State supportive of Rockaway trauma hospital, officials say

New York City Health + Hospitals CEO Mitchell Katz said this week that state officials have indicated they’d back the city’s plan to build a trauma facility on the Rockaway peninsula. Photo by Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit

By Jacob Kaye

The state recently told the city they’d back its plan to create a hospital capable of treating some of the most severe traumatic injuries on the Rockaway peninsula, where patients are often stranded without access to immediate care.

City officials said Thursday during a City Council hearing that the state had indicated they’d support an effort by New York City to build a trauma center or hospital on the Rockaway peninsula, a once-long-shot proposal that has gained momentum in recent years.

Mitchell Katz, who leads New York City Health + Hospitals, told lawmakers that New York State officials “indicated that they would be supportive of the trauma center on Rockaway.”

While the state’s backing is a major development for the city’s proposal, which has primarily been championed by local City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, it’s unclear exactly how the trauma center might shake out.

Originally, Brooks-Powers had demanded the city and state work to build a level one or two trauma center, both of which would be capable of providing full care to all trauma patients.

However, Katz said on Thursday that while the state said they would enable the city to staff the center as a level one or two trauma center, it would not certify the center as a level one or two facility unless it’s built as a full hospital.

According to Katz, the city would likely instead designate the facility as a level three trauma center. As such, the facility would be equipped to provide prompt assessment, resuscitation, surgery, intensive care and stabilization of trauma patients. For long-term treatment, patients would have to be transferred to a level one or two hospital.

Currently, Rockaway residents in need of trauma treatment, like those who have suffered gun shot wounds or who have drowned, often have to be taken to Jamaica Hospital, which is around 10 miles away from the peninsula.

The peninsula’s lack of a trauma center was on full display in 2024 when NYPD officer Jonathan Diller was shot in Far Rockaway while conducting a traffic stop. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he died of his injuries.

“If you were going to have an emergency on Far Rockaway, it's 45 minutes with a police escort – and we know that because of the tragic shooting of a police officer,” Katz said. “Of course, it's not just police officers. It's people who live there who have to travel to Jamaica Hospital. There's just no way to get there quickly.”

“But when you’re bleeding, you just have to stop the bleeding,” he added.

The state’s support is a major development for a project that was once considered somewhat of a pipe dream.

The far flung neighborhoods on the Rockaway peninsula have been without a trauma center for nearly a decade, following the closure of Peninsula Hospital.

In 2022, Brooks-Powers launched the Far Rockaway Trauma Healthcare Access Task Force, made up of community members, elected officials and developers focused on bringing a trauma facility to the area.

Last year, the city put $25 million toward funding the project inside its budget.

The city also recently identified a plot of land that could one day house the medical facility.

Mayor Eric Adams’ administration committed a vacant, city-owned plot on Beach 62nd Street in the heart of the peninsula for the trauma center.

But the land transfer won’t necessarily be so simple.

The plot is currently owned by the New York City Housing Authority, and will need to be transferred to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services before making its way to H+H.

In order to move forward with the transfer, NYCHA must get federal approval from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the city must pay $300,000 for the move, which the City Council included in its Fiscal Year 2026 budget response.

Katz said on Tuesday that the mayor has “been very supportive of that plot of land being used for a trauma center.”

“It's an ideal site for a trauma center because it's large, it doesn't have any residential property close to it, and it's very close to an A [train] stop,” Katz said.

The NYCHA site is relatively centrally located on the peninsula and has earned the support of a number of locals.

“I think it would be a win-win for all of the Rockaway residents that live here,” Edwin Williams, the president of the Heart of Rockaway Civic Association, told the Eagle earlier this year. “It would be a home run for everyone in Rockaway.”

Brooks-Powers’ office did not respond to request for comment on Thursday.