Writing New York

One of the larger concerns the Long Island City area has had is lack of a primary care medical facility. A neighborhood that has quickly accommodated many new residents has yet to catch up with health issues. With the area only increasing in population, residents have had to look elsewhere for medical care. “We’re going through a population explosion but there’s not any new medical facilities being planned as of now’, says Joseph Conley, chairman of the Community Board District 2. He also claims that the only available hospitals for LIC residents are Elmhurst Hospital and Mount Sinai hospital in Astoria. However, with overcrowdedness in those hospitals, many patients wait until an emergency to seek medical care, and in some cases it is too late. Dr. Jason Park, a physician and medical director at the Department of Internal Medicine Primary Care Faculty Practice, claims that a lot of diseases and medical issues can be prevented with a primary care physician. “You will have more sick people, and they don’t even know it. By the time they find out, some of these people will be in emergency rooms with heart attacks, and failed kidneys. This can all prevented with primary care physician,” says Park. The lack of primary care physicans is not only a problem for patients but also for Elmhurst Hospital which is extremely overcrowded and losing money because of it.