NEW YORK – New York City on Tuesday opened its first new public hospital in more than 40 years in Brooklyn, a nearly billion-dollar project that, like its namesake, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg , is built to withstand powerful storms .
Funded with $923 million in FEMA money, Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hospital on Ocean Parkway in Coney Island features an elevated, flood-resistant emergency room and a structure capable of withstanding not only unique systems in the century like Sandy, but also the once-in-500-year type of storm, officials say.
The 11-story hospital is designed to withstand storms. It has private patient rooms and modern amenities to serve South Brooklyn and surrounding communities. And the lobby is flanked by a 7-foot-tall statue of Brooklyn native Ginsburg to welcome visitors, staff and patients into what health officials hope will be a new era of care.
Ginsburg’s granddaughter, Clara Spera, is expected to be in attendance for the ribbon cutting later Tuesday.