North General Hospital

The New York City government had endured a severe fiscal crisis in 1975. Two years later, in 1977, the Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD) — which had occupied the East Harlem location on Madison Avenue, between 123rd and 124th streets, since 1905 — began construction on a new building, downtown, East 17th street at Second Avenue, across from Stuyvesant Square. In 1979, HJD moved there. The move was a loss for the Harlem community. Leading up to the move, advocacy groups waged a campaign to keep a hospital at the Madison Avenue location. Randolph Guggenheimer (1907–1999), the hospital's only trustee at the time, and Eugene Louis McCabe (1937–1998) spearheaded an effort to insure that hospital services would continue in the old building, which was renamed North General Hospital. On January 28, 1977, a New York charter was made, forming the corporation of Joint Diseases North General Hospital. Economic backdrop Ed Koch became Mayor of New York on January 1, 1978, and soon after taking office, began working on the City budget, which was still an ominous concern in the wake of the fiscal crisis that nearly bankrupted the city in 1975. Koch, in short order, imposed an additional 10% reduction in funding for municipal hospitals and slated Metropolitan Hospital (in East Harlem) and Sydenham Hospital (on West 125th street) for closure. Sydenham closed in the Spring of 1980 despite wide criticism that Harlem's medical needs were being neglected. NGH's economic impact on Harlem had been cited as significant. Journal of Health and Human Resources Administration published in 1988 that North General Hospital was the largest private employer in Harlem. Over 70 percent of its workforce resided in Harlem. 1979 – Joint Diseases North General Hospital is founded In 1979, after HJD moved downtown, the Joint Diseases North General Hospital became the new occupant in Harlem. The challenge for NGH, for its entire existence, was laden with fiscal stress, partly owed to a need for capital expenditures to restore and upgrade an aged, decaying building – a facility that NGH did not own in the beginning. NGH also weathered fiscal stress from treating significantly higher percentage of patients who were either uninsured or low income or both. 1987 On October 27, 1987, Joint Diseases North General Hospital shortened its name to "North General Hospital." By then, Governor Mario Cuomo had approved a state grant of $118 million toward the North General hospital construction. That year, the hospital was operating on a $42 million budget with 1,900 employees – 70 percent living in Harlem. 1991 – new building, new location On December 12, 1991, North General Hospital moved into a newly built, modern facility at 1879 Madison Avenue, between 120th and 121st Streets, two blocks south of its old address. Signs of systemic financial duress By 2004, private hospitals in New York City were in arrears by more than $100 million in payments to employee benefit and pension funds, double the amount of 2003. Wall Street debt analysts rated hospitals of New York State the weakest in the nation and stated that the situation was worsening. Eight accounted for two-thirds of the debt: (1) Brookdale in Brooklyn, (2) Jamaica and (3) Parkway Hospitals in Queens, (4) Saint Vincent's and (5) Beth Israel Medical Center, each with several locations in multiple boroughs and headquartered in Manhattan, (6) North General Hospital, (7) Cabrini Medical Center, both in Manhattan, and (8) Our Lady of Mercy Medical Center in the Bronx. 2010 – closing At May 31, 2010, North General Hospital had a debt of $293 million. Barely two months after the closing of Saint Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village, North General Hospital – which, according to the New York Times, had become a symbol of New York City's political and philanthropic commitment to Harlem – announced on June 28, 2010, that it would close four days later – on July 2, 2010. On that same day – July 2, 2010 – North General Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and actually closed on July 9, 2010. Effective June 30, 2011, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved a Chapter 11 Plan of Liquidation for North General Hospital and its affiliated debtors. Under the Plan, a Liquidation Trustee was appointed and the assets of North General Hospital were sold and/or transferred back to the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. Rev. Calvin O. Butts III had been Chairman of the Board at the time. Post-closing analysis With respect to the loss of emergency rooms in New York City, the New York Times, in 2011, pointed out that the city lost three hospital emergency rooms in 2008, two in 2009, and two in 2010 – Saint Vincent's and North General. Saint Vincent's had handled more than 60,000 emergency visits a year, while North General's ER had recorded 36,000 annual visits. Peninsula Hospital in Far Rockaway, Queens closed in 2012. New facility and hospital provider at 1879 Madison Avenue Sometime between 2010 and 2012, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation took over the former site of North General Hospital – at 1879 Madison Avenue, between 121st and 122nd streets. In 2012, the facility was renamed the "Henry J. Carter Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility," in honor of Hank Carter, the Founder and CEO of Wheelchair Charities, Inc. A new building for the Carter Center was completed on the site around 2016. Residential co-ops at the old location at 1919 Madison Maple Plaza, an eight-story, 155-unit residential co-op was built at 1919 Madison Avenue in the 1990s when North General Hospital moved into its new quarters two blocks south. Maple Plaza was developed in the 1990s under a plan by the city and North General Hospital to revive the area around the hospital, which, at the time was blighted. Maple Court, another similar project in the area with 135 units, was completed before Maple Plaza. == Selected NGH programs ==