Arrangements Nearly Complete to Provide Kosher Food in New York Municipal Hospital

An Orthodox leader reported today that arrangements were virtually complete for the first kosher food service for Jewish patients at a municipal hospital, the Coney Island Brooklyn hospital. William Ciner, a former president of Young Israel of Bensonhurst, a section of Brooklyn, said that a number of Orthodox Jewish organizations had been negotiating with city officials for some time on the problem of providing kosher meals for Jewish patients in city hospitals. The Coney Island Hospital plan was worked out by Mr. Ciner, a former manpower consultant for the New York City Human Resources Administration. It will provide for about 1,000 kosher meals a week for patients at the Brooklyn hospital. Cost of the meals, as well as additional serving and heating equipment and added hospital staff help, will be covered by the city.

Mr. Ciner said that when Hospitals Commissioner Joseph V. Terenzion was approached, he endorsed the proposal and suggested that two dietary aides be added to the Coney Island hospital staff for the kosher food program and that the city buy 200 new cups for use by the Jewish patients. Mr. Ciner added that the project had the blessing of Mayor John V. Lindsay and that it would be submitted soon to the city budget commission for expected approval.

The Young Israel leader said that he had pointed out to Mr. Terenzion and Sid Davidoff, an assistant to Mayor Lindsay, that some 90 percent of all private hospitals and those of all religious denominations had arrangements to supply kosher food to Jewish patients on request and that the 18 city hospitals did not have such arrangements. He explained that because the meals will be pre-packaged, complete with cutlery, there will not be any cooking involved and therefore no need for a resident rabbinical supervisor. He added that if the pilot program at Coney Island Hospital works out, it was expected that the same service would be provided in all city hospitals.