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Protest against debt-ridden healthcare system at St. John's Queens Hospital

Join us for a protest to stop hospital closings : 1 p.m., Sunday, March 24, 2013, at the former site of St. John's Queens Hospital : 90-02 Queens Blvd.

RSVP on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/223995181075326/

Subway Directions : Take the R train to Woodhaven Blvd.

This is a demonstration in affinity with #strikedebt. Fore more information about Strike Debt, please visit : http://strikedebt.org/lifeordebt/

St. John's Queens Hospital has been closed for about 4 years now ; it is an example of how our debt-ridden healthcare system drives hospitals to closure. At the time of its closing, St. John's and its sister hospital had debts and losses in excess of $110 million. The healthcare infrastructure at the former St. John's Queens Hospital was lost, and it was not replaced. Meanwhile, the Emergency Room of nearby Elmhurst Hospital is overwhelmed.

Our debt-ridden healthcare system drives hospitals into closure.

Join us on Sunday, March 24 at 1 p.m., to demand that healthcare, hospital, and medical debt be absolved, so that medical emergencies stop driving hospitals -- and people -- into bankruptcy.

Please support a single-payer healthcare system, which would be a stable way to fund hospitals and healthcare.

Follow these hashtags on Twitter : #lifeordebt #strikedebt

Follow us on Twitter : @StopNYMRT

@StopNYMRT Tweets On SUNY Downstate #LICH Closure Plan

SUNY Downstate submits closure plan for Long Island College Hospital ; nobody makes connection to @newyorkmrt nydailynews.com/new-york/brook… #LICH

— StopNYMRT (@StopNYMRT) February 21, 2013

Closure plan for Long Island College Hospital lets @nygovcuomo and @newyorkmrt off hook for responsibility nydailynews.com/new-york/brook… #LICH

— StopNYMRT (@StopNYMRT) February 21, 2013

Closure plan for #LICH follows pattern of other shady luxury condo conversions of hospitals #StVincents nydailynews.com/new-york/brook… @chriscquinn

— StopNYMRT (@StopNYMRT) February 21, 2013

Closure plan for #LICH is win for #neoliberalism and loss for #publichealth @nygovcuomo @newyorkmrt nydailynews.com/new-york/brook… @healthcarefor99

— StopNYMRT (@StopNYMRT) February 21, 2013

Where is Coalition for a New Village Hospital on #LICH closure plan ? nydailynews.com/new-york/brook… @yettakurland

— StopNYMRT (@StopNYMRT) February 21, 2013

Brooklyn Hospital Closings Update - LICH

NY State and @nygovcuomo want to end acute healthcare access to poor people in Brooklynbkbureau.org/dueling-prescr… @cdcmmwr @american_heart

— StopNYMRT (@StopNYMRT) February 14, 2013

Andrew Cuomo and the Neoliberalism Spree of Hospital Closings

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is closing hospitals, cutting healthcare, and attacking the social safety net in a spree of neoliberalism to "window dress" the New York State budget. His plan will make him look good, but it comes at the risk to public health. What are you going to do about it ?

Eleven hospital closings in New York City alone, since 2006 :

- Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn voted to be closed down under pressure from the Department of Health in 2013 ;

- Peninsula Hospital Center closed by the Department of Health in 2012 after it filed for bankruptcy ;

- North General Hospital in Harlem declared bankruptcy in 2010 ;

- St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village was shut down in 2010 to become luxury condos built by the greedy Rudin family ;

- St. John's Queens Hospital in Elmhurst went bankrupt in 2009 ;

- Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, Queens, went bankrupt in 2009 ;

- Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills, Queens, closed in 2008 ;

- Cabrini Medical Center in Manhattan closed in 2008 ;

- Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, closed in 2008 ; and

- St. Vincent's Midtown (f.k.a. St. Clare's Hospital) closed in 2007.

We are at the point right now where there are not enough hospitals left in New York City to deal with a mass civilian trauma event, natural disaster, or epidemic.

This year's flu season was aggravated by the temporary closing of these hospitals, which sustained major damage from Hurricane Sandy :

- Bellevue Hospital ;

- NYU Langone Hospital ;

- New York Downtown Hospital ;

- Coler-Goldwater Hospital ; and

- Coney Island Hospital.

And the only functioning hospital in all of Lower Manhattan was Beth Israel, but it was functioning for a time solely on back-up generators.

Is this the kind of healthcare system that we can rely up on save lives in times of a medical emergency ?

Protest Andrew Cuomo : Bring A Report Card To Show He Is Failing Expectations

From the Demand A Hospital listserv of St. Vincent's Hospital activists :

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

All :

Action Alert

Governor Andrew Cuomo will be celebrating his birthday with a fundraiser at one of New York City's finest hotels. Join us outside the event.

Bring a cardboard or poster board sign and write across it : "To : Gov. Cuomo -- For Protecting Our Healthcare" and then give him a giant letter grade : F-

Date : Monday, January 7, 2012

Time : 6:00 pm

Place : Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue, Manhattan

Keep In Mind That Full-Service Hospitals Are Not Yet Fully Functioning.

The VA Hospital is not yet open, and other hospitals are only partially open. During this healthcare crisis comes the State Department of Health, trying to close down Westchester Square Medical Center in the Bronx. Westchester Square is scheduled to close on March 10. Its assets will be up for auction, but it is expected that Montefiore Medical Center will purchase the hospital. If Westchester Square is absorbed by a larger hospital group, the take over may leave many community members and hospital employees rightly worried about local healthcare and jobs. Read more : http://bronx.ny1.com/content/top_stories/174922/bronx-nurses--locals-dread-closing-of-westchester-square-medical-center

Remember how many hospitals in Queens were closed within a short time of having been merged into other hospital groups. The Department of Health uses mergers as a way to shuffle hospital debts between medical centers, which lead to financial losses and eventually to hospital closings.

All of the hospitals, which were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, are not yet fully functional. Emergency rooms have been experiencing record levels of overcrowding, especially at Beth Israel, and some full-service hospitals are now reduced to offering only "urgent care," like at Coney Island Hospital.

How can Gov. Cuomo, in his right mind, think that now is the right time to keep closing hospitals ?

Hurricane Sandy is still causing a healthcare crisis all these many months later, and Gov. Cuomo is not taking this healthcare crisis seriously. Not only are our hospitals not yet restored to being fully functional, but long term illnesses are beginning to emerge. Mold is an urgent healthcare concern for Hurricane Sandy survivors. "Homes are uninhabitable with black mold taking hold, heat and sanitation are still absent in many places. Yet the government response has been glaringly absent," was how the Occupy Sandy volunteer group described the situation last month.

Compounding this healthcare crisis is that the government is using the "healthcare crisis" as an excuse to burn hurricane debris, aggravating the lungs of hurricane survivors, who must also deal with mold. Read more : http://nyc.sierraclub.org/2012/11/dont-burn-sandy-debris/

In the face of all this, there's only one grade a person can reasonably give Gov. Cuomo : F-

Join us at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Monday night.

Date : Monday, January 7, 2012

Time : 6:00 pm

Place : Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, 301 Park Avenue, Manhattan

We hope to see you at this demonstration. Read more : https://www.nycga.net/events/governor-cuomos-birthday-give-him-a-birthday-report-card/

Update : Letter To The Editor

Another person has published a letter in The New York Daily News about St. Vincent's Hospital :

Manhattan : To Voicer Joseph Human, who thinks New Yorkers can’t afford to let Mayor Bloomberg go: The mayor, who self-promoted himself on his fiscal and management skills, is leaving New York with an outstanding debt of more than $100 billion. Our surplus taxpayer dollars were used to award high-end commercial and real estate developers with grants and subsidies while St. Vincent’s Hospital and firehouses closed, massive cuts were made to essential services and our streets were intentionally jammed for bicycles and pedestrian plazas. Nikki Love

Read more : http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/jan-3-congress-betrayal-new-york-quality-members-congress-article-1.1231737?pgno=1

See you Monday night. Thank you for all that you keep doing.

Mental Healthcare Crisis In New York Caused By Spree Of Hospital Closings

Still no holiday wishes from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to the communities affected by all the hospital closings in New York City, but here's an update from The New York Times : Hurricane Shows Fragility of City’s Mental Health System