Community Corner

As LICH Hangs in Limbo, ER Alternative Sets Sights on Cobble Hill

PM Pediatrics has announced it will open on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn this summer.


While SUNY Downstate's decision whether to keep Long Island College Hospital open remains uncertain, many supporters have posited that the neighborhood and its contiguous areas demand nearby emergency room resources.

As if on cue, a third party has announced it aims to bring those very services to Cobble Hill by Summer 2013.

PM Pediatrics, a provider of after-hours urgent care for patients ages "newborn through college," released an announcement on Wednesday that it will launch its seventh facility at 240 Atlantic Avenue once warm weather arrives.

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"We look forward to opening our doors to the families in and around Downtown Brooklyn, one of the fastest growing neighborhoods in New York," said Dr. Jeffrey Schor, founder of PM Pediatrics and a former Director of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at New York Hospital Queens, in the release. 

"We believe children and young adults everywhere deserve specialized urgent care when they need it, without having to wait long for it."

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According to the company's website, every PM Pediatrics office has on-site digital x-ray technology, a comprehensive laboratory which is capable of performing rapid blood, urine and chemistry workups as well as access to specialists such as plastic surgeons or orthopedists. Exisiting PM facilities located in Long Island, Westchester, Queens, and New Jersey keep hours roughly from 5 p.m. to midnight. The chain was listed in Inc. magazine's “Inc. 500|5000” list of the nation's fastest-growing private companies for 2011 and 2012. 

Schor has previously stated that PM Pediatrics do not aim to compete with primary care doctors, telling Bayside-Douglaston Patch a year ago, “We’re not out there to take their patients away. We want to be there for patients so they don’t have to go to the emergency department.”

PM Pediatrics did not offer any comment on the situation at LICH as of press time, but it may end up benefitting should the Cobble Hill hospital be forced to shut its ER altogether.

The New York State Comptroller released an audit earlier this month estimating that the sale of LICH's property, building and equipment could net $200 to $500 million. Since then, SUNY Downstate has been seriously considering cutting the institution from its network, which currently is experiencing losses of roughly $3 million a week.

Meanwhile, rumors swirl that Governor Andrew Cuomo is planning to close the hospital via executive orders, causing community members to send out last-ditch impassioned pleas for support online and elsewhere.

"Call Cuomo: 518 474 8390, call between 9 A.M. and 5 P.M. Email: gov.cuomo@chamber.state.ny.us The message is: Keep LICH open. Work with the community to develop the right plan to turn it around," read one such e-mail on Wednesday evening.

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