Queens Hospital Center (QHC), also known as NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens and originally called Queens General Hospital, is a large

public hospital A public hospital, or government hospital, is a hospital which is government owned and is predominantly funded by the government and operates predominantly off the money that is collected from taxpayers to fund healthcare initiatives. In almost al ...

campus in the

Jamaica Hills Jamaica Hills is a small middle class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is surrounded by Hillcrest (at the Grand Central Parkway to the north), Jamaica Estates (at Homelawn Street, a continuation of Utopi ...

and Hillcrest neighborhoods of

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is operated by

NYC Health + Hospitals NYC Health + Hospitals, officially the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), operates the public hospitals and clinics in New York City as a Public-benefit nonprofit corporation, public benefit corporation. NYC Health + Hospitals ...

, a

public benefit corporation Public-benefit corporation may refer to several types of corporate entity: United Kingdom * public benefit corporation, the legal form of NHS foundation trust United States * Benefit corporation or public-benefit corporation, for profit but with ...

of the city. Queens General Hospital opened in 1935 as the first municipal general hospital in the borough. It would absorb the adjacent Queensboro Hospital for Communicable Diseases shortly after opening, and the campus would later include

Triboro Hospital for Tuberculosis Triboro Hospital for Tuberculosis or Triboro Tuberculosis Hospital, later simply Triboro Hospital and now known as "Building T" or the "T Building", is a former municipal tuberculosis sanatorium and later a general hospital located on the campus ...

, which opened in 1941. Queens Hospital Center was formed in 1952 and 1959 with the official merger of the three hospitals along with two other Queens medical facilities. The current campus consists of modern buildings constructed in the 21st century, along with the former Triboro Hospital building.

Campus

Queens Hospital Center is located on a campus in the Hillcrest neighborhood of Queens. The large property is bound by

Parsons Boulevard Parsons Boulevard is a road in Queens, New York. The north-south street’s northern end is at Malba Drive in the Malba neighborhood while the southern end is at Archer Avenue in the central-downtown area of the Jamaica neighborhood. Route T ...

to the west and 164th Street to the east, with Goethals Avenue to the north. At the south end of the site is the

Grand Central Parkway The Grand Central Parkway (GCP) is a 14.61-mile (23.51 km) controlled-access parkway that stretches from the Triborough Bridge in New York City to the Queens– Nassau County line on Long Island. At the Nassau County line, it becomes t ...

, though most of the campus ends one block north at 82nd Drive. The main building, opened in 2001, is located at the southwest corner of 164th Street and 82nd Road just north of the Grand Central Parkway. The building was designed by the

Perkins and Will Perkins&Will is a global design practice founded in 1935. Since 1986, the group has been a subsidiary of Lebanon-based Dar Al-Handasah (Arabic: دار الهندسة). History The firm was established in Chicago by Lawrence Perkins (1907–199 ...

and

Davis Brody Bond Davis Brody Bond is an American architectural firm headquartered in New York City, New York, with additional offices in Washington, DC and São Paulo, Brazil. The firm is named for Lewis Davis, Samuel Brody, and J. Max Bond Jr. and is l ...

architectural firms, with a largely-glass outer facade. It has of space and 200 beds. It features private and semi-private patient rooms, in contrast to the large

hospital ward A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

s of the previous buildings. Adjacent to the south of the main building fronting the Grand Central is the only remaining pre-2000 hospital building. This is the "N Building", the former Queens Hospital Center School of Nursing built in 1956. It is connected to the main building by an atrium structure. The nursing school graduated its final class in June 1977. Across to the north from the main building is the Claire Shulman Pavilion (originally The Pavilion), opened in 2007. It is an outpatient

ambulatory care Ambulatory care or outpatient care is Health care, medical care provided on an outpatient basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment, intervention, and rehabilitation services. This care can include advanced medical technolog ...

facility. It was designed by the

Perkins Eastman Perkins Eastman is an international architecture, urban design, planning, strategic consulting, and interior design firm. Headquartered in New York City, the firm is led by founding Principals Bradford Perkins (architect), Bradford Perkins and M ...

firm, and constructed by Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. It is six-stories high extending across from east-to-west, and has of space. The outer facade consists of

precast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable molding (process), mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples i ...

, with glass curtain walls on the east (front) and south faces. The building has a structural steel frame with a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

spine. The interior utilizes modular walls to allow for quick expansion of clinics. The entrance to the building at 164th Street has a two-story atrium and entrance plaza. A public concourse runs along the south side of the building. Two bridges connect with the main QHC building, each measuring in length. Services provided at the Shulman Pavilion include a diabetes treatment center, primary care,

child development Child development involves the Human development (biology), biological, psychological and emotional changes that occur in human beings between birth and the conclusion of adolescence. It is—particularly from birth to five years— a foundation ...

and

early childhood intervention Early childhood intervention (ECI) is a support and educational system for very young children (aged birth to six years) who have been victims of, or who are at high risk for child abuse and/or neglect as well as children who have developmental d ...

, pediatrics, psychiatry, ophthalmology, and dentistry. At the west end of the campus on Parsons Boulevard between 82nd Drive and Goethals Avenue is "Building T" or the "T Building". It was originally the

, completed in 1941. The building was designed by architect

John Russell Pope John Russell Pope (April 24, 1874 – August 27, 1937) was an American architecture, architect whose firm is widely known for designing major public buildings, including the National Archives and Records Administration building (completed in 193 ...

, and later by the

Eggers & Higgins Eggers & Higgins was a New York architectural firm partnered by Otto Reinhold Eggers (August 4, 1882 – April 23, 1964) and Daniel Paul Higgins (September 12, 1886 – December 26, 1953). The architects were responsible for the construction phas ...

firm after Pope's death, in

Art Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...

-style. Then-New York City Commissioner of Hospitals Dr.

Sigismund Goldwater Sigismund Schulz Goldwater (February 7, 1873 – October 22, 1942)''Deaths of Fellows'' (1943) Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. 19(3), 224. was a physician and hospital administrator. Biography Goldwater earned his medical degree in ...

supervised the design. A tunnel in the basement connected to the now demolished Queens General Hospital buildings. The T Building is currently used by QHC for administrative offices, storage, and clinic and psychiatric services. Several clinics were relocated to the Shulman Pavilion when it opened in 2007. More services have been relocated from the T Building since then, due to the deteriorating condition of the building. In between the Shulman Pavilion and the Triboro Hospital, at the corner of 82nd Drive and 161st Street (160-15 82nd Drive) is an

Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York The Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York (OCME) is a department within the city government that investigates cases of persons who die within New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populo ...

. It is a

morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

, providing autopsy and mortuary services. The building was constructed circa 2007. At the northeast corner of the campus, at 164th Street and Goethals Avenue, is the power plant for the hospital. The two-story

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

brick building was completed in 1932, built along with the original Queens General Hospital, and was considered a modern facility at the time of its construction. One of its most notable features is its large chimney. Adjacent to the west between 160th and 161st Streets is the Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School, a grades 6–12 public school. Adjacent to the west of the school is FDNY EMS Station 50, opened in July 2016, which dispatches FDNY ambulances and contains the Queens EMS Borough Command Center. The EMS station, designed by Dean-Wolf Architects, has a glass and aluminum outer facade, a steel frame, and a concrete foundation with a

shape due to the topography of the area. It is the largest EMS station in the borough. Another EMS station and medical examiner building, and storage and utility buildings were previously located along Goethals Avenue (see below). At the western end of the block on Parsons Boulevard adjacent to Building T is a storage garage known as the "S Building", built in 1957.

Old Queens General Hospital buildings

As originally constructed in 1935, the Queens General Hospital consisted of eleven buildings. Prior to the construction of the current campus, the site contained 14 buildings. Most of the buildings in the complex were constructed of brick, and all of the original buildings were connected by tunnels. The original main Queens General Hospital building fronted 164th Street between 82nd Road and the power plant, on the site of the current Pavilion. It was built in

-style. It stood nine stories tall, with two additional floors at the center of the structure. The building was set back from the street. Its outer facade consisted of orange or

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

-colored brick, with

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

trim. It originally housed 582 beds. There were three wards per floor, for a total of 18 wards. In the sub-basement were a storeroom and sewage utilities. The basement contained kitchens and cafeterias, a record room, a patient library, and a pharmacy. A

sunroom A sunroom, also frequently called a solarium (and sometimes a "Florida room", "garden conservatory", "garden room", " patio room", "sun parlor", "sun porch", "three season room" or " winter garden"), is a room that permits abundant daylight a ...

was located on the tenth floor. Murals created by

Georgette Seabrooke Georgette Seabrooke (aka Georgette Seabrooke Powell; August 2, 1916 – December 27, 2011), was an American muralist, artist, illustrator, art therapist, non-profit chief executive and educator. She is best known for her 1936 mural, ''Recreation ...

and

William C. Palmer William C. Palmer (1906–1987) was an American painter who created public murals. Biography William Charles Palmer was born in 1906, in Des Moines, Iowa. Along Goethals Avenue, where the Queens Gateway School and EMS station now sit, were (from east to west) the power plant, a laundry facility, a garage for ambulance storage, an industrial workshop for creating furniture and other items, and the mortuary building. The morgue, which occupied the site of the school on 160th Street, was a small salmon brick building, and served as a municipal morgue for the entire borough. This site was found to be contaminated with petroleum prior to the construction of the school. In between Goethals Avenue and 82nd Drive, along the right-of-way of 160th Street near the current morgue, was the Queensboro Hospital which became Queens General's contagious disease division called the Queensboro Pavilion. It consisted of two buildings. Only the power plant survives from the original 1930s campus.

Transportation

The bus route runs north-to-south along 164th Street on the east side of the campus, serving the main buildings. The

Q25 and Q34 buses The Q25 and Q34 bus routes constitute a public transit line in Queens, New York City. The south-to-north route runs primarily on Parsons Boulevard and Kissena Boulevard, serving two major bus- subway hubs: Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–J ...

run along Parsons Boulevard at the west end of the campus, directly serving Building T. The bus runs along Union Turnpike two blocks north of the hospital grounds, which gets very good usage by this hospitals personnel, and out-patients as well. The closest

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

stations are the

station of the

IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 stations. The ...

Hillside Avenue Hillside may refer to the side of a hill. Places Australia *Hillside mine, a proposed mine on the Yorke Peninsula, South Australia *Hillside, New South Wales *Hillside, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne Canada *Hillside, Nova Scotia United Kingd ...

to the south, connected by the Q25, Q34, and Q65, and the Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station to the west connected by the Q46. The Q25, Q34, and Q65 routes also connect with the Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer subway station on Parsons and Archer Avenues, and the Sutphin Boulevard–Archer Avenue–JFK Airport subway and

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

stations on Supthin Boulevard and Archer Avenue.

Service area

Although it is located approximately between Northeast Queens and Southeast Queens, Queens Hospital Center predominantly serves neighborhoods in Southeast Queens south of Union Turnpike and east of the

Van Wyck Expressway A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or p ...

. These areas include Jamaica,

South Jamaica South Jamaica (also commonly known as "Southside") is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is located south of downtown Jamaica. Although a proper border has not been established, the neighborhood is a subsectio ...

, Hollis,

Queens Village Queens Village is a mostly residential middle class neighborhood in the eastern part of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bound by Hollis to the west, Cambria Heights to the south, Bellerose, Queens and Elmont, Nassau County to the ...

Springfield Gardens Springfield Gardens is a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the New York City borough of Queens, bounded to the north by St. Albans, to the east by Laurelton and Rosedale, to the south by John F. Kennedy International Airport, and to th ...

, Cambria Heights,

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman r ...

, and Rosedale. The hospital also serves areas of Flushing,

Oakland Gardens Bayside is a neighborhood located in the New York City borough of Queens. It is bounded by Whitestone to the northwest, the Long Island Sound and Little Neck Bay to the northeast, Douglaston to the east, Oakland Gardens to the south, and Fr ...

. and

Fresh Meadows Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway and Auburndale; to ...

within the 11364, 11365, 11366, and 11367 zip codes (

Kew Gardens Hills Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows–Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Interstate 495 (New York), Union Turnpike to the south ...

and Pomonok), as well as parts of Richmond Hill,

Ozone Park Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts W ...

, and

South Ozone Park South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. A ...

which lie west of the Van Wyck. As of 2016, over 40 percent of the service area's population is Black, including African Americans and

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean or African Caribbean people are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern Afro-Caribbean people descend from the Indigenous peoples of Africa, Africans (primarily fr ...

s. Of the remaining population, 15 percent is Hispanic or Latino, 10 percent identifies as Asian or Pacific Islander, and 4 percent identifies as White. A significant portion of the service area consists of

South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

immigrants from nations such as

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, and

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, as well as Guyanese. Much of the population is foreign-born and low income.

History

The 22-acre site of Queens Hospital Center was originally the Haack farm, purchased by the city in 1903. The first hospital on the site was the Queensboro Hospital for Communicable Diseases, located east of Parsons Boulevard (then Flushing Avenue). It was designed by architects William E. Austin and George W. Conable, and opened on June 29, 1916. A total of 20 buildings were initially planned for the hospital. A second building was completed in 1923. The first morgue in Queens was opened at the hospital in 1930.

Construction of Queens General Hospital

In 1928, Queens County Medical Society (or the Medical Society of Queens County) began petitioning the

New York City Board of Estimate The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments eff ...

and Mayor

Jimmy Walker James John Walker (June 19, 1881November 18, 1946), known colloquially as Jimmy Walker and Beau James, was an American attorney, lyricist, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 97th mayor of New York City from 1926 until his resign ...

for a free public hospital in the borough. At the time, there were no municipal general hospitals in Queens, and people were required to use Kings County Hospital in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, or

Bellevue Hospital Bellevue Hospital (officially NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and formerly known as Bellevue Hospital Center) is a hospital in New York City and the oldest public hospital in the United States. One of the largest hospitals in the United States ...

in Lower Manhattan. Queens General Hospital was proposed by the city in 1929, also referred to as the new Queensboro Hospital. The vacant property adjacent to the existing Queensboro Hospital was selected as the site for the new hospital. At the time, only five of the 22 acres on the site were occupied. The contract for general construction was approved by Board of Estimate on October 24, 1930. The

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

of the main building was laid by Mayor Walker on June 19, 1931, at 164th Street. The buildings were largely complete by 1932, but remained inactive due to a lack of funds to purchase equipment and furniture, and to complete the surrounding grounds. Meanwhile, a storm drain was installed along 164th Street between Goethals Avenue and 78th Road (just past Union Turnpike) by 1933. The primitive dirt roads surrounding the hospital including 164th Street were improved and paved, with

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

funds. Two

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

trees, which originally divided farms in the area, were preserved for the hospital, and were the only trees on the hospital grounds upon its opening. On January 5, 1934, the city was awarded a

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...

grant of $800,000, of which $260,000 went to the hospital project. These were the first PWA funds received by city and allowed work on buildings to be completed. The project, however, continued to suffer delays, which led to complaints and protests from local residents. Hospitals commissioner

said that the completion of the hospital was blocked by "

red tape Red tape is a concept employed to denounce excessive or redundant regulation and adherence to formal rules for creating unnecessary constraints on action and decision-making. The occurrence of red tape is usually associated with governments but a ...

". On October 30, 1935, the hospital was dedicated, with Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, commissioner Goldwater and Queens Borough President George U. Harvey in attendance. The new Queens General Hospital campus was referred to as a "miniature city" due to its many buildings, and its self-sustaining facilities such as the power plant, a heating plant, and the laundry building. Among the then-modern medical innovations at the hospital were specialized X-ray equipment,

radium Radium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in alkaline earth metal, group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, ...

for the treatment of cancer (a practice now obsolete), and an

iron lung An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator, a medical ventilator, mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space to stimulate breathing. It assists breathing when Musc ...

. The first patient was admitted to Queens General Hospital on November 17, 1935. Beds in the new hospital were reserved for patients who could not afford to pay; those who could were forced to use one of the private hospitals in the borough. On March 1, 1936, the Queensboro Hospital was merged into Queens General. At this time, Queensboro Hospital was renamed the Queensboro Pavilion for Communicable Diseases. By July 1936 the hospital was overcrowded, operating at 126.3 percent capacity. Additional storm drains were installed around hospital and in the surrounding neighborhood in 1939. Around this time the Queensboro Pavilion was renovated.

was dedicated at the west end of the campus on January 28, 1941 by Mayor La Guardia, who stated that it was designed to be converted into a general hospital "twenty-five years from now."

Creation of Queens Hospital Center

On June 19, 1952, it was announced that Queens General, Queensboro Hospital, and Triboro Hospital would be consolidated into Queens Hospital Center. Three other facilities were also absorbed into the new hospital:

Neponsit Beach Hospital Neponsit Beach Hospital, also known as Neponsit Beach Hospital for Children, Neponsit Hospital, Neponsit Children's Hospital, and various other names, was a former municipal tuberculosis sanatorium located adjacent to Jacob Riis Park and the Nepo ...

, another tuberculosis hospital adjacent to

Jacob Riis Park Jacob Riis Park, also called Jacob A. Riis Park and Riis Park, is a seaside park on the southwestern portion of the Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It lies at the foot of the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Br ...

in Neponsit, Rockaway; the College Point Outpatient Department, an outpatient

dispensary A dispensary is an office in a school, hospital, industrial plant, or other organization that dispenses medications, medical supplies, and in some cases even medical and dental treatment. In a traditional dispensary set-up, a pharmacist dispense ...

; and the Ozone Park ambulance station. In spite of the unification, Queens General and Triboro Hospital continued to operate largely independent of each other. The College Point dispensary was closed at the end of August 1954, while Neponsit Beach Hospital was closed on April 21, 1955 due to a declining need for tuberculosis treatment. On January 25, 1954, QHC opened a child orthopedic rehabilitation center in the Queens Pavilion. Beginning in fall 1954, Queens Hospital Center and

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

began an experimental two-year nursing program free of tuition, funded by a $50,000 grant from the

Board of Higher Education of the City of New York Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard ...

(now the City University of New York). This program would evolve into the Queens Hospital Center School of Nursing. The building was constructed in 1956, and the school opened on September 19, 1956 with 70 students. In January 1959, the hospital boards of Queens General and Triboro Hospital were combined to improve efficiency, completing the merger of the hospitals. In 1962, a city-run medical school was proposed to be built in conjunction with Queens Hospital and Queens College. The school would have been built on then-vacant land between the main Queens General building and Triboro Hospital. In July 1964, QHC signed affiliation deals with the

Long Island Jewish Medical Center Long Island Jewish Medical Center (also known as LIJ or LIJ Medical Center) is a clinical and academic hospital and medical campus within the Northwell Health system. It is a 1,004-bed, non-profit tertiary care teaching hospital and medical camp ...

and Hillside Hospital in

Glen Oaks A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. The word is Goidelic in origin: ''gleann'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, ''glion'' in Manx. ...

, as well as the now-closed Mary Immaculate Hospital in downtown Jamaica. At this time there were plans to construct an expansion of the medical center in between the Triboro and Queens General buildings, adding up to 1,000 beds. It was projected to be complete by 1970.

1970s

By the 1970s, the Triboro Hospital transitioned into a normal hospital within the Queens Hospital complex. At this time, Queens Hospital Center was considered antiquated, with over 90 percent of the hospital beds below state health standards, along with overcrowding of hospital wards and shortages of equipment. The large and open hospital wards with dozens of beds that Queens General and Triboro Hospital were built with were now in violation of modern health codes. In addition, private hospitals often sent unwanted patients to Queens Hospital, which as a municipal hospital could not refuse them. The medical center was referred to as a "

snake pit The Snake Pit, based in Aspull, Wigan Borough, England, is the gym and organisation regarded as the home of catch wrestling. Founded in 1948 by Billy Riley in the town of Wigan, it was originally known as Riley's Gym. Riley was succeeded b ...

" by city councilman Matthew J. Troy, Jr., in reference to its condition and code violations. Because of this, the city began looking for a site further south, in Jamaica or

, to construct a replacement for Queens Hospital Center. The primary location of interest was a site on Liberty Avenue adjacent to the west of the future York College campus between Jamaica and South Jamaica, just south of the

Main Line and abutting its

Atlantic Branch The Atlantic Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger service in the borough of Brooklyn. The line consists of two secti ...

. Relocation to this area would bring the hospital closer to the majority of its patient population. A new hospital at this site would be served by extensions of

lines along

Archer Avenue Archer Avenue, sometimes known as Archer Road outside the Chicago, Illinois city limits, and also known as State Street only in Lockport, Illinois and Fairmont, Illinois city limits, is a street running northeast-to-southwest between Chicago's ...

, then being built, and planned further extensions into Southeast Queens. This hospital along with York College and the subway lines would be built as part of the renewal of the downtown Jamaica area during that time, which would create Jamaica Center. Other plans included building on an alternate South Jamaica site, and rebuilding the hospital on its current property. The city also evaluated creating a medical school for the new hospital, to be affiliated with York College, Queens College, or the Stony Brook University School of Medicine then under construction. The QHC School of Nursing graduated its final class on June 12, 1977. By September of that year, the plans to construct a new hospital had not moved forward. In response, many of the Black members of the QHC community advisory board resigned, accusing the White members of the board and local residents of colluding to keep the hospital in its current location. Local residents and members of Queens Community Board 8 (representing Hillcrest) were in fact opposed to the relocation of the hospital. By 1981, the relocation plans were cancelled due to the city's fiscal crisis.

1990s: Attempts to sell

By the 1990s, Queens Hospital Center was deteriorating, with capacity reduced to 300 beds. At the time, the hospital was treating 325,000 patients annually, almost 40 percent of whom were uninsured. In February 1992,

(LIJ) ended its 25-year deal to provide

medical residents Residency or postgraduate training is a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS/MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM/VMD, BVSc/BVMS), dentist ( DDS or DMD), podiatrist ( DPM), o ...

for rotation at Queens Hospital Center. Afterwards, the Health and Hospitals Corporation began searching for an affiliation with a medical school for QHC. In particular, the city and Mayor

David Dinkins David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marine Associa ...

were searching for a deal with a "

minority Minority may refer to: Politics * Minority government, formed when a political party does not have a majority of overall seats in parliament * Minority leader, in American politics, the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative b ...

" medical school, which would have a majority Black and/or Latino student population that would reflect the hospital's patient demographics. Potential schools included

Howard University College of Medicine The Howard University College of Medicine (HUCM) is an academic division of Howard University that grants the Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Ph.D., M.S., and the M.PH. HUCM is located at the Howard University Health Sciences Center in Washington, D ...

Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first m ...

, and

Morehouse School of Medicine Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) is an independent and private historically-Black medical school in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally a part of Morehouse College, the school became independent in 1981. History MSM was established at the sugges ...

, all located outside New York State, as well as the

University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine The University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, School of Medicine is located in the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It's the only medical school in the University of Puerto Rico System. It ...

. In April 1992,

Mount Sinai Medical Center Mount Sinai Hospital, formerly at times known as Mount Sinai Medical Center, is a 319-bed major urban hospital in Chicago, Illinois, with its main campus located adjacent to Douglass Park at 15th Street and California Avenue on the city's West Si ...

agreed to supply doctors to the hospital, filling 352 doctor positions (primarily general practice and pediatrics) and 20 medical technician spots. Mount Sinai had already been providing doctors to

Elmhurst Hospital Center Elmhurst Hospital Center (EHC), also known as NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, is a 545-bed public hospital in the Elmhurst, Queens, Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens in New York City. It is one of the 11 acute care hospitals of NYC Health + Hospi ...

, another city hospital. In 1993, Mount Sinai assumed control of Queens Hospital's

OB-GYN Obstetrics and gynaecology (also spelled as obstetrics and gynecology; abbreviated as Obst and Gynae, O&G, OB-GYN and OB/GYN) is the medical specialty that encompasses the two subspecialties of obstetrics (covering pregnancy, childbirth, and t ...

program, replacing LIJ. A 1992 survey by the

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations The Joint Commission is a United States-based nonprofit tax-exempt 501(c) organization that accredits more than 22,000 US health care organizations and programs. The international branch accredits medical services from around the world. A majori ...

cited Queens Hospital Center for several safety violations, including "dead-end corridors, inadequate egress, poor ventilation and shared toilet facilities." In 1993, the

New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation NYC Health + Hospitals, officially the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC), operates the public hospitals and clinics in New York City as a public benefit corporation. NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health syst ...

(now NYC Health + Hospitals) began plans for a replacement hospital. On February 23, 1995, Mayor

Rudy Giuliani Rudolph William Louis Giuliani ( , ; born May 28, 1944) is an American politician and Disbarment, disbarred lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney ...

proposed the sale of all 11 city hospitals operated by the Health and Hospitals Corporation. At this time, the city began accepting bids for sale of Queens Hospital,

in western Queens, and

Coney Island Hospital The hospital's Behavioral Health Clinic NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health is a public teaching hospital located in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. It is owned by NYC Health + Hospitals, a public benefit cor ...

in Brooklyn. These three hospitals were selected because they were the "most marketable". A planned $485 million renovation of QHC was cancelled due to a financial crisis and the plans to sell the hospital. $25 million had already been spent by the city on preliminary designs by Henningson, Durham, and Richardson, Inc and Morrison-Knudsen. The plans to sell the hospital also prevented Queens Gateway Secondary School from being moved onto the campus. In March 1995, the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Flushing went on a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

in protest of the proposed sales of the hospitals. Later that month, the pastor held a mock funeral outside Queens Hospital in protest. By September 1995, Giuliani and the city explored the possibility of leasing the three hospitals, with the

Mount Sinai Health System The Mount Sinai Health System is the largest hospital network in New York City. It was formed in September 2013 by merging the operations of Continuum Health Partners and Mount Sinai Medical Center. The Health System is structured around eight ...

planning to bid on Queens Hospital Center and Elmhurst Hospital Center. Meanwhile, a third of the Queens Hospital staff had left in the year leading up to fall 1995. The hospital also began charging uninsured patients for services such as prescriptions, which had previously been free of charge, in response to budgetary constraints. In March 1996, the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

sued Mayor Giuliani over the proposed sale of the hospitals. The conflict over hospitals was one of several power struggles between the mayor and the City Council after the dissolution of the

in 1990. In March 1996, Mount Sinai withdrew bids to take over Queens Hospital and Elmhurst Hospital. Later that month, the Community Advisory Board of QHC also filed suit against the mayor. The plans to sell Coney Island Hospital were blocked by the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

on January 15, 1997. According to the ruling, the 1970 state law creating the Health and Hospitals Corporation did not grant the agency the ability to sell or lease city hospitals; this power had been previously held by the Board of Estimate. By mid-1997, Mayor Giuliani dropped his plans to sell the hospitals.

New Queens Hospital Center

On August 19, 1997, after the failed sale, Mayor Giuliani announced plans to construct state-of-the-art buildings on the Queens Hospital Center campus. Originally planned with 379 beds, the new hospital later had its capacity reduced to 200. The project was promoted by Queens Borough President

Claire Shulman Claire Shulman (née Kantoff; February 23, 1926August 16, 2020) was an American politician and registered nurse from New York City. She served as director of community boards and deputy president of Queens Borough, before becoming interim borou ...

. Ground broke on the new hospital on October 8, 1998. At least three of the original buildings were demolished to make room. The construction of new hospital took place in spite of continuing attempts to sell or privatize the hospital. The project was financed with taxable

municipal bond A municipal bond, commonly known as a muni, is a bond issued by state or local governments, or entities they create such as authorities and special districts. In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal bonds is often ...

s issued from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, in order to lower costs in the event the city decided to sell the hospital in the future. The new Queens Hospital Center, which cost $147 million to construct, was opened December 5, 2001, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Mayor Giuliani. Due to the closures of nearby St. Joseph's Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital around 2005, Queens Hospital Center saw increases in patients. The new pavilion across from the main hospital was unveiled at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 17, 2006, and officially opened in January 2007. Queens Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School opened at the north end of the campus in fall 2010. Groundbreaking took place for FDNY EMS Station 50 in December 2013, and the EMS station opened on July 22, 2016. In addition, the Pavilion building was renamed for Shulman in 2025.

Notable faculty

* Dr. Fred Rosner, former director of the Department of Medicine. *

, registered nurse at Queens Hospital Center; later Queens borough president.

References

External links

* {{authority control NYC Health + Hospitals Hospitals in Queens, New York Hospitals established in 1935 1935 establishments in New York City 1930s architecture in the United States Jamaica, Queens Art Deco architecture in Queens, New York