Jamaica Hospital Med Center

Description

stablished in 1891 in a rented fourbedroom home in Jamaica Queens Jamaica Hospital Medical Centers growth has been remarkable Through commitment to our mission and collaboration with community residents businesses and other groups we have strengthened and expanded the hospitals services Today Jamaica Hospital is a 431bed fully accredited community teaching hospital with a large network of communitybased ambulatory care centers JHMC offers a full array of acute inpatient rehabilitation and mental health services the largest voluntary hospital ambulance fleet serving the Citys 911 system and a Level I trauma center The hospital provides general medical pediatric and psychiatric emergency services ambulatory care on and off campus ambulatory surgery a broad spectrum of diagnostic and treatment services and home health services The affiliated 224bed Jamaica Hospital Nursing Home Trump Pavilion provides longterm care on campus MediSys Health Network MediSys is the notforprofit parent organization of JHMC as well as several other notforprofit healthcare provider organizations including Flushing Hospital Medical Center Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center Trump Pavilion Brookdales nursing home

JHMC has brought high quality accessible services to the underserved residents of the neighborhoods that we serve Jamaica Hospitals services fill a void for the people in our community many of whom speak limited or no English are underinsured or have no health insurance

Mission
To serve our patients and the community in a way that is second to none

Vision
To be the premier integrated healthcare delivery system by providing the highest quality most cost effective service which is accessible and sensitive to all

History

he history of Jamaica Hospital is a long and colorful one It is filled with defining moments colorful characters and connections to events affecting the local community the City of New York and the world

Jamaica Hospital has undergone a major transformation over the past 25 years of its existence Emerging from near oblivion brought about by financial decline and operational difficulty caused by an old and outdated facility Jamaica Hospital is today a larger stronger and more prominent medical and community health institution

Led by our Board of Trustees CEO David P Rosen COO Bruce J Flanz and CFO Mounir F Doss beginning in the late 1970s Jamaica Hospital was brought back from the brink Since the late 1980s this team has completely rebuilt the facilities to some of the most modern in the city

These leaders have attracted a world class medical staff and have established and grown a wide array of clinical programs to help us keep pace with the world around us As we proceed into our second century of service Jamaica Hospital remains a major provider of health care to the NY Region

But the story of Jamaica Hospital goes way back to the 1880s before Queens County became a part of the City of New York

The early history of our hospital was colorfully described in a book written earlier in the 20th Century by a member of the medical staff at the hospital named Francis G Riley MD

His chronicle titled quotThe Jamaica Hospitalquot A History of the Institution follows below

In the Beginning



In the beginning Jamaica Hospital was a vision A vision in the minds of some stalwart men who wore moustaches and sideburns and of some farseeing ladies who wore bustlesthe inhabitants of the village of Jamaica in the year 1883 Thats not so long ago in the history of the world but its a long way back in the annals of Jamaica and Long Island

In 1883 Jamaica had a population of 2500 You could have carried away nearly all of them on a single train of the Independent Subway although it is doubtful that many of them could have been persuaded to descend below Hillside Avenue and get aboard Travel was mostly by stagecoach over toll roads which extended westward to the East River ferries and eastward to the farms and the seashore or by the Long Island Railroad whose trains chugged haltingly and tediously to the Flatbush Station

Jamaica ladies who made shopping trips to the city were frequently enjoined by the local press to watch closely their handbags and other personal articles especially on the ferries because of the agility of sneak thieves and pickpockets

Chester Alan Arthur was in the White House as the twentyfirst President of the United States having taken office following the assassination of President Garfield Queen Victoria only two generations removed from King George the Third of Revolutionary War fame sat on the British throne in the fortysixth year of her long reign Grover Cleveland later to serve two terms as President was in the Governors chair at Albany

In Jamaica much of the current discussion centered around the method to be followed in putting in a village water supply The point in controversy was whether the village should finance the project or let it out to a private company A local weekly newspaper the Democrat argued that if a private concern could do it and make a profit the village should do it instead and save the profit At this time each Jamaica household drew its water from an individual pump or well

Hoodlums congregated at night along Fulton Street Jamaica Avenue and made life miserable for respectable citizens who found it necessary to be out after dark The Democrat called attention to this blot on the community escutcheon quotThere arequot wrote the papers editor quotseveral of our young village youths who make a habit of carousing the streets after dark and taking liberties that are unlawful We give them a gentle hint to be careful as they are being looked afterquot

One building standing at the northeast corner of what is now Jamaica Avenue and Parsons Boulevard and not demolished until 1940 served as Town Hall Opera House jailand hospital The cells were the villages only accommodation for the injured or ill who for one reason or another could not be transferred to hospitals in Brooklyn or New York
The village had just one telephone It was in the office of the newspapers the Standard and any Jamaican so extravagant as to want to phone to the city had to go to the city had to go to the Standard office and make his call from there There was no mail delivery service and apparently no demand for it When such a service was proposed a couple of years later the editor of the Democrat put his foot down quotWe dont want anyquot he wrote quotEverybody in town knows exactly when the mails arrive and can go and get whats there examine the same and go about other business To have letter carriers dropping in at any time of the day and leaving letters etc might be a nuisance Dont want any thanksquot

At about the same time the editor faithful guardian that he was of the status quo argued against any change from gas to electricity for lighting purposes quotIt costs more than gasquot he wrote quotand the light is unsteady The poles and system of wires required make its use otherwise objectionable The current is not readily dividable so as to make it applicable to the lighting of dwellings and while the electric light will be used where a great deal of luminous power is required and where the expense is not chiefly considered it does not look at present as if it would ever displace illuminating as in the field which the latter occupiesquot

The streets in the village were unpavedroadways and sidewalks alike It was a common custom for the householders to deposit their garbage in the roadways The local paper crusaded against this practice on several grounds among them being that it made the roadbed uneven and travel hazardous However the editor had no patience with those who were chronic kickers about the village thoroughfares quotThe main streetquot he wrote on one occasion quotis now in fine condition and is as dry hard and level as anyone can desire When the weather moderates it may not give as good satisfaction Let us enjoy what is good while we may and be quiet when it is otherwisequot Later some grading work was done at the intersections pleasing even the editor He wrote quotThe raising of the crosswalks on Fulton Street has made a decided improvement in their appearance and a great convenience to pedestrians who can cross the street without getting over their shoes in mud If some of the crossings on the side street had the mud dug off one might see that there was a crossingquot

Medical fees like all other elements of the cost of living were very reasonable One of the most prominent physicians Dr W D Wood used to charge fifty cents for a call to his office with medicine thrown in Many years ago an elderly patient told this writer of his astonishment when Dr Wood later raised his fee to seventyfive cents and medicine extra

Dr Wood was too busy with his practice to take on other duties as we note in the following letter printed in the Democrat on April 7th 1885