Fordham University and St. Barnabas Hospital - are they safe? (New York: best neighborhood, crime rate)

[njmom302]

I'm a mom whose daughter is looking seriously at Fordham University. I've heard that the school is not in the best neighborhood. It seems like there's an awful lot of crime near the campus. At least there's lots of security on campus.

I'm also nervous because my daughter has diabetes, which has landed her in the hospital a couple of times. I was told that the school sends students with medical problems to St. Barnabas Hospital, which, from the research I've done, doesn't seem like a good place.

[url]http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/investigators&id=7410297[/url]

This article ("Violent Incidents on the Rise at St. Barnabas") says that there have been a lot of violent attacks in the emergency room. Does anyone know if this is true? Also, does anyone know if my daughter would have to get sent here in an emergency? It seems very dangerous.

So, what can you tell this worried mom about the safety of the Fordham neighborhood and St. Barnabas Hospital? Are they as bad as I think they are?

[DAS]

Fordham University is a fine University, and it is pretty safe around there, just take the same precautions you would take anywhere in the city.

St Barnabas is an ok hospital, but I would recommend Montefiore Hospital over that one, which is also pretty close by, but St Barnabas is closer. If there is an emergency, NYC Emergency Medical Services, or EMS comes, and will take you to the nearest hospital that is able to take you at that time, there are several near that area so it could be any one. If possible, it is best to get a cab and go to the one you want to go to, but that may not be possible in an emergency.

I do notice that when there is some sort of accident with a police officer or firefighter in the area, the victim or criminal will be sent to St Barnabas while the police officer or firefighter will go to Montefiore, or Jacobi Hospital if that is any indication of any thing. I lived in the are of St Barnabas about 10 years ago, and I don't know if anything changed, but I would do everything in my power to get in a cab and go to Montefiore first.

[bluedog2]

First of all, I think the Fordham campus itself is extremely safe.It's not the best area in The Bronx but it is far from the worst.The neighborhood to the East(other side of The Botanical Garden ),Pelham Parkway, is perfectly safe and one of the better areas of The Bronx.The neighborhoods to the North and Northwest,Bedford Park,Mosholu Parkway and Norwood are pretty safe areas too.To the South is Belmont (Arthur Avenue and Little Italy).Some of it is a little rundown looking but it is actually pretty safe and always has a lot of tourists and people going to the restaurants and shopping in the food stores.The only area that is not great is the area to the West known as Fordham-Bedford but I think it is pretty easy for people associated with Fordham to just keep out of there.Fordham Road itself is bustling and also pretty safe except maybe very late at night.The reality is that The Bronx has a lower crime rate than most major American cities so a lot of the Bronx crime hype is from it's reputation of 20 or 30 years ago.

I agree with DAS that both Montefiore and Jacobi are much,much better hospitals.In fact,they are both among the better hospitals in all of NYC and they are quite close to Fordham.Your daughter would just have to go to one of those two places instead of St Barnabus.Maybe if she goes to Fordham she should find a Dr at Montefiore so she has an ongoing relationship with someone there.It is an excellent medical center.

[andovercommunications]

Let’s look at the positive aspects of your concerns first:

1) St. Barnabas Hospital was recognized by U.S. News & World Report in its latest ranking for having one of the country's best diabetic centers in the country, and the best in the Bronx.

2) We are a Level 1 Trauma Center that sees over 100,000 patients per year from all walks of life. The NYPD and FDNY regularly send us their injured officers for treatment, not just their prisoners. SBH treated many well known injured NYPD officers as well as the critically injured firefighters on “Black Sunday” a few years back.

3) We also have officers’ families bringing their children to our Pediatric Emergency Department and specialists.

4) Fordham University is an excellent university; their administration is dedicated to the proper education and safety of their student body.
Their campus is very secure and safe.

5) Fordham University is one of the few Universities with its own student run ambulance service. I and my staff work very closely with their student health services, ambulance services (FUEMS), and the athletic department to treat and ensure proper follow up of Fordham Students that get sent to SBH. Being a parent myself, I routinely speak to parents from across the country regarding the care of their children who find themselves in our Emergency Department (ED) as I know this can be an extremely difficult thing for parents across the country who are unable to be with their children.

6) I welcome you to go to our hospitals website www.sbhny.org <http://www.sbhny.org> to get a better idea of what we are about here at St. Barnabas Hospital.

Fordham University is a magnificent campus reminiscent of sprawling, suburban universities.

1) However, it is located in a hectic and vibrant urban community. As safe as the campus is students still need to use common sense, as they do in any urban center, when they travel off campus, to NYC, or to the surrounding areas.

2) In my role as the Director of the Emergency Department at St.
Barnabas Hospital, I often spoke to new students about staying safe, alcohol abuse, and other related topics.

3) While WABC-TV did feature a story questioning the increase on "patient on employer" assaults, note that the numbers cited were more a case of record keeping than a deficiency in security. None of these assaults resulted in serious injury. St. Barnabas Hospital has looked closely at Emergency Department

4) Frankly, the hospital has been involved in a contentious dispute with a union trying to unionize residents here, and the union has been in an attack mode against the hospital. In my opinion, the story was blown way out of proportion.

In my normal course of duties, which often involves working weekend shifts, I frequently bring my children with me, both to the hospital and to our surrounding community. We are well known for excellent cuisine, the Bronx Zoo, the Botanical Gardens, and of course Yankee Stadium just to mention a few. If there was a safety concern of any kind here that certainly wouldn't be the case. I feel that your daughter can feel perfectly safe coming to Fordham University. Again, I understand your concern, but as long as your daughter uses good common sense at school, she should have no problems at Fordham or at St. Barnabas Hospital.

Please feel free to call me on my cell phone at 718-960-6104 should you care to discuss any further issues. Dr. Ernest Patti

[DAS]

Originally Posted by andovercommunications

Let’s look at the positive aspects of your concerns first:

1) St. Barnabas Hospital was recognized by U.S. News & World Report in its latest ranking for having one of the country's best diabetic centers in the country, and the best in the Bronx.

2) We are a Level 1 Trauma Center that sees over 100,000 patients per year from all walks of life. The NYPD and FDNY regularly send us their injured officers for treatment, not just their prisoners. SBH treated many well known injured NYPD officers as well as the critically injured firefighters on “Black Sunday” a few years back.

3) We also have officers’ families bringing their children to our Pediatric Emergency Department and specialists.

4) Fordham University is an excellent university; their administration is dedicated to the proper education and safety of their student body.
Their campus is very secure and safe.

5) Fordham University is one of the few Universities with its own student run ambulance service. I and my staff work very closely with their student health services, ambulance services (FUEMS), and the athletic department to treat and ensure proper follow up of Fordham Students that get sent to SBH. Being a parent myself, I routinely speak to parents from across the country regarding the care of their children who find themselves in our Emergency Department (ED) as I know this can be an extremely difficult thing for parents across the country who are unable to be with their children.

Please feel free to call me on my cell phone at 718-960-6104 should you care to discuss any further issues. Dr. Ernest Patti

I'm not the OP, but I didn't post positively about St Barnabas, I also admitted that I haven't lived in the area for 10 years. So I still have an image of St Barnabas not being as as good over all, as the other 2 hospitals I mentioned.

I don't like to give the wrong information, and I am very impressed with your updated information, and glad that you took the time to post.

[NooYowkur81]

I was about to post that St. Barnabas doesn't have the greatest rep amongst locals, but I honestly have never been to that hospital so I deleted that post. I live in the area but I've had good health, knock on wood so I've never had to go.

As for Fordham U. Great school! I do wish they would do a little more community wise but they are a great institution and it's good for the neighborhood the school is there. I see many students walking around just fine during the day. I even see quite a few shopping on Fordham Road on the weekeneds. Many students choose to live off-campus usually around Little Italy and you hear sometimes about them getting mugged. But to be fair this is an issue around many college campuses. Like people have mentioned some common sense goes a long way. I stay off the streets late at night and that's a big factor in terms of keeping you safe...

[lawgirl1109]

As a graduate student living in the area and having been to St. Barnabas a couple times for help, I would not recommend this hospital. Fordham U is an excellent school, but as stated previously please do yourself a great justice and go to a different hospital if possible.

[trochlearIV]

The tricky thing about EMS in NYC today is that if you notice all ambulances have a name of a hospital displayed. And some are FDNY.

With the expansion of the EMS system I believe that when you see an ambulance with a specific name of a hospital they tend to want to take you to that hospital (job security). So if an ambulance shows up from Bronx Lebenon hospital and it is not a critical emergency they might bypass a hospital and take you to Bronx Lebenon hospital.

If it is an emergency I strongly recommend going to the closest 911 receiving hospital. In your case it would be St. Barnabas or even Jacobi Hospital. I am sure both have great doctors. St Barnabas received Level 1 trauma center status a few years ago. Before that I believe the only level one trauma centers in the Bronx were Jacobi Hospital and Lincoln Hospital.
If it were my daughter and she had a medical emergency I would want her to be transported to the nearest hospital to be stabilized.

As for Fordham University I believe it is a great school. The neighborhood is not that bad. Have you ever been to Yale University in New Haven CT the neighborhood seems far worse than the Fordham section of the Bronx.

I hope this helps you
Good luck to you and your daughter : )

[whitlock]

[quote=andovercommunications;14639111]

2) We are a Level 1 Trauma Center that sees over 100,000 patients per year from all walks of life. The NYPD and FDNY regularly send us their injured officers for treatment, not just their prisoners.



I bet you have no shortness of patients.

Fordham University is great, but frankly speaking St. Barnabas sucks.

I'm sure you daughter will be taken care off in the Hospital but it is always an unpleasant experience.

And by the way your Hospital dont get patients "from all walks of life". An patient from ex. UES will not be sent to St. Barnabas atleast in case of an emergency.

[STEWT850]

Instead of relying upon an individuals misinformed opinion, check out the NY state Dept of Health website ([url=http://hospitals.nyhealth.gov/index.php]New York State Hospital Profile[/url]) which evaluates all hospitals in New York State on a regular basis. You'll find that St. Barnabas is on par with or ranked higher than many other Bronx hospitals such as Jacobi or Montefiore in many, if not most, categories regarding patient care.

Unfortunately, going to a hospital is never a pleasant experience and the large volume of patients that all hospitals in NYC must deal with makes it even more difficult. Being able to walk into an emergency room and be seen immediately for non-life threatening complaints is an unrealistic expectation in any emergency room and getting worked up for these complaints is often time consuming as well. If you asked around you can undoubtedly find unpleasant stories about any hospital as well as positive.

The article that the original poster referred to was an interview given by a resident physician working with union representatives in an attempt to put public pressure on the hospital to recognize the union. I assure you claims were greatly exaggerated in order to sway public opinion against St. Barnabas administration and force (blackmail) them to recognize a particular union.

To clarify some previous people's post- some ambulances are affiliated with particular hospitals. However, they all run on the city's 911 system and operate under the authority of FDNY. These hospitals always ask the patient which hospital they would like to go to and take them there- within reason. Obviously if the condition is life threatening they go to the nearest hospital and for certain conditions (trauma, stroke, heart attack) only certain hospitals can accept these patients- St. Barnabas has the capabilities to accept all three. If you go to Montefiore's ER, you will find ambulances from St. Barnabas, Bronx-Leb, Jacobi, etc and vice versa.

St. Barnabas serves a diverse patient population and as a result does serve people from "all walks of life" including injured FDNY/NYPD and takes excellent care of sick Fordham students on a regular basis as it does for all the patients. Quite obviously, someone from the UES will not typically go to St. Barnabas as it is too far away...