Over the last few weeks, as our lives have changed so rapidly, a few things have become very clear. The first, and most important, is that the resiliency and compassion of our community never fails to show up when we need it most. Our neighbors have been checking in on one another, and our community has come together by quickly embracing and practicing social distancing. Everyone is working collectively to do their part to slow the spread of the Coronavirus. The second is that our community is woefully underprepared for this type of emergency.

St. John’s Episcopal Hospital is the only hospital and major healthcare provider for the nearly 130,000 residents living on the peninsula. St. John’s is handling an enormous amount of Coronavirus cases and exceeds its capacity on a daily basis. The hospital is in a densely populated area that has one of the highest rates of positive Coronavirus cases in all of New York City. Additionally, St. John’s continues to operate under the pressure of a threat of significant budget cuts from the state. To be blunt: we need more resources and protection for our healthcare facilities and residents, and we need it now.

The Coronavirus has proven to me that our healthcare system cannot handle a major crisis. This is why I consistently advocate for more healthcare resources in our community. We need more hospital beds, more healthcare clinics, and more medical professionals. This is why I have been working with St. John’s to help them expand their medical facilities, and it is why I have been opposed to much of the added density and units of housing that has been proposed for our community.

Thousands of units of housing are coming to Downtown Far Rockaway, thousands more at the former Peninsula Hospital site, and there are even plans for thousands of units in Arverne East. We cannot, in good conscious, allow for all this additional and planned density to come to our community if we do not evaluate how it impacts our ability to handle an emergency. Whether it’s the manmade emergencies, like the utility pole that fell on 114^th Street that caused over 6 hours of traffic, or a healthcare crisis like we are in now.

Developers are asking people to move on to this peninsula, but there is no conversation about increasing hospital beds, or healthcare facilities. In fact, from the state and city level, there is the exact opposite. I have written letters to the City of New York and have had conversations with anyone who would listen, warning them about the dangerous amount of density coming to our community, and how it will only put a strain on our already overburdened services.

The City of New York needs to establish a hospital bed to resident ratio, by zip code or Community Board, that they incorporate into every land use review process. Every community should have the appropriate amount of hospital beds it needs to keep their residents safe and healthy, especially during a public health crisis. Any future development in this community cannot and should not move forward without full consideration for emergency preparedness including the addition of more hospital beds.

Coronavirus is not going away. We need to be strong, we need to be resilient, but most importantly we need to be prepared. I will fight day and night to ensure that Rockaway gets what it needs. I’ve spoken with the Governor and Mayor’s team to get expanded testing sites and increased emergency hospital beds in our community. I’ve written letters to their offices advocating for St. John’s Hospital – asking that they not have to go through a financial review during a pandemic, and supporting their efforts to increase their facility space. My job will always be keep pushing them and advocating on behalf of our community to make sure that we can fight this illness, and to ensure that in the future we will be ready for the next emergency.

My office is still available to help you! You can call us at 718-945-9550, email me at amatos@nyassembly.gov, or reach out to my staff for any assistance or for the latest information relating to the Coronavirus.

I am so proud of the compassion and resilience of this community, and we will get through this together. I hope you and your families stay safe and stay strong.