On May 2, 2023, NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health officially cut the ribbon at its new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital. Clara Spera, granddaughter of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, joined Svetlana Lipyanskaya, CEO of NYC Health + Hospital/South Brooklyn Health, elected officials, community leaders and hospital staff to celebrate the opening of New York City’s first new public hospital since 1982. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital will begin welcoming patients on Sunday, May 7. Photos and a video of the new hospital are available.
“Today marks a significant moment in New York City with the opening of NYC Health + Hospital’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “Named after an icon who embodied the values of our public hospital system — providing equitable health care to all with dignity and respect — now, nearly 875,000 New Yorkers will have access to world-class health care in a modern, state-of-the-art facility.”
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a champion for fairness and justice. It is fitting that her name will greet every person that comes through the doors of the new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital at NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health,” said NYC Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom. “NYC Health + Hospitals carries on a tradition of serving every person equally, regardless of their ability to pay or their immigration status. Thank you to the team at NYC Health + Hospitals, the Ginsburg family, and all those that made this possible.”
“Growing up, my family used what was then Coney Island Hospital,” said NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Mitchell Katz, MD. “To see it now rebuilt as this amazing place is such a wonderful thing. I feel a tremendous sense of pride that the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital is ready to open and welcome patients as part of NYC Health + Hospitals.”
“As we prepare to open the new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital we carry forward the legacy of a trailblazer who championed equality and justice for all,” said NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health CEO Svetlana Lipyanskaya. “This hospital will serve as a beacon of hope and healing for the South Brooklyn community, providing top-quality care and support to those who need it most. I am proud to be part of this historic moment and grateful to everyone who has worked tirelessly to make it a reality.”
“Our family is delighted that the new South Brooklyn hospital is being named for my grandmother, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and are excited that this world-class hospital will soon open its doors to the public,” said Clara Spera, the granddaughter of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Born and bred in Brooklyn, Joan Ruth Bader benefitted from the Borough’s public institutions, including its schools and its libraries, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It is therefore fitting that another Brooklyn establishment, dedicated – like those of her youth – to the public welfare, share in her legacy of striving for the betterment of all.”
The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital includes a storm-resilient design, a flood-proof Emergency Department, private patient rooms and state-of-the-art equipment to serve South Brooklyn and its neighboring communities. Construction of the new hospital was funded by $923 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and includes upgrades to the rest of the healthcare campus, including a four-foot wall to withstand a 500-year storm and flood-resilient power, heating, cooling, and water systems. The new hospital is a major component of the extensive process to repair and protect the healthcare campus after sustaining significant damage from Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Congress Member Hakeem Jeffries, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, City Council Members Mercedes Narcisse, Ari Kagan, and Justin Brannan, as well as Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and Chief Executive Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals, were among the dignitaries in attendance.
NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital features a new emergency department double the size of the current space and located on the second floor to sustain flooding and ensure continuity of care during natural disasters.
Other amenities at the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital include:
A surgical suite comprised of eight state-of-the-art operating rooms
- Robotic surgery
- An endoscopy suite
- Inpatient dialysis
- 80 private medical-surgical beds
- 60 behavioral health beds with panoramic views of Brooklyn and the New York City skyline
- Diagnostic and interventional radiology
- Clinical laboratories
- Patients, staff and visitors to the new hospital will also be welcomed by the impressive bronze statue of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg that resides in the building’s lobby. Designed by Gillie and Marc Schattner and donated to the hospital by City Point, the sculpture is 7 feet 2 inches high and weighs 650 pounds.
Now that construction of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital is complete, the existing Main Building on the campus will be renovated and renamed as the Health & Wellness Institute. On the first floor will be a modernized, 26,000-square-foot ambulatory care practice that will provide patient- and caregiver-centered primary and specialty care in over 50 new exam rooms. The institute will also house outpatient behavioral health services, a comprehensive dental practice, outpatient radiology, a new CT scanner, ultrasound, and 3D mammography equipment.
“Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of Brooklyn’s favorite daughters,” said Congressman Hakeem Jeffries. “She was a giant of the Supreme Court who fought tirelessly for equal treatment and justice under the law. It is more than fitting that this hospital will stand in her honor and will be a vital resource for the communities in Southern Brooklyn for the years to come.”
“The newest, state-of-the-art NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health public hospital is a much-needed and greatly anticipated addition to Southern Brooklyn’s healthcare landscape, said NYS Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton. “Especially as our communities continue recovering from the pandemic, this highly upgraded new space will be instrumental to delivering the level of care that our neighbors deserve, while simultaneously addressing critical matters of safety and resiliency.”
“Congrats to the new South Brooklyn Health on this tremendous addition,” said Council Member Inna Vernikov. “The new Ruth Bader Ginsberg Hospital will be a beneficial addition for the front-line professional staff working hard every day, and patients alike, and above all will be great for our growing community.”
“Superstorm Sandy devastated the Coney Island Hospital in 2012. As we prepare to open the doors of the new NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health, Ruth Bader Ginsberg Hospital, we open to Southern Brooklyn a new, modern healthcare facility that is as resilient as the residents it will serve. I am a proud supporter of this hospital and will continue to secure vital funds from the New York City Council to make sure our communities of Southern Brooklyn have access to first-class health care,” said NYC Council Member Ari Kagan.
“NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health’s new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital is giving what our Coney Island, Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, and so many other South Brooklyn neighborhoods deserve in the way of high-quality, state-of-the-art healthcare,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “Our public health system has long been a champion of quality, affordable healthcare for people that have historically lacked access. It’s an honor to be a partner of a system that truly understands what it means for health care to be a basic human right. Thank you to the system’s incredible leader Dr. Katz, to South Brooklyn Health’s dedicated CEO Svetlana Lipyanskaya, and to every single physician, nurse, healthcare worker, and hospital employee that provides the lifesaving and life-changing care at the new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital.”
“The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital, named after a true Brooklynite who fought for equality and justice, will deliver South Brooklyn a state-of-the-art hospital it needs and deserves,” said NYCEDC President and CEO Andrew Kimball. “I’m proud of the work NYCEDC did to manage the hospital’s construction, working alongside NYC Health + Hospitals, elected officials, and community members, that will deliver much-needed high-quality care and support to the community for generations to come.”
“The opening of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital is of monumental importance, not just for South Brooklyn, but for our entire city,” said NYS Assemblyman Michael Novakhov. “As the first public hospital to open in New York since the mid-1980s, this new facility will provide state-of-the-art care to all those seeking access. Investments into to the health and wellbeing of our communities is how we as a city put our best foot forward and set a standard of care for others to emulate. I could not be prouder to have this world-class facility in my Assembly District, and I thank all those that made this, truly, life-changing opportunity possible.”
“I am thrilled that we’re finally at point in a very long journey – the opening of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital,” said Chair of the South Brooklyn Health Community Advisory Board Rosanne DeGennaro. “The South Brooklyn community will now have access to care in a state-of-the-art facility, which they so richly deserve.”
