Parkchester General Hospital

Parkchester General Hospital, located in The Bronx,[1][2] was a privately owned[1] 208-bed medical facility[2] that opened in 1941 and closed in 1978.[1]

Parkchester General Hospital
Geography
LocationThe Bronx, New York, United States
Organization
FundingPrivate hospital
TypeGeneral
Services
Beds208
History
Opened1941
Closed1978
Links
ListsHospitals in New York
Other linksHospitals in The Bronx

Overview

The hospital's initial building was "a single eight-story building" but "a fourstory addition was added to the structure" in 1960. The doctor's death came while plans were being made for building a third structure to adjacently house "an eightstory nursing home."[3] The hospital closed and was demolished, but as of 2005 the nursing home was still functioning.

History

The hospital opened in 1941[4] as a privately owned hospital. When it closed in 1978, Parkchester was owned by Dr. Bernard Kamer.[1] Earlier it was owned by Dr. Charles Louis Engelsher: from 1941[4] thru his death in 1964 at age 62 "of a coronary occlusion."[3]

RAIN community service

By hiring a retired nurse and giving her an "office" outside of the hospital building, it enabled her RAIN (Regional Aid for Interim Needs) program to qualify for nonprofit funding status. "Today RAIN is the Bronx's largest nonprofit social services agency, with 30,000 elderly clients in 25 programs It employs 1,800 people, runs 13 senior centers and three senior homes, and serves more than 1,600 hot meals a day."[5][6]

Controversy

The closing of the hospital followed from a 30-day suspension of two units by the New York State Health Department.[1] The hospital contended that there was an undeserved rush by State officials to close them, even though "the hospital had just passed two Federal inspections for accreditation to receive Medicaid and Medicare patients." One of the two units served abortion clients.[1]

Kamer, the hospital's owner, filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection one day before the hospital closed,[7][8] in an attempt to have the hospital continue.[9]

References
  1. "Parkchester Hospital in the Bronx, A Subject of Inquiry, Closes Doors". The New York Times. March 20, 1978.
  2. "Suit seeks a stay on Hospital Code. 3 3 Physicians Challenge Qualifications Provisions". The New York Times. December 3, 1964. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  3. "Dr. Charles L. Engelsher Dies; Owner of Parkehester Hospital; Sargeon Was a Political Baff Who Treated Officials—Hired Ex-Convicts". The New York Times. August 26, 1964.
  4. "Ex-Convicts aided job law doctor; One of the 5, His Brother, Was 'Executive Director' of His Hospital in Bronx". The New York Times. June 11, 1943.
  5. Kerry Wills (February 16, 2012). "At 95 years old, RAIN founder Beatrice Castiglia-Catullo is still helping the elderly of the Bronx". The New York Daily News.
  6. Web site: RainInc.org; Beatrice Castiglia-Catullo (Bea) died May 2018, age 101
  7. "Business Records". The New York Times. March 18, 1978. Friday, March 17, 197_
  8. NYTimes: "Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems." In this case, the correct year is 1978, not the 1971 displayed by the archive. FYI: March 17, 1971 was a Wednesday; in 1978 it was a Friday
  9. Howard J. Wein (1978). "Environmental Regulation and the Bankruptcy Act" (PDF). Duquesne Law Review. p. 144. addressed this issue in In re Parkchester General Hospital ... "high quality health service was a matter of vital public concern"


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