Metropolitan Hospital Center is a hospital in East Harlem, New York City. It has been affiliated with New York Medical College since it was founded in 1875, representing the oldest partnership between a hospital and a private medical school in the United States. MHC is part of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, the largest municipal hospital and healthcare system in the country.
Location
Metropolitan is located near the border of East Harlem with Upper East Side and Yorkville. The physical plant extends from First to Second avenues between East 97th and 99th streets. The hospital caters to a wide spectra of patient population and disease pathology.
Metropolitan Hospital Center was founded in September 1875 as the Homeopathic Hospital. It was established by the New York City Department of Public Charities and Correction on Wards Island. It was later known as the Ward's Island Hospital. In 1894, the hospital moved to Blackwell's Island. It occupied the former New York City Asylum for the Insane and was renamed Metropolitan Hospital. The hospital moved into two newly constructed buildings at its present location in East Harlem in 1955. In 1966, the hospital added its Mental Health Building, an adjoining 14-story pavilion housing the hospital's psychiatric services. In 1969 Frederick Wiseman filmed a documentary using the hospital's emergency room titled Hospital, which won two Emmys for Outstanding Achievement in News Documentary Programming - Individuals and Outstanding Achievement in News Documentary Programming, and in 1994 the National Film Registry selected the film for preservation. In the 1980s, the hospital was threatened with closure due to funding cuts. NYC Mayor Ed Koch reached a $45 million, three-year agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a new project to demonstrate innovative ways of delivering health care to East Harlem's poor.
Designations
Metropolitan Hospital Center is the first hospital in East Harlem designated as a stroke center by the New York State Department of Health. Stroke centers have the equipment, expertise and staffing available to diagnose stroke patients quickly enough to administer potentially lifesaving drugs. It also offers education and outreach for the public and emergency workers, as well as a stroke rehabilitation program. The hospital has been designated as a Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Center of Excellence by the New York State Department of Health. A Sexual Assault Response Team is also on location, composed of specially trained Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners, medical personnel, patient advocates, social workers, law enforcement officers and representatives of the New York County District Attorney's Office Sex Crimes Unit.
