Press Release

Mount Sinai Queens Breaks Ground for Expansion Project

$125 million project will feature a new, multispecialty outpatient facility, expanded emergency room, and new operating rooms.

Astoria, NY
(October 21, 2013)

Community representatives, elected officials and leaders of the Mount Sinai Health System today formally broke ground on the $125 million new building expansion and modernization project at Mount Sinai Queens to significantly improve health care delivery for local residents.

The new building will include a larger Emergency Department, to be named in recognition of a generous gift from The Stavros Niarchos Foundation; new operating suites; a multispecialty medical practice offering primary care, specialty care, and urgent care; and additional diagnostic and laboratory services. Mount Sinai conducted an extensive planning process for the new building, involving community groups, local leaders and elected officials.

"Today's groundbreaking signifies more than just a new building for our hospital. With state-of-the-art operating rooms, an expanded emergency department, a full array of medical offices on-site outpatient imaging, and new elevators that will allow for the better flow of patients and staff, the new Mount Sinai Queens will allow us to address the shift to outpatient care and improve the overall health of our community," said Caryn A. Schwab, Executive Director, Mount Sinai Queens. "I'm grateful to Mount Sinai leadership, our elected officials, and the community partners with whom we worked most closely to make this project a reality."

The groundbreaking event was hosted by Caryn A. Schwab, Executive Director, Mount Sinai Queens; Peter W. May, Chairman of the Boards of Trustees of the Mount Sinai Health System; Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and CEO of the Mount Sinai Health System, and David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital. Honored guests and speakers included Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall, New York State Senator Michael Gianaris, New York State Assembly Member Aravella Simotas, New York City Council Member Peter F. Vallone, Jr., New York City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, former New York City Council Speaker Peter F. Vallone, Sr., Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President and Board Member of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and Rose Marie Poveromo, President of the United Community Civic Association.

The rebuilding process began in August 2013 and is expected to be complete in 2016. NK Architects and Davis Brody Bond served as architects. The builder is Skanska USA. Mount Sinai estimates that the expansion project will generate at least 460 construction-related jobs, 340 additional related jobs, and add approximately $166 million to the local economy. About 160 staff jobs are also expected to be created at Mount Sinai Queens once the project is completed.

"Several of our hospitals—including Mount Sinai Queens—were founded well over a century ago, and all of our institutions are instilled with the same mission: to care for people of all ages and from across the socioeconomic spectrum," said Peter W. May, Chairman of the Boards of Trustees of the Mount Sinai Health System. "Our new building and modernization project epitomizes our goals of giving patients the highly-personalized care of a community hospital, with easy access to world-class specialists."

Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and CEO of Mount Sinai Health System, said, "Mount Sinai Queens has always been a vital part of the communities it serves, and its physicians, nurses and staff will continue to provide the highest levels of care. In just a few more years, this part of Queens will be home to a state-of-the-art health care institution that will further enhance the quality of care and improve patient outcomes. We're proud to have worked closely with local stakeholders and elected officials in realizing the vision of a new Mount Sinai Queens—one that puts a focus on preventive care to better serve the needs of this community."

"Today, health care reform will make it possible for millions of Americans to obtain what should be a fundamental right in our country: access to quality health care. And that is what residents in Western Queens and beyond can find at the current Mount Sinai Queens," said Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY-12), in a prepared statement. "I am proud to have supported this project from the beginning, and in just a few years, when the new Mount Sinai Queens has risen on this spot, I plan to be here to help cut the ribbon on what will be a state-of-the-art hospital offering first-rate preventive and outpatient care. I congratulate the doctors, nurses, staff, administrators and everyone else who helped to make the new Mount Sinai Queens a reality."

"The expansion of Mount Sinai Queens will provide essential health care to a culturally-diverse community that has been underserved," said Andreas Dracopoulos, Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, which has provided the naming gift for the ER. "Hundreds of thousands will benefit from having access to even more efficient health care."

"Mount Sinai Queens is an integral part of the Mount Sinai Health System. Over the years, I have seen this institution transform from a separate, community hospital into a state-of-the-art, fully integrated medical facility. The people of Western Queens are fortunate to have a hospital that is adapting the changes taking place in medicine today, and that will soon be offering a new level of 21st century care as we create this spectacular new building," said David L. Reich, MD, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Mount Sinai Hospital.

"A community hospital is the lifeblood of a neighborhood, and for generations Mount Sinai Queens has helped to keep our loved ones healthy whether through medical emergencies or wellness screenings and heart healthy events," said Rose Marie Poveromo, president of the United Community Civic Association. " We're looking forward to the day when the new building opens and our community benefits from all the wonderful new and expanded outpatient services the hospital will provide."

"The modernization of Mount Sinai Queens is both physically and philosophically transformational," said David K. Williams, AIA, Partner, Davis Brody Bond. "The design of the new facility reflects a vision for what health care delivery in the post-Affordable Care Act era will be. This forward-thinking approach establishes a new ambulatory care model for the borough of Queens and the New York metropolitan area: a platform contained in a built environment capable of allowing the expertise and potential of the institution's world renowned faculty to be utilized for the benefit of the surrounding community."

Overview of services to be expanded at Mount Sinai Queens:

Expanded, state-of-the-art Emergency Department (ED). Will feature 36 patient bays, eight observation beds, an off-street "drive-through" ambulance bay (which will lessen the presence of ambulances outside the hospital), a separate walk-in entrance, and a new imaging suite within the ED.

Expanded operating rooms. Seven new operating rooms with the latest technology – for a total of ten OR suites –together with holding, recovery, and waiting rooms.

Expansion of outpatient medical services. The new Mount Sinai Queens will feature:
• An integrated, multispecialty medical practice
• New primary care physicians in internal medicine, family practice, ob/gyn and pediatrics
• New specialists in, for example, cardiology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, general surgery, pulmonary, orthopedics, thoracic and vascular surgery
• A full imaging suite, including MRI, CT , bone density, mammography, X-ray and ultrasound
• Integrated laboratory services, allowing physicians to view blood test results before seeing patients, thus eliminating unnecessary return visits

In addition, the new building will have new boilers, chillers and emergency generators which will supply the entire campus. In the existing facility, central air conditioning is being provided to all patient rooms, new windows are being installed, and new cladding is being applied to the existing facade to match the exterior of the new facility.

About Mount Sinai Queens
Mount Sinai Queens is a 235-bed licensed acute care hospital, providing adult medical and surgical services, with a team of nearly 500 physicians representing close to 40 medical and surgical specialties and sub-specialties. Between the physicians and staff, 35 languages are spoken; just one of the many ways that Mount Sinai Queens responds to the needs of the culturally diverse population of our community. Mount Sinai Queens serves Western Queens and beyond by providing primary and specialty care; occupational, speech and physical therapy; outpatient surgery; cancer care and a range of radiological testing.

Mount Sinai Queens is the first and only community hospital to bear the prestigious Mount Sinai name and is unique in the community because it is not just affiliated with Mount Sinai Manhattan— it is a fully integrated part of The Mount Sinai Hospital, combining medical excellence with the compassionate, caring environment you expect from a community hospital. For more information, visit http://www.mshq.org.

Tags: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Health System, Mount Sinai Queens, Patient Care

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.