“NY Downtown Hosp. ‘Overwhelmed,’ ” (July 24) is misleading.
Anyone walking into an urban emergency room during this heat wave will, of course, find it unusually busy. That’s where people suffering health effects from the heat often go.
NY Downtown, the only hospital downtown, is typical.
Far from “overwhelming,” the heat-related increase is “well under control,” as Dr. Antonio Dajer, NY Downtown emergency medicine chair, explains. The average wait to see a doctor is 20 minutes, and the two-hour average stay is “one of the fastest turnaround times in the city.”
As the hospital that took the first wave of casualties on 9/11, NY Downtown now has perhaps the most state-of-the-art ER in the city, and has substantial, untapped capacity.
The ER, like the hospital, generally provides clean, high-quality health care. The staff is dedicated, well-qualified and seasoned to the pace of a busy, urban emergency room.
The hospital and staff are proud of the huge strides in care that have been made at the hospital.
Despite the closing of St. Vincent’s, NY Downtown is meeting the challenge of providing leading health care to the residents of lower Manhattan.
Jeffrey Menkes
President/CEO
NY Downtown Hospital
Manhattan