Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Services For Mentally-Ill New Yorkers Have Taken A Hit Since Sandy
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 26, 2012
Modified Dec 26, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Dec 26, 2012
Modified Dec 26, 2012
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Hurricane Sandy may have done more than inflict significant damage on local homes and businesses: it also wreaked havoc on the city's already struggling mental-health system.
Bellevue, which housed the city's main psychiatric unit, has been closed since its electricity failed during the storm, along with NYU Langone Medical Center's main facility, Coney Island Hospital and Manhattan's Veterans Affairs Hospital. Psychiatric patients at those hospitals were transferred elsewhere, some to places with reportedly sketchy histories when it comes to caring for the mentally-ill, like Kings County Hospital.
And other medical facilities that remain open say they're overwhelmed with patients. "Triage has reached a different level: You have to be sicker to get in," Dr. Andrew Kolodny, Maimonides Hospital's chairman of psychiatry, told the Times. So more mentally-ill New Yorkers are being turned away, even onto the streets, and with many outpatient facilities similarly shuttered or overwhelmed, are finding it harder to get the medication and care they may have been provided before the storm.
The city has started to pay more attention to its mentally-ill population of late, with Mayor Bloomberg launching an initiative this week to provide more treatment for mentally-ill people convicted of crimes. And there may be some relief for psychiatric hospitals soon: according to Bellevue Hospital's website, its facilities plan to be back online by February.
Tagged
bellevue
brooklyn
coney island hospital
hurricane sandy
manhattan
mentally ill
nyu langone medical center
Rebecca Fishbein
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .