Victory finds partner

March 12, 2007

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper

Victory Memorial Hospital — or at least a large portion of it — has been saved, The Brooklyn Paper has learned.

Local officials will announce next week that the beleaguered medical center — which filed bankruptcy and was recommended for closure by a state committee last year — has found a partner to keep its emergency room and popular birthing center open.

“The community is in for a big surprise,” said Bill Guarinello, new acting chair of the Dyker Heights hospital’s board of trustees “People are going to be real pleased when they discover what is in store.”

The identity of the new partners is being kept under wraps, but neither Lutheran Hospital in Bay Ridge nor New York Methodist in Park Slope are involved, a source told The Brooklyn Paper.

Details of the plan, which is still being finalized, will show a reduced, but viable role for the hospital.

“There are still some hurdles to overcome, but it will be finalized soon,” said Guarinello, who is also the chair of CB11.

The partnership means that Victory will retain its emergency room with holding beds, its diagnostic center, its nursing home, and its birth center, which handles over 2,000 births a year, Guarinello added.

Despite a state recommendation to close, Victory is still a vital cog in the neighborhood’s emergency medical machine. The center’s emergency room is at 104 percent occupancy.

The 254-bed hospital declared bankruptcy last November amid scrutiny of the hospital’s compensation practices, which included a $1.1-million severance package for departing CEO Donald DiCunto.

Guarinello believes that the presence of a new administration was an important part of the deal.

“Let’s be honest, there was mismanagement under the previous administration,” Guarinello said, “We are now looking forward to having a clean slate and moving forward with the new administration in place.”

Guarinello disagrees with the state’s recommendation that Victory should close and believes that time will prove the Berger Commission wrong.

“During the next five years, they will realize that the community needs these facilities,” Guarinello said.