Elected officials joined Jamaica Hospital Medical Center earlier this month to celebrate the completion of Phase 1 of its Emergency Department (ED) and Critical Care Units expansion project, marking a major milestone in the hospital’s ongoing effort to modernize emergency care and meet South Queens’ growing healthcare needs.
In 2023, Jamaica Hospital announced a large-scale construction project to modernize and expand its Emergency Department. The project is supported by a $150 million grant from New York State’s Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program IV ED, representing a historic investment in emergency and critical care services for the Queens community.
Originally constructed in 1989, Jamaica Hospital’s Emergency Department was designed to care for approximately 60,000 patients annually. Today, the hospital treats nearly 120,000 emergency patients each year. This dramatic growth has created an urgent need for expanded modern infrastructure capable of meeting the increasing demand for emergency services.
The new Emergency Department is designed to meet that need. Once complete, the expanded ED will nearly double the size of the existing department and accommodate more than 150,000 annual visits. The project includes negative-pressure isolation rooms to support infection prevention and control, as well as significantly expanded trauma capabilities. In addition to the ED expansion and modernization, the new building will include 22 state-of-the-art critical care beds.
As New York City’s busiest Level 1 trauma center, Jamaica Hospital is also expanding its trauma treatment capacity from one trauma bay to four. Each bay will be equipped with advanced technology and designed to support the rapid, complex care critically injured patients need.
The ED modernization and expansion project is being completed in multiple phases. Phase 1 includes approximately 15,000 square feet of newly constructed space, which is now complete. Work continues on the remaining renovations and construction, and the full Emergency Department is expected to encompass approximately 50,000 square feet upon completion.
“Expanding and modernizing our Emergency Department is an important investment in the health and well-being of our community,” said Bruce J. Flanz, President and CEO of Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. “This project will allow us to accommodate growing patient volumes, enhance the delivery of emergency and critical care, and provide the advanced services our patients need today and into the future.”
