News

Maimonides’ $141M bond deal will fund pediatric ER

August 7, 2020 Editorial Staff

Maimonides secured the bond through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Photo via Google maps

Share this:

From Brooklyneagle.com

Stand-alone facility will be first of its kind in Brooklyn

Maimonides Medical Center announced Friday that it has finalized a bond financing deal to fund the expansion of its ER.

The deal, which was secured through a partnership with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, will fund the construction of a stand-alone pediatric ER, enlargement of the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), relocation of hospital’s state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization laboratory, and structural enhancement of the hospital’s cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CTICU).

“As Brooklyn’s largest and most advanced tertiary care provider, Maimonides takes seriously our responsibility to keep pace with and exceed the latest standards for excellence in the delivery of care,” said Kenneth D. Gibbs, Maimonides Medical Center president and CEO. “Combined, these projects will substantially enrich the patient and family experience and ensure that Maimonides remains at the forefront of medical care.”

The project will allow Maimonides to expand the emergency department on Fort Hamilton Parkway by roughly 150 percent — from 29,390 to 76,650 square feet — to more safely accommodate the more than 120,000 patients who visit the ER annually.

Pediatric services overall will also benefit from this new wave of improvements to the hospital’s facilities, a hospital press release said. The ground floor of the Administration Building on Tenth Avenue will become a stand-alone Pediatric ER, providing more space and less stress for families with sick or injured children.

Maimonides Medical Center President and CEO Kenneth Gibbs, center left, with, from left, Councilmember Kalman Yager, Councilmember Justin Brannan and Maimonides Executive Vice President Douglas Jablon. Photo: Arthur De Gaeta/Brooklyn Eagle

So, too, will the NICU be expanded and modernized. It will grow in capacity from 31 to 48 bassinets with expanded space for special procedures and enhanced family accommodations and services — nearly doubling the overall size of the NICU.

“Maimonides has an incredibly busy maternity service, so it’s crucial we have a spacious and advanced NICU to allow our experts in neonatology to continue providing amazing outcomes for our families,” said EVP for Medical Affairs Dr. Robert Press. “Brooklyn’s youngest and most vulnerable patients deserve nothing less than the best.”

Funding from the bond deal will also be used for extensive upgrades to hospital’s Heart & Vascular Institute. In addition to structural enhancements to its CTICU, the world-renowned cardiac catheterization lab will be relocated to a larger space, allowing heart experts to keep pace with demand for their services.

“Maimonides treats more heart attack patients than any other hospital in the state of New York — with the best patient outcomes in the country, according to the federal government’s most recent report,” Press said. “In the future, heart patients will arrive in our newly expanded and refurbished ER, then continue their top-notch care in cardiovascular units that have also been completely modernized.”

“It’s essential that our facilities match the well-established expertise of our doctors,” Gibbs said. “All of our patients and their loved ones will benefit from the enhanced experience across each care setting.”

Work on these projects is expected to begin in the fall and will continue into 2023. Their bonding will total $141 million, and the ability to utilize the partnership with HUD and DASNY to secure a low interest rate will save the hospital many millions over the lifetime of the loan, staff said.

This extensive renovation of key clinical care areas will commence just as the hospital is opening the new seven-story Maimonides Doctors Pavilion on the western end of the campus at Ninth Avenue — a modern building that provides a world-class facility in which patients will see their Maimonides physicians, and that includes two levels of underground parking.

This is the third time Maimonides Medical Center has utilized a partnership with HUD to facilitate bonding for a large capital project. The most recent bond was issued back in 2004 to fund the construction of a multi-use medical building at 48th Street and Fort Hamilton Parkway. That nine-story building is internally integrated with existing hospital pavilions, houses modern medical and surgical ICUs and advanced operating rooms, and was completed in 2007.

“It’s exciting to see the medical center investing in the future of healthcare in Brooklyn,” Gibbs said. “By working with HUD and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY), we have been able to secure a very low interest rate so that we can invest more resources into patient care and provide our medical professionals with the latest tools and the most advanced spaces from which to work. We look forward to welcoming our patients and their families into our thoroughly modern facilities in the months and years to come.”