. Set to open in June, the state-of-the-art health care institution will enhance health care, particularly for the 950,000 residents of central and southeast Queens.

"It will be a first class hospital and we are delighted," Shulman told the PRESS.

"We will end up with less beds but with a state-of the art institution," Shulman added, explaining that even though the replacement hospital may lose around 17 beds its presence will benefit Southeast Queens economically as well as offer the latest in medical treatment.

"There are 20 acres of property. We will use those 20 acres to make up for any red ink." Shulman said.

This state-of-the-art facility will include "Centers of Excellence" for women’s health, cancer care, and diabetes care.

Latta Vasconcellos, associate director for external affairs, said, "This is a gift to the community."

The new glassy structure sits on the north side of the old hospital on 164th Street and 82nd Avenue and although it looks completed from the outside, the interior has yet to be finished.

Its 360,000 square feet will house 200 in-patient beds, for primary and specialty ambulatory care and take up just a quarter of the 22-acre campus of Queens Hospital.

Vasconcellos explained, "Perception is a reality, so we have to create a reality." Queens Hospital is re-inventing itself, she added, like its sister hospital Elmhurst Hospital, which was upgraded with a $250 million modernization program in 1997. "Health care is a competitive industry, and for us to survive we need to step up our service to communities."

Plans for the long-awaited building received support in 1997 from the City Council, the mayor and Queens borough president, which led to the ground breaking in October 1998. The $149 million project is managed and funded by the Dormitory Authority, a state benefit corporation which designs and constructs new facilities for nonprofit hospitals. So far the project is on time and on budget.

Renovations have modified what currently exists in the old hospital structure - called the A Building - to make the best use possible out of the space available.

Innovations in care, outreach and room design have been incorporated into what will soon be open as the new Queens Hospital Center.

Established in 1891 in a rented, four-bedroom home in Jamaica, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center (JHMC) today is a 387-bed, not-for-profit teaching hospital. JHMC serves a population greater than 500,000 in Queens and eastern Brooklyn.

A 387-bed, not-for-profit teaching hopsital teaching, the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center serves half-a-million people in Queens and Brooklyn.

JHMC has developed a comprehensive network of 10 ambulatory care centers throughout Brooklyn and Queens. This venture is known as the MediSys Health Network. The MediSys network treated more than 327,000 patients last year.

The Hospital’s Emergency Medicine Department – a Level 1 Trauma Center – is one of the busiest in New York. In 2000 Jamaica treated over 97,000 patients, who accounted for 80 percent of its admissions. The department also has a Fast Track Center, separate adult and pediatric departments and Queens’ first Chest Pain Center. In January 2001, Jamaica Hospital opened a new pediatric emergency department, four times larger than the old one.

Jamaica’s OB/GYN Department delivered over 3,300 babies in 2000, and its new Women’s Health Center was designed to handle the growing need in the community and cares for over 33,000 women annually.

Jamaica Hospital’s specialized services include inpatient mental health, a Psychiatric Emergency Department and a Traumatic Brain Injury and Coma Recovery Unit. The Traumatic Brain Injury Unit was dedicated for Former White House Press Secretary James Brady and his wife, Sarah, in May 1996 and is known as "The Brady Institute."

Jamaica Hospital has an extensive community outreach program that arranged for over 9,600 free medical screenings last year, including blood glucose levels, foot exams and blood pressure checks. The department also reached thousands more with the distribution of literature about health topics and access to health services.

A stately complex on the northern border of Rufus Kings Park, Mary Immaculate Hospital presides over
the health of the Jamaica community.

Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica has been part of the community for over 100 years.

Founded in 1902 by the Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Dominic, of Amityville, New York, Mary Immaculate today is a 261-bed acute-care hospital for the medical and surgical care of children and adults.

The hospital also serves its community with extensive outpatient family health care.