Healthcare workers, union reps and elected officials rally against possible SUNY Downstate closure on Feb. 29.
Photo by Isabel Beer
Healthcare workers and elected officials rallied Thursday outside of SUNY Downstate Medical Center in the latest protest against a “transformative plan” which could see SUNY shutter the East Flatbush hospital.
Joined by fellow elected officials, Brooklyn faith leaders, numerous union representatives and hundreds of healthcare workers, New York State Sen. Zellnor Myrie renewed calls to keep SUNY Downstate open to serve Central Brooklyn residents — many of whom are working-class people of color.
Citing a state study on healthcare disparities in Brooklyn released on Feb. 1, Myrie criticized the plan to close the hospital while the surrounding community experiences a healthcare crisis.
“What lives do we have to continue to surrender at the altar for y’all? We’re sick of it, we deserve better,” Myrie said at the Feb. 29 rally. “The facts already tell us this and this isn’t the facts that we have made up here on this stage. This is a Department of Health-owned report. They say if you live in this neighborhood, if you live in this ZIP code, your healthcare quality is below average. So now you come to us with the data and the information and you say our solution is to close down, not to provide you with the resources but to take the resources away.”
A financial crisis at SUNY Downstate
SUNY Downstate has been financially beleaguered for at least the past decade. The institution reported a near $160 million deficit in 2022 after serving as a COVID-only hospital during the worst of the pandemic. Additionally, the building’s structural integrity is weakened to a point where it would cost SUNY over $4 billion to repair.
“Downstate faces significant financial challenges, with years of financial and facility emergencies plaguing this essential and historic institution,” said SUNY Chancellor John…
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