Village E.D. gets a community checkup
BY GABE HERMAN
With Lenox Health Greenwich
Health having been open for
fi ve years now, the Community
Board 2 Social Services Committee
held a forum to get a better sense of
how the emergency department is doing
and engaging with the community.
The healthcare facility is at 30 Seventh
Ave., between W. 12th and 13th
Sts., right across the avenue from the
former site of St. Vincent’s Hospital,
which closed in 2010.
The meeting was held on April 29
and led by Susanna Aaron, the committee’s
chairperson.
Local residents expressed varying
views, some claiming good experiences
with Lenox Health Greenwich Village,
its doctors and staff, while others
voiced strong dissatisfaction.
Negative reviews were often related
to long wait times, including for when
patients needed ambulances to transfer
them to a full-service hospital, since
L.H.G.V. doesn’t handle trauma cases,
and big bills from services that patients
weren’t told were optional.
L.H.G.V. is Manhattan’s fi rst standalone
emergency department, or E.D.
It was pointed out at the meeting that
the facility, unlike St. Vincent’s, is not
a trauma center, and that while it does
offer urgent-care sevices, it doesn’t
handle many of the most dire cases that
need an emergency department.
Alex Hellinger, executive director of
L.H.G.V., said they treat 90 percent of
patients who come in, while another 8
percent are stabilized and then transported
to another facility, such as a fullservice
hospital, that can provide the
appropriate
level of emergency care.
One local resident said she
had both good and bad things
to say based on her experience
there. She said the facility
saved her life, and the place
was clean and the staff were
respectful and kind. But she
said she had experienced a
wait of more than an hour.
Hellinger said the average
wait time for a person
to get to a room after registering
is four minutes,
and then another eight
minutes to see a physician.
He said it could
be faster for a pressing
issue or longer if the
facility is very busy.
“We try to be as
effi cient as possible,”
he said.
Some residents
said it took too long
for an ambulance
to transport them from L.H.G.V. to a
higher-level-care facility. One person
said it sometimes took as long as 14
hours, though ambulances usually appear
is the first one in Manhattan and just the second in the entire city.
to be sitting outside.
Hellinger and other L.H.G.V. offi -
cials were not able to speak to specifi c
examples cited at the meeting. But a
patient advocate said the facility has a
command center that works to dispatch
ambulances as effi ciently as possible to
various facilities.
Another resident said he called 911
because he wasn’t sure if he needed
medical attention, and ended up being
taken by ambulance to L.H.G.V.
He wound up having many tests done
there, which all resulted in big charges
despite his actually being in good
health.
freestanding emergency department —
meaning it is not physically attached to a hospital with beds —
Hellinger said people are tested
when they arrive to check their health,
and that people are billed based on
their ability to pay. He said L.H.G.V.
has a fi nancial-assistance program and
a charity program for writing off some
bills.
But that response didn’t satisfy several
locals, who felt that charges weren’t
explained beforehand and people
weren’t always told that services like
ambulances and tests were optional.
Anna Allen, co-founder and executive
director of Say Ah!, a nonprofi t
specializing in teaching healthcare literacy,
said there are big gaps in what
people know about using the healthcare
system and its fi nancial aspects.
“We need to do a better job, the insurers,
the healthcare system and forums
like this, of educating people on
what we’re responsible for fi nancially,
what we’re not, and that you can say no
to care,” she explained.
Positive experiences were also shared
at the meeting, with some citing friendly
and thorough care, plus nice facilities
that are not overcrowded and chaotic
like others in Manhattan. Other attendees,
however, said there should be more
beds. By defi nition, though, a standalone
E.D. does not have hospital beds,
other than a couple for very short-term
recovery from procedures.
The L.H.G.V. patient advocate said
he was sorry to hear reports about bad
experiences with services and wait
times, but that over all the facility had
received very high scores. He said 75
percent of patients gave a rating of fi ve
out of fi ve, and another 20 percent gave
PHOTO BY
GABE HERMAN
Lenox Health Greenwich Village’s
four out of fi ve.
Hellinger said the issues over rates
and billing were tough to address and
not unique to L.H.G.V., and he cited
larger challenges within the healthcare
system. But on other issues raised at
the meeting, he said, “We’re certainly
going to take all of this feedback. My
team here and I will go back and we’re
going to look at all the wait times you
discussed.”
Tom Connor, a member of C.B. 2,
said he didn’t think people fully understood
what an upsetting experience
it can be to be transported by ambulance.
“We have to make all of these services
more humane,” he said.
The senior activist recalled a previous
meeting with L.H.G.V. where many
of the same complaints were raised,
met by similar responses that the problems
were a surprise to hear about and
people should get in touch about such
issues.
“There’s something wrong there,” he
said. “Why do you think the community
is still complaining about the same
things that they complained about from
Day One?”
He asked for a way for people to easily
share experiences, good and bad,
perhaps in smaller meetings.
“I don’t want to come to another
meeting in three years and the same
questions are going to come up,” Connor
stated. “And you’re again going to
say, ‘I didn’t know that was happening,
here’s my card.’ Well, we can’t buy that
anymore.”
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
The stand-alone E.D. has ambulances attached to it that can transport
patients to a full-service hospital for higher-level care if
needed.
Schneps Media TVG May 16, 2019 17