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Remembering St. John's Queens Hospital 1891-2009 3/1/2009 8:51:00 PM by Christina Wilkinson In 2004, the staff of St. John's Queens Hospital created a video to celebrate the hospital's history. We present part of it here, covering the years 1891-2000. The hospital was originally founded in Hunters Point, Long Island City before moving to its current location on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst in 1961. This is the script from the rest of the video: On 9/11/2001, the world watched as people from St. John’s and the other hospitals that made up St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers faced tragedy with indescribable courage and skill. Ambulances from St. John’s rushed to the World Trade Center site and transported the injured from Ground Zero. Police rushed doctors from St. John’s into Manhattan to support efforts there. Many patients came to St. John’s after having walked from the disaster site across the Queensborough Bridge and down Queens Boulevard; some came by subway or bus. These were the “walking wounded” – they had minor injuries, had suffered from inhaling smoke and choking on dust, and had dust in their eyes. Some were uninjured, but aching from walking so far.  When the first plane struck, James Dobson and Marvin Bethea, St. John’s paramedics, crossed the Queensborough Bridge and raced downtown. At Broadway and Fulton, as they began providing on-site triage, they became separated. Then there was a rumble. James looked over his shoulder to see the first building collapsing. He took cover in the ambulance with another E.M.T. and five victims. The inside of the ambulance was filled with smoke; they began buddy-breathing with one oxygen mask. Ash almost covered the windshield. As a grayish light emerged after the first building collapse, James got out of the ambulance and saw people covered in white ash. He helped as many as he could. He was afraid his buddy Marvin had died.  Meanwhile, Marvin was in a bank a block away when the first building began coming down. Glass broke, debris blew into the bank and there was utter blackness. Eyes and throat burning, he got people out of the bank, flagged down an ambulance and began placing people inside. Later, Marvin saw an ambulance coming toward him. He noticed that the strobe light on it resembled the one on his ambulance. And in fact, it was. James got out of the truck and Marvin hugged. Some days later a picture was found thumb tacked to a bulletin board at St. John’s. It seems that in the middle of all the chaos on 9/11, someone took a picture of their ambulance. Even though the distinctive SVCMC markings are completely obscured by ash and debris, their team name is visible in the picture. On the windshield, a decal that can just be made out reads, “The Mavericks”. Although heroic in the extreme, James and Marvin’s spirit of service and dedication to the sick and wounded was shared by all who worked at St. John’s.  A video from the candlelight vigil held on February 28th may be viewed here: Here are photos of the closed hospital and here is a video: Email: info@junipercivic.com |
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