Coney Island Hospital Opens New Critical Care Room
Coney Island Hospital held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday to celebrate the opening of a new critical care room for treating patients with serious, life-threatening injuries.
The new 450-square-foot space can be used to treat and evaluate up to two critically ill patients and brings more resources to the hospitals emergency room. The critical care room cost approximately $100,000 and has state-state-of-the-art equipment for treating patients in need of urgent care.
“We are making improvements that will allow us to provide optimal health care and enhance the patient experience for the thousands of Coney Island and Southern Brooklyn patients and families who rely on our essential services,” said newly-appointed hospital CEO Anthony Rajkumar. “The new critical care room may be modest in its square feet but will make an extraordinary impact in our ability to respond to the most serious emergencies and save lives.”
Coney Island Hospital treated nearly 90,000 patients last year — an increase of 21 percent since 2014, according to the hospital. Of those who visited the hospital last year, 13,000 came in with critical conditions.
“I’m pleased to congratulate NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island on the addition of a Critical Care Room in the Emergency Department,” said Councilman Chaim Deutsch.
“This Critical Care Room will play a significant role in ensuring that expedient treatment is given to the 13,000 patients in critical condition who visit the hospital each year,” said City Councilman Chaim Deutsch. “One of the great things about Coney Island Hospital is the commitment of the new leadership team to constantly refine and develop services to best address the expanding needs of our local community, and this addition to the Emergency Department is another example of that industrious spirit.”
Deutsch attended the ribbon cutting alongside Councilman Mark Treyger and Assemblymembers Pamela Harris, Helene Weinstein and Bill Colton.
Treyger called the new critical care room “a positive step for the health and well-being of Southern Brooklynites.”
“State of the art technology and equipment will give the staff at the hospital more resources to treat patients with the most serious and life-threatening conditions, while allowing doctors, nurses, and staff to provide more focused and attentive care in the facility’s emergency room,” he said.
Emergency care at Coney Island Hospital came under scrutiny this year after staff misdiagnosed a 47-year-old grandmother who died of Meningitis. A shakeup among the hospital’s senior leadership followed soon after the incident.
In response to a question about the quality of care in the emergency room, Rajkumar, who came to Coney Island Hospital in May, called the case “unfortunate” but said “Coney Island Hospital is a great hospital. This has been here for a lot of years and we’ve been taking care of the communities that we serve.”