Woodhull Medical Center - Woodhull Hospital

Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center is a health care system located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Its focus is on preventing disease and promoting healthy lifestyles in the community of North Brooklyn through its fifteen centers. Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center is administratively under New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

History

Mayor John V. Lindsay and Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed Woodhull hospital in 1967, as a modern facility with single bed rooms and amenities found in private hospitals, with a cost of $85 million. It was intended to provide more accessible and personal health care to the surrounding communities of Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Bushwick, Greenpoint and Bedford-Stuyvesant. Ground was broken in 1970 and due to budget issues it was not opened until 1982, costing $308 million.

The hospital was named after Richard M. Woodhull, the original landowner of the immediate area and credited with having laid out the Village of Williamsburg into an actual city. The name was proposed by middle school student, Victor Morales, of Intermediate School 318.

Architecture

The building was designed by Kallmann & McKinnell in the Brutalist architecture style in the 1960s. It employs a structural framework with a machinist aesthetic quality. The interior is organized by employing the Kaiser corridor system, which patient rooms are off a central corridor system for personnel. Visitor corridors flank the perimeter and light passes through glazing to allow light into the patient rooms.

Controversies

Woodhull hospital was initially built to provide every patient with a private room, but many patients were being transferred due to lack of space. 60% of rooms became shared to re mediate the amount of patients being transferred. There were also problems with security including hallways being too narrow for police to patrol and stairways leading outside the hospital.

In 1992, Woodhull's accreditation was revoked by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations after concluding that it did not review enough surgical procedures to detect unnecessary surgery and mishaps. Prior to the inspection, administrators were accused of rewriting of critical internal analyses of patient care. Later that year, it was granted full accreditation after New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation appealed that decision and corrected most of its deficiencies. By 2002, Woodhull had completely reversed its poor inspection in the 90s by receiving the highest scores assigned to any hospital, public or private and fully complying with standards for quality patient care and safety.

Programs

Woodhull has a program against childhood asthma that is prevalent in the Brooklyn area. It has partnership with local schools and the North Brooklyn Asthma Action Alliance for this cause. Woodhull's Paul Poroski Family Center has been designated as an AIDS Center by the New York State. The center has the following special subdivisions: AIDS Center; Behavioral Health; Chronic Care Management; Asthma Care; Diabetes Care; Level III Perinatal Center; SAFE (Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner) SART (Sexual Assault Response Teams) Center; Women's Health.

Artist Keith Haring created a public mural in the ambulatory care department.

References

External links

• "Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center". New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC). 
• "Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center". Health Profiles. NY Health.