KIPS BAY — Bellevue Hospital Center needs $868,000 to fix a sagging concrete floor in the middle of its emergency room, officials said.
The facility, the only Level 1 trauma center below 68th Street in Manhattan since St. Vincent's Medical Center closed, saw emergency room visits rise 13 percent between 2008 and 2010, from about 103,000 to nearly 117,000 annual visits, according to a flyer prepared by the hospital.
“The ER is the source of most of our admissions and revenue, thus it’s critical to fix the concrete to continue to meet the demands as well as for patient safety,” said the hospital document, which was circulated at Community Board 6's budget and governmental affairs committee, which met on Monday night at NYU Langone Medical Center.
The hospital needs the money for slab repair, installation of structural piers, engineering inspections and floor leveling, among other costs.
Rick Eggers, who chairs the CB6 budget committee, passed out an itemized list of projects in need of funds at Bellevue. The hospital has asked the community board to include at least a few of its projects on the board’s list of capital budget requests this year.
Eggers said Bellevue does not typically ask for help from the community board, but the committee plans to accommodate the hospital's request, in part because members agreed that several projects deserved funding.
In addition to the emergency room flooring request, Bellevue is looking for $1.2 million for its new Barbara P. Gimbel Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which has already received $5.2 million from the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and $1 million from the Franklin Fund.
The hospital also wants money to replace and retrofit air handlers that circulate fresh air at the hospital, which are more than 40 years old and “have surpassed their useful life,” the document stated.
Funds were also requested to renovate patient family rooms and lounges and to expand offices for the Patient Advocate Department, which provides patient assistance and helps respond to complaints.
Bellevue did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Community Board 6 committee approved placing the funds for the ER floor among the full board's proposed top 11 capital budget requests. The final list will be decided at the full Community Board 6 meeting in October.
The committee also approved the air handling system for consideration by the full board.
Although Bellevue's items have eked out a place on the CB6 list, that does not guarantee funding will soon be on its way.
Multiple items on CB6's list of capital funding have been waiting for years without being approved. For example, the committee has unsuccessfully been requesting to build part of the East River esplanade for about 18 years, one attendee at the meeting said.
