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"Peninsula Hospital's recovery efforts have flatlined and the hospital will be closing, officials confirmed Monday. The troubled Far Rockaway facility had flunked a state inspection of its lab last month, forcing ambulances to be diverted and most patient care to be suspended. Peninsula was months — not weeks — away from reopening the lab, according to bankruptcy documents filed by trustee Lori Lapin Jones on Monday. 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,\" Jones wrote to the bankruptcy court. With insufficient money to keep the hospital afloat for that length of time, Jones wrote that closure was necessary. \"The Trustee will now turn to determining the most efficient and responsible manner in which to wind down the affairs of the Hospital,\" she wrote. Jones could not be reached for comment. Peninsula had conducted two rounds of layoffs recently, with more than 350 workers getting the axe. Peninsula Hospital had been operating for 104 years and had over 170 hospital beds. Officials with the state Department of Health confirmed the closure plans. \"The Department will monitor operations at Peninsula to ensure an orderly closure,\" said spokesman Michael Moran. Peninsula's closure leaves only St. John's Episcopal Hospital to serve the more than 100,000 residents of the Rocakways. With the summer months approaching, this could cost lives, officials said. \"St. John's is turning people away while approximately 1,000 individuals will lose their jobs at Peninsula Hospital,\" said Queens Borough President Helen Marshall. \"There is now a medical emergency in the Rockaways.\" Workers with the 1199 SEIU union will be put into the Job Security Fund and will have their benefits extended, union officials said. Long-time employees of the hospital were devastated. \"Never in my wildest dreams did I think they were going to do this to us,\" said nurse MaryLiz Grosseto. \"I'm shocked.\" Mary Kampa, a nursing home employee, said that up until Monday's stunning announcement staff had been hopeful Peninsula was on the road to recovery. \"I'm disappointed. We believed in the process. We stood by them,\" she said. idejohn@nydailynews.com"
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