Soundview yes, Espada no

On Good Friday, when government offices, banks and markets were closed, Soundview Health Center’s doors were open. 

A 73-year-old man, who suffered a stroke and then had a pacemaker put in two years ago, went to Soundview to get his blood tested rather than trek to Manhattan. 

A 35-year-old woman arrived with an upset stomach. She moved to Throgs Neck when the youngest of her three daughters was born 13 years ago, but she still travels to Soundview for care. 

The doctors, she said, know all her childrens’ names and handle them so well. 

Sadly, another couple of names familiar to just about everyone here are those of scandal-scarred state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. and Pedro Gautier Espada, his son. Their names proudly grace the center’s awning despite the fact that they are both on trial for using the clinic to pay for the senior Espada’s lavish lifestyle, complete with sushi dinners and Broadway plays. 

The Office of the Medicaid Inspector General is seeking to exclude Soundview Healthcare Network, which includes the Soundview Health Center, from Medicaid and the State Department of Health is seeking to terminate its Medicaid contract based on the network’s repeated failure to comply with regulations in place since 2009, which set up checks and balances for health care facilities.

Judge Mark Friedlander ruled on Dec. 22 that Medicaid could stop payment, but the network is currently appealing that ruling. 

Meanwhile the court has also pushed to deny Medicaid funds to the network as long as Espada family members indicted for embezzlement are involved with its management, unless and until they are cleared of the charges.

With that in mind, Mr. Espada has put his other son in managerial control of Soundview and the center. 

The big-armed man at the Soundview Center’s front desk — Nathaniel Martin — who was frequently seen with Mr. Espada on the campaign trail in his failed bid for re-election in 2010, not only helps protect the politician, he defends Soundview’s reputation vehemently.