Cristina Contreras

Executive Director of North Central Bronx Hospital Promoted to New Position in Harlem

By SÍLE MOLONEY
  Mitchell Katz, MD and president and CEO at NYC Health + Hospitals, the City’s public hospital system, announced on Friday, Feb. 26, that Cristina Contreras, executive director of NYC Health + Hospitals/North Central Bronx (NCB), located in Norwood, will be promoted to CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan based in East Harlem.   It was also announced that Christopher Roker, CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Metropolitan in East Harlem, will serve as CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln in Mott Haven. In these roles, Katz said Contreras and Roker will help lead the hospitals’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic


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Mary Kay Sales Director Donates over 100 Pampering Sets To NCB Essential Workers

Jacqueline Acevedo-Villanueva, Mary Kay Sales Director, along with her colleagues Marina Lopez and Areliz Diaz, made a special trip to North Central Bronx Hospital (NCB) on Wednesday, May 20, to donate 100 ‘Satin Hands’ care packages to front line essential workers as a pampering treat.   Acevedo-Villanueva, who was born and raised in the Bronx, and who leads a team of over 50 women in her role at Mary Kay, a global beauty brand, donated the care packages as a thank you gesture to NCB nurses, and to all who she described as “the heroes on the front lines”.  


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New Covid-19 ICU Opens at North Central Bronx Hospital

By Miriam Quinones & Síle Moloney
  The first “official” COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) at North Central Bronx Hospital (NCB) was formally opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, May 5. Norwood News reported in April how NCB, one of 11 public hospitals in the NYC Health & Hospitals system, doubled its capacity, and has been taking in the overflow of COVID-19 patients from other public and private hospitals from around the State over the course of the pandemic.   Council Member Fernando Cabrera, the hospital’s executive director, Cristina Contreras, NYC Health & Hospitals’ Sally Pinero, Thomas Gaudio of Jacobs Engineering Group, William White, LiRo Group


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North Central Bronx: Will COVID-19 Shape the Hospital’s Future?

By Síle Moloney
  Just over a quarter million New Yorkers have tested positive for COVID-19 as of Apr. 20 and it’s not over yet. 14,828 have died. Make no mistake. This is a tragedy. Aside from the loss of life, this crisis will forever leave a legacy – the trauma carried by all those who were unable to say goodbye, the horror of discovering bodies in the homes of those who died alone. How can we make sense of it?   Some positives may be salvageable. Not only did the pandemic give rise to a statewide centralized care plan, involving both public


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Heastie Joins NCBH in Celebrating Black History Month

Heastie Joins NCBH in Celebrating Black History Month
By HENRY MCEACHERN
State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie spoke to a crowd of residents on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and the future of criminal justice reform at North Central Bronx Hospital’s (NCBH) Black History Month Celebration, a first for the state’s first African American speaker. Heastie, whose public visit to NCBH was rare, reflected on his accomplishments as a head of state, including the raising of minimum wage to $15 an hour. He also spoke on education, saying, “We’ve added over $6 billion in education funding since I became speaker. We increased the opportunity programs for people wanting to go


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New NCBH Ambulance Bays Part of Expanded Hospital Services

New NCBH Ambulance Bays Part of Expanded Hospital Services
By DAVID CRUZ
North Central Bronx Hospital officials stood alongside elected officials in cutting the ribbon on two new ambulance bays near the entrance to its emergency room. The new bays represent some of the new expanded services to a hospital that had long been rumored to close. “This effectively doubles our previous capacity from two ambulances to four ambulance spaces,” said Cristina Contreras, NCBH executive director, at a news conference Nov. 16 Contreras added the services could lessen the strain area emergency rooms have had to handle. Though Contreras, in a moment of diplomacy, declined to “name names,” she appeared to refer


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