Spotlight On

Mission:
The Floating Hospital’s mission is to provide high-quality healthcare and social services to underserved New Yorkers. Since its founding in 1866 as New York’s first pediatric clinic, The Floating Hospital has delivered a unique blend of medical care, health education, outreach and advocacy to over 5 million New Yorkers. The Floating Hospital has served as an important citywide resource for 138 years, in part because of its ability to respond creatively to the changing circumstances of New York’s poorest families. Originally, The Floating Hospital’s mission was to provide medical services on its Ship-based clinic to poor children and their families. However, in 1996, The Floating Hospital determined to expand its reach. The plan was to bring primary medical and dental care to increasing segments of the low-income population, and to establish a presence in the communities where poor New York families live.

Background:
The Floating Hospital was established over 130 years ago when editors of The New York Times recognized that their newsboys were in desperate need of adequate health care. They conceived of a “ship of health,” which would sometimes be docked and sometimes at sea, so that the newsboys could leave the city streets to receive a day of health care bolstered by fresh sea air.

Although the city’s population and its needs have changed considerably since the 19th Century, The Floating Hospital still adheres to its original mission: providing high-quality health care for those in need. The Floating Hospital, although, no longer on the ship, due to the events of 9/11, continues to serve indigent New Yorkers who are at greatest risk for complex and life-threatening health problems, and who lack resources or alternative sources of care. The population served includes:

Immigrants, abused women and children, children in foster care, individuals in residential treatment, persons with HIV/AIDs, adolescents, senior citizens, currently and formerly homeless families, developmentally disabled or delayed individuals, poor children in the public school system.

Current Programs:
The Floating Hospital is one of the largest providers of primary health care services to shelter-based New Yorkers. On a daily basis, The Floating Hospital provides acute care, physical exams, episodic care, and referrals to specialty and emergency care. Some services include:

Physical examinations, vision and hearing tests, dental screenings and treatments, podiatry evaluation and referrals, immunizations, lead screenings, TB testing, laboratory testing, gynecological exams (including pregnancy testing, drug screenings, referrals to prenatal care, HIV counseling and testing, follow up treatment, treatment and medication for acute problems, including asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, hypertension, pain, respiratory infections, seizures, sexually transmitted diseases, and severe skin disorders.

At some sites, a health educator provides programs to residents and connects them to additional ancillary services.

Our success in providing services to our clients can be attributed to our teams’ ability to remain responsive to the clients’ demonstrated need for assistance and their potential for achieving an improved quality of life after relocation to permanent housing.

The Floating Hospital staff provide an array of services to homeless clients at the following locations:

Auburn Assessment Center, Brooklyn Community and Housing Services, Bushwick, Briarwood, Jennie A. Clarke Residence, Concourse Hotel, Covenant House, Flatlands Family Residence, HELP 1, HELP Brownsville Women’s Center, HELP Harbor, HELP Haven, HELP Morris, HELP New Horizons (formerly Amboy Neighborhood Center), Jamaica Triage and Referral Shelter, Rose McCarthy Family Residence, Powers Overnight Facility, Seneca Annex, Seneca House, St. John’s Place, Theresa’s Haven, Women’s Safe Start, Emergency Assessment Unit – Bronx, Adult Family Intake Center – Manhattan.

Due to this broad reach, during the past year, we provided approximately 70,000 clinical visits to clients. Beneficiaries of these services include approximately 7,500 children and their families, coming from homeless shelters, assessment centers, domestic violence safe houses and more than 900 high-risk adolescents coming from five inner-city high schools, in the New York metropolitan area.

Funding Needs:
Today, the work of The Floating Hospital is more urgently needed than ever before. The staggering rise in the number of children and their families lodging nightly in the city’s shelter system is by all counts the largest since the Great Depression, and many thousands of New York City’s homeless are in poor health. Living without shelter has many implications for health beyond the effects of poor diet, hygiene, risk from exposure, and lack of primary medical care.

The Floating Hospital’s operations are funded through a combination of patient services, contract services, contributions, special events, and investment income. All support is greatly appreciated.

Every month, the "Spotlight On" highlights the activities of a different 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in the tri-state region (NY, NJ, or CT). The selection of organizations for the "Spotlight On" is based on criteria such as programmatic interests, geographic focus, and size, to ensure the broadest possible representation of the region's nonprofit sector. While the Foundation Center strives to showcase the diverse range of organizations in the area, selection for "Spotlight On" does not constitute an endorsement by the Foundation Center.

If you'd like to see your NPO in the "Spotlight," please use this submission form to send us a profile of your organization. Or e-mail a description of your organization, following the above format, to nyweb@foundationcenter.org with "Spotlight Submission" in the subject line.