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CONEY ISLAND: Siren song! Ambulance services back at Coney Island Hospital

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See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.

By Will Bredderman

Brooklyn Daily

The bandages are coming off!

Coney Island Hospital announced that its emergency department is now open and taking 911 calls, four months after Sandy swamped its lower stories and left it in critical condition.

The publicly-funded healthcare institution’s leadership cheered the ward re-opening as a major milestone in a larger recovery.

“The restoration of ambulance service brings us one step closer to our goal of restoring all services in the facility and re-establishing ourselves as the primary healthcare source in southern Brooklyn,” said Arthur Wagner, the hospital’s executive director.

For now, the restored emergency ward will have 30 beds, roughly half its former capacity, and will treat victims of heart attack and stroke and stabilize the critically injured. But expectant mothers be warned: labor and delivery services are still closed.

In-patient services are also still on the mend. The hospital’s tower building is back open, offering 179 beds as well as imaging and laboratory services, though the facility still isn’t taking pediatric patients overnight.

Last year’s super storm flooded the building’s first floor and basement, destroying thousands of dollars of radiology equipment and making the emergency room inoperable.

Robert Cooper, the hospital’s associate executive director, said that repair work continues and there is no date in place for the full re-opening of the facility.

“Bit by bit, we’re coming back,” said Cooper.

Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him at twitter.com/WillBredderman.

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