St. Vincent’s served Greenwich Village for 161 years. The fact that it was the sole medical center in the area made it an especially important and vital part of the community. The medical center was an important part of many resident’s lives. The EMS presence in the community was also comforting and provided community members with a sense of identity– that they had a top-notch ambulance service of their own. “There’s a lot of heartbroken people inside the ER. … They have been the heart and soul of this hospital for many years,” said Eileen Dunn, a St. Vincent’s nurse for 24 years. ‘I think on 9/11 we saw what hatred could do. We’re seeing today what greed and politics can do to a hospital.’” (JEMS).
(Quote Source: http://www.jems.com/article/news/greenwich-villages-st-vincents)
The actual medical center was located on West 13th Street in Greenwich Village. But through its many clinics, outreach programs, and ambulances, St. Vincent’s had a strong presence all throughout the lower west side of Manhattan. In 1849 St. Vincent’s Medical Center was opened by the Sisters of Charity at a small brick house on West 13th Street in Greenwich Village. The hospital contained only 33 beds.151 years later, in 2000, SVCMC Medical Network was formed, which incorporated Catholic Medical Centers of Brooklyn and Queens and Sisters of Charity Healthcare on Staten Island. It added 7 hospitals to the network. In 2005 the recently created SVCMC Medical Network filed for bankruptcy. On January 27th, 2010 St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center announced its interest in a merger/buyout to stay open, an on April 30th, 2010 at 8AM-St. Vincent’s emergency room closed, shutting down the last of the hospital’s services, and ending 161 years of community healthcare.
“Another West Village resident, Evette Stark, still recalls the Halloween night 18 years ago when one of her twins, Jake, turned blue in his crib. It was midnight, and Stark recalls, ‘I was terrified. I wrapped him in a blanket because it was midnight and chilly, and I ran down the street to St. Vincent’s.’ The twins had been born five-and-a-half weeks before their due date, and St. Vincent’s staff knew them from previous visits for breathing problems and extremely high fevers. ‘They rushed to work on him, and in the end he was fine,’ recalls Stark, who lives on 11th Street. ‘But if they were not down the street, I totally believe Jake would have died.’” (Westview News).
Many Greenwich Village residents are worried about just what the loss of St. Vincent’s means to them. With the closure of the medical center the community lost its only level 1 trauma center, which means that any patients with severe conditions like heart attacks, gunshot wounds, or stab wounds, etc. would have to be transported out of the way to the east side of Manhattan or uptown. Furthermore, with the closure of the medical center went its EMS service, which provided 3 emergency ambulance to the area.
“The city deployed extra ambulances to Manhattan’s lower West Side to bring emergency cases to other hospitals; two vehicles were stationed near St. Vincent’s in case someone mistakenly comes for care.
Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital is getting more than $9 million in state money to open a 24-hour urgent care facility in the neighborhood, but it’s not clear when.”
“Bloomberg said city officials were doing everything it could to ensure New Yorkers got proper care.
The city has enough hospital beds, and the fire department added ambulances, he said. “We’re doing everything we can to make sure that you’re still safe.”
But Miguel Acevedo of the Robert Fulton Houses Tenants Association in Chelsea, a public housing development with more than 2,200 residents, including senior citizens, was concerned.
He said many senior citizens believe that if they had a heart attack, they may not survive while being transferred to Bellevue or to Beth Israel.
Beth Israel Medical Center on Manhattan’s East Side is more than a mile away, often through thick traffic.” (JEMS).
If you would like to obtain more information on St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center, request a copy of the paper, or inquire about sources, please contact me at MLTurman@gmail.com.
-Michael Lawrence Turman
Tags: EMS, Healthcare, Hospitals, St. Vincent's, SVCMC
