Bensonhurst is a small area of the much larger borough of Brooklyn. However, like much of Brooklyn and the city itself, many cultures are represented in such a small area, and that demographic is in constant flux as immigrants continue to flow into the city and residents in other areas of the city choose new places to settle with their families. But these individuals and their families alike all must rely on some form of medicine, whether it be inoculations, surgeries, dentistry or any other service a medical practitioner can offer. In Bensonhurst, the dynamic of the many represented cultures and their medical needs is a very interesting and continuously developing one.
The population of Bensonhurst is unevenly divided into three sections – the Italian-Americans, who have populated the area for nearly a century, the Soviet Jews and other Jewish families, and the newly arrived Chinese-Americans, who have come from other parts of New York City, although they currently are not prominent enough to have formed a Bensonhurst Chinatown of the kinds in other areas of the city. The medical practices with which I have visited and corresponded represent a smattering of all three of these ethnicities.
There is no true hospital located in Bensonhurst proper, and all emergencies are therefore routed to the Maimonides Medical Center located nearby. The relationship that this hospital has with Bensonhurst, and many of the other communities within Brooklyn, is a unique one because about half of their patients are foreign born. This means that, in order for the Maimonides Medical Center to function as a hospital in this area, it must be conscious of and cater to all the diverse cultures within Brooklyn. They have the largest Patient Relations Department of any hospital in New York City and their staff speaks more than ten languages. They even have a kitchen that cooks strictly Kosher food for the Hasidic community they regularly service.
In addition, because of the quickly growing Asian community in Bensonhurst and their subsequent visits to Maimonides, there are now Mandarin and Cantonese staff members located in the ER around the clock to suit them. But perhaps the most amazing development regarding ties between Maimonides and Bensonhurst is the fact that many of Bensonhurst’s private practitioners served their residency or formally worked in Maimonides itself, and are therefore affiliated with Maimonides. They also generally refer their patients to this hospital. This has formed a bond between the community and the hospital that will be forever replenished as more doctors break away and establish their own private practices in the surrounding communities.
There are many other private practices within Bensonhurst proper whose practitioners are affiliated with Maimonides. They come from many diverse backgrounds and cultures. They represent the three main ethnicities found in Bensonhurst, but service anyone without discrimination. However, it is the specific ethnic ties within the patients themselves that keeps these practices mostly separated culturally. Nonetheless, they all have reported patients from all other ethnicities as well, which presents a positive prognosis for the future of Bensonhurst’s internal mixing and cooperation. One doctor with whom I was unable to get in touch was Dr. Larisa Likver, who had three signs in front of her practice, one in Russian, one in Mandarin and one in English. Although written in three languages, I believe that these signs spell out the same message: although Bensonhurst is a diverse community, everyone there is accepted.
