First founded in 1908, Peninsula General Hospital was a 173-bed acute care community teaching hospital, along with a 200-bed long-term care and rehabilitation center, serving the communities of the Rockaways, the Five Towns of Nassau County and parts of Queens and Brooklyn. Peninsula General Hospital later absorbed Rockaway Beach Hospital located at 152 Beach 85th St. in the 1950s.
In February 2012, Peninsula failed a state inspection of its lab, forcing ambulances to be diverted to other medical centers and suspending most patient care at the facility. Within a month, bankruptcy documents were filed stating that “the State Department of Health determined that substantial additional time, effort and expense would be required before the laboratory would be eligible for re-certification”, meaning it would be months before the laboratory would reopen. The hospital closed shortly after leaving St. John’s Episcopal Hospital as the only healthcare facility in Rockaway Beach.
It wasn’t long before Peninsula Hospital trustee, Lori Lapin Jones, filed civil racketeering charges against Revival Home Health Care who had taken over the hospital just a year before its closure. She alleged the defendants committed fraud, falsified information to the bankruptcy court and creditors, and lied to the State Department of Health. She claimed Revival’s offer to save Peninsula was an elaborate plot to milk the hospital for revenue that would be diverted to a web of Revival entities.
Peninsula was demolished in September 2016 to be replaced with multi-family housing and commercial buildings. The neighboring Peninsula Nursing and Rehabilitation Center remains open and operational.
