Dreams do come true.

In Queens this week, the vision for a new Queens Hospital finally became reality as the ribbon was cut for the opening of an institution that will serve as a legacy of the celebrated career of Borough President Claire Shulman and as a beacon of health care for the surrounding community.

The outgoing Borough President’s decades-long dream, more than two years of construction, and approximately $147 million in funding helped facilitate the new Queens Hospital Center to a new five-floor building across the street from the former 1930’s-era building that once housed the hospital’s services.

The newly unveiled state-of-the-art health care institution will enhance local health care to "the population it serves... Southeast Queens," Shulman told the PRESS.

Queens Hospital will also serve as the "jewel in the cap of the Health and Hospitals Corporation," Shulman added explaining, "It’s a really good feeling".

In January, during Shulman’s State of The Borough address, the borough president summarized the culmination of a dream.

"Here’s something I’ve been waiting to say for the last 10 years . . . the long-awaited, much anticipated new Queens Hospital Center . . . is now a reality and will open this year."

This week as she witnessed the reality first-hand Shulman said that "this state-of-the-art facility will include ‘Centers of Excellence’ for women’s health, cancer care, and diabetes care – something that until now has been previously ignored."

The Borough President said that the idea to improve Queens Hospital center originated almost 20 years ago and just before the ribbon was cut on Dec. 5 the Borough President said "I feel great" about seeing the completion of a project of this size.

To see through a project this size is very hard. It takes a long time and persistence and a generous Mayor," she said.

"This is wonderful for Queens and wonderful for the city," Mayor Rudy Giuliani said at the grand opening of the hospital. The new Queens Hospital was "something promised and something completed," Giuliani said.

In 1997, plans for the long-awaited building received support from the City Council, Mayor Rudy Giuliani following extensive lobbying from the borough president and speculation about the privatization of the hospital.

Ground breaking on the new facility took place in October 1998.

"It has been a mission," Shulman said.

The nearly $150 million project was managed and funded by the Dormitory Authority, a state benefit corporation which designs and constructs new facilities for nonprofit hospitals.

The new glassy structure sits on the north side of the old hospital on 164th Street and 82nd Avenue.

The modern 360,000 square foot hospital will house 200 inpatient beds, for primary and specialty ambulatory care and take up just a quarter of the 22-acre campus of Queens Hospital.

The nearly $150 million project was managed and funded by the Dormitory Authority, a state benefit corporation which designs and constructs new facilities for nonprofit hospitals.

Before becoming Borough President, Shulman was a nursing student member of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps at Queens Hospital during World War II and later became employed as a nurse at the hospital. It is also where she met her husband, Psychiatrist Mel Shulman.

When the Trib inquired if these things made a difference, Shulman simply said, "There is a real need for quality health care in this borough."

Patients at the new Queens Hospital are expected to be treated in specialized areas of expertise that include a women’s center, a cancer treatment facility and diabetes center.

The women’s center will take up the whole second floor and include an array of services from delivery to mammography.

In addition to the latest technology, the cancer care facility has been designed to keep families in mind, including a library for use while loved ones receive chemotherapy.

And the diabetes center has put together a comprehensive program for treatment as well as preventative health care in Queens.

In recent years, Queens Hospital Center has laid the groundwork for reaching out to the community it serves.

According to the HHC, Queens Hospital currently has three satellite centers, including the Charles R. Drew Center, a pediatric, dental and women’s health facility on Archer Avenue in Jamaica.

In addition to the Drew Center, The Queens Health Network Medical Center on Parsons Boulevard, also serves the Jamaica area.

The Queens Health Network Medical Center is a new 15,000 square foot health care facility located in the heart of Jamaica’s busiest shopping district – offering easily accessible medical care to adults and children

Queens Hospital Center also has an award winning teenage program at the South Queens Community Health Center on Guy Brewer Boulevard. The program is open to all teens 13 to 19 years of age in need of comprehensive services, including abstinence counseling, pregnancy testing and family planning.

— Nick Abadjian contributed to this story

On The Cover:

Howard Stewart, Chairman of the Community Advisory Board (left), Pete Velez, senior VP of Queens Health Network and Borough President Claire Shulman ushered in the new Queens Hospital Center on Dec. 5