Elected officials and union members rallied in Albany on Feb. 6 to halt SUNY Downstate Hospital’s closure.
Photo by Bridgette Alesci/Corning Place Communications
The United University Professions (UUP) union was at the state capitol on Tuesday rallying to keep SUNY Downstate Hospital open amid imminent closure.
UUP, the nation’s largest higher education union, was joined by elected officials from across New York City as well as leaders from numerous statewide unions like the American Federation for Teachers, New York State United Teachers and Public Employees Federation in their calls to Governor Kathy Hochul and SUNY’s Chancellor John B. King Jr. to stop plans to close the hospital.
SUNY Downstate is the only state-run hospital in New York and serves a large community in Brooklyn, many of whom are low-income residents and people of color. After years of underfunding coupled with structural issues, Governor Hochul and SUNY in January announced a “transformative” plan to establish a path to improve the institution and build a more sustainable and healthy future.
While the plan includes $300 million in capital investments, it would also relocate staff and patients to other nearby hospitals like NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County to continue care, shuttering the current SUNY Downstate medical campus.
SUNY officials stressed that allowing SUNY Downstate to continue operating at its current status quo of financial and facility turmoil would not improve the health outcomes of the community and that it was imperative to implement institutional improvements so the medical center could better serve its patients.
“Fewer than half of the hospital’s available beds are in use on a regular basis, and Downstate’s hospital faces an infrastructure crisis and due to its age routinely floods, has temperature control issues, and many other limitations,” King Jr. said in a statement in January. “We cannot allow this status quo to…
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