Far Rockaway: Peninsula Hospital Employees Say 2012 Vital Signs Are Looking Up

The following is a NY Daily News article:

After a tumultuous 2011 that put Peninsula Hospital on the brink of closure, employees say the new year signals a fresh beginning for the troubled institution.

The hospital, which is being reorganized under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, recently struck a tentative deal with its largest secured creditor, the 1199 SEIU union.

Under the agreement, the union would get $10 million over the next three years, union and hospital officials confirmed on Wednesday. The union was owed about $20 million before the financially strapped hospital declared bankruptcy.

Doctors, nurses and the new administration of the Far Rockaway facility are looking for a fresh start this year.

�They are going in a positive direction,� said Mary Kampa, a nurse.

Dr. Wayne Dodakian said he�s seen admission time plummet since the new regime took over, a vital cost saving measure.

�That�s a huge game changer,� Dodakian said. �There was an air of gloom over this place [before\].�

The situation was so grave in August that schools were taking Peninsula�s name off application lists for medical students, second-year resident Herschel Kessler noted.

The hospital has since splurged on a marketing blitz to attract the top talent. They�re combing through applications now, Kessler said.

�I say we�re back on track,� he said.

Long-time nurses said the hospital had been in a slow decline for more than a decade, but the last few months have been like a jolt from a defibrillator.

�We have been challenged. We�ve all been taken out of our comfort zone,� said Jeannie Butler, a nurse at Peninsula for 36 years.

Peggy Frontera, a nurse for 37 years, said when her son needed an emergency appendectomy last month, she took him to Peninsula, something she admits she wouldn�t have done in August when there was �panic.�

�I was confident enough to bring my son here,� she said.

Eisen Alimerio, a critical care nurse, said that after a hard-fought battle to keep the facility afloat, employees are doing more with less.

�Everyone is working on a different level,� he said.

The deal between the hospital and the union paves the way for additional financing to come in from white-knight investor Revival Home Health Care.

�There�s nothing that�s preventing us from moving forward as planned,� said Peninsula CEO Todd Miller.

(Source: NY Daily News)

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