Two federal veterans hospitals in Manhattan and Brooklyn would be converted into facilities for coronavirus patients under a proposal advanced by Rep. Max Rose.
“As the administration seeks out additional federal options to expand hospital capacity, I suggest requesting from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that VA medical facilities in the VA New York Harbor Healthcare System (VA NYHHS) have referral relationships to civilian hospitals as the spread of coronavirus increases in New York City,” Rose (D-NY), who represents Staten Island and southern Brooklyn, said in a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“Specifically, we must utilize the Brooklyn VA Medical Center (VAMC) and the Manhattan VAMC for COVID-19 patients only, while using the USNS Comfort for the treatment of non-COVID-19 veteran patient treatment.”
The Manhattan VA hospital is situated at First Avenue and 23rd Street, adjacent to Bellevue and NYU Langone hospitals.
The Brooklyn VA hospital is on Poly Place in Bay Ridge, which is located in Rose’s district.
Rose worked with Cuomo to persuade President Trump to send the USNS Comfort hospital ship to New York to provide capacity to treat non-COVID-19 patients and ease pressure on the stressed health care system.
The 1,000-bed floating hospital is scheduled to arrive in New York Harbor Monday following a personal send-off from the president at the Norfolk, Va., naval base, where the Comfort is docked.
Rose, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, stressed that veterans will continue to be treated at the hospitals.
“We must ensure that veteran patients continue to receive priority, and cap all referral levels to keep our VA facilities from being overwhelmed,” he said.
“As a combat veteran, suggesting to open up the VA to civilian patients is not something I take lightly, but the fact is if we do not use every resource we have available to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic now, then the VA will be unable to solely serve veterans for the foreseeable future.”
Rose has been in discussions with VA, state and federal officials about using the two hospitals during the public health crisis.