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 ?

Rally to Save Interfaith and LICH outside Cuomo's Office

Call Gov. Andrew Cuomo : (212) 681-4580. Tell him : Save our hospitals !

Rally on 31 Jan 2013 to save Interfaith Hospital and Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Brooklyn.

Gov. Cuomo and his political aide, the investment banker monster Stephen Berger, are obsessed with closing hospitals. And now, they are setting up "for profit" hospitals in Brooklyn. This is dangerous !!

Gov. Cuomo, in a supreme act of failed neoliberalism policies, has proposed to make Brooklyn one of two counties in the state as a pilot project, in which current state regulations would be to waived to allow for-profit health care investments. (Read more : Judy Wessler).

Bill Thompson Political Advisor Attacks Quinn's Critics

Hank Sheinkopf, an advisor to Bill Thompson, predicts that the growing grassroots movement against Christine Quinn, and her political doctrine of corruption and neoliberalism, will fail. What do you think ?

Democratic Party political consultant Hank Sheinkopf said that he thinks most of the protesters’ arguments against Christine Quinn are bogus.

Among the lone few truly real Progressive voices in New York City, one person spoke up to question the outrageous statements by Mr. Sheinkopf. Gerson Borrero took to Twitter to express his dissent to Mr. Sheinkopf's lack of any political ethics.

WHO IS HANK SHEINKOPF WORKING FOR? Anybody But Quinn | City & State: cityandstateny.com/anybody-but-qu…

— Gerson Borrero (@GersonBorrero) January 30, 2013

From City & State :

Despite the ongoing protests, political insiders say the [growing grassroots] movement [against Christine Quinn] probably won’t gain enough traction to affect the November mayoral primary.

“There’s always unusual things that occur in every mayoral election, and this is the first unusual thing that’s occurring here,” said Democratic Party political consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who added that he thinks most of the protesters’ arguments are bogus.

“The speaker makes deals,” he said. “That’s the nature of legislative government. Her job is to make deals.”

Sheinkopf, who is serving as an advisor to mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, also downplayed Quinn’s status as the Democratic front-runner. A recent poll has her far ahead of the pack, with 35 percent of likely voters pulling the lever for her as compared with 11 percent for Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and 10 percent for Thompson.

Have we reached a low point in New York City politics, where campaign consultants cannot attach the most corrupt mayoral candidate for fear of exposing the shared, underlying political corruption that exists amongst all of the mayoral candidates ?

Hank Sheinkopf defends @chriscquinn against protests. Really? @ows_getmoneyout @occuvote cityandstateny.com/anybody-but-qu… @gersonborrero @ny1thecall

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) January 31, 2013

Andrew Cuomo's Public Health Perfect Storm

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo will be using the 2013-2014 state budget to help turn the Buffalo Bills NFL team around. Gov. Cuomo announced that the state would extend $60 million to the "floundering franchise."

"The Buffalo Bills are staying in New York, that's the good news," Gov. Cuomo told City & State. "All I can tell you is for $60 million, the Bills better win this year."

• Gov. Cuomo Orders Audit Of SUNY Downstate Hospital That Blames The Hospital For Treating Medicaid Patients And For Merging Together : "Mr. DiNapoli also blamed competition for patients, over-reliance on Medicaid revenues despite cuts in financing and the ill-advised acquisition of two hospitals, Victory Memorial Hospital in July 2008 and Long Island College Hospital, known as LICH, in May 2011. 'Consultant studies used as justification for the purchase were based on flawed, unrealistic business assumptions,' according to Mr. DiNapoli," The New York Times reported.
• Leery Of A Merger Being Thrust Upon It By Cuomo And Stephen Berger, InterFaith Hospital In Brooklyn Plans To Declare Bankruptcy : A year ago, a Brooklyn work group of the governor’s Medicaid Redesign Team, which was created to find savings in the hospital and health industry, recommended that Interfaith merge with two other Brooklyn hospitals, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and Brooklyn Hospital.
• Angel Investors Trying To Save Westchester Square Medical Center, Because Andrew Cuomo Is Using Your Tax Dollars To Bailout An NFL Team : ... "A last-minute competing offer has emerged from a group of real-estate investors, who are offering to pay $14.4 million for the hospital's assets and lease it back to the hospital, which would continue to operate as a nonprofit with the same board of directors," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Many of the hospitals, which were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, have not fully recovered. And public health has been compromised by the ongoing spree of hospital closings under Gov. Cuomo and his henchman, the mean old man Stephen Berger. Add to that the flu epidemic, and you have all the makings of a perfect storm in public health.

Gov. Cuomo's Desperate Primal Scream For Political Attention (And For Political Cover)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo went on a verbal tirade during his State of the State speech last week, stopping short of foaming at the mouth, calling for gun control as a distraction from the fact that Gov. Cuomo is trying to close more New York City hospitals during the healthcare crisis created by Hurricane Sandy and the flu epidemic.

#NewYorkMRT #BergerCommission

Epidemic #flu deaths. Are there enough hospitals post #Sandy, post @newyorkmrt, post #BergerCommission ? @nygovcuomonytimes.com/2013/01/12/hea…

— StopNYMRT (@StopNYMRT) January 11, 2013

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.

Has Christine Quinn Lost Touch With Reality ?

House to NY: "DROP DEAD" #sandysurvivors smack down!

— Gerson Borrero (@GersonBorrero) January 2, 2013

''Let Them Eat Cake''

Last night, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) pulled the plug on a vote on the $60 billion Hurricane Sandy disaster relief bill after partisan bickering over the fiscal cliff, and Gerson Borrero complained that New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has lost touch with reality.

House of Representatives delayed a vote on desperately needed Hurricane Sandy disaster aid (The New York Daily News) * ''They told us to basically drop dead !'' Angry New York residents and pols fuming over latest Sandy snub. * Hurricane Sandy Relief Center in NYC Looted on Christmas (NBC)

Some New York Democrats were ''outraged'' by the insensitivity and lack of dignity by Congress towards hurricane survivors. “I have been a member of this body for 24 years and I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry,” Rep. Eliot Engel (D-Bronx, Westchester) told The New York Daily News. NY1 News editorial contributor Gerson Borrero was shocked to see that Speaker Quinn seemed to be oblivious about the lack of action on a comprehensive federal hurricane relief package.

Hello, NY just got screwed and you tweet this: “@chriscquinn: Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2013 is everything you hope for.”

— Gerson Borrero (@GersonBorrero) January 2, 2013

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

Grumpy Cat Won't Save New York City ; Neither Will Christine Quinn

The #GrumpyCat Wont Save #NYC From #HospitalClosings Neither Will @chriscquinn christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/2012/12/Grumpy… twitter.com/stopchrisquinn…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) December 21, 2012

Christine Quinn Campaign Crisis Management Mode

Serious Questions About Electability Of Perceived Front-Runner In Mayor’s Race

Does @chriscquinn need #crisismanagement even b4 she declares her campaign to be mayor of #NYC in 2013 ? nytimes.com/2012/12/13/nyr…

— Stop Christine Quinn (@stopchrisquinn) December 13, 2012

From The New York Times :

After months of maintaining a cool, above-the-fray approach to the 2013 mayoral race, Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker and presumptive candidate-to-beat next year, is enduring the first bumps of what may be a pockmarked road to the Democratic primary.

This week, Ms. Quinn was criticized for a campaign finance bill that opponents — including her most important ally, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg — said would tear a loophole in New York City’s election spending rules.

On television, there was Alec Baldwin, the temperamental actor, telling Piers Morgan’s national audience on CNN that Ms. Quinn had “blood on her hands” for supporting Mr. Bloomberg’s successful bid to circumvent term limits.

Read more : Hints at Steeper Road to Victory for Perceived Front-Runner in Mayor’s Race

Grumpy Cat Hospital Closings Meme

Alec Baldwin : Christine Quinn has "blood on her hands," because she changed term limits

Video: Alec Baldwin Says Christine Quinn Is "Untrustworthy," Has "Blood On Her Hands"

Alec Baldwin dropped by CNN's Piers Morgan program last night and he said that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is "untrustworthy." Unfortunately, Mr. Baldwin didn't mention the post-Hurricane Sandy risk to public health following closing of St. Vincent's Hospital, but he did say that Speaker Quinn has "blood on her hands" from the over-turning of term limits. (read more : The Gothamist)

Piers Morgan : The last time we spoke, you were flirting with the idea of possibly running for mayor of New York. Are you still flirting with it ?

Alec Baldwin : No, because to do so - I mean, I was convinced, and people told me - although it was something that I would have loved to have done, truly, you would have to take about a year and a half of your life to do nothing but to raise money. And I didn't have time, because I'm doing the TV show now, and I have other commitments. But I'm very interested in what the post-Bloomberg New York will look like.

Piers Morgan : Who would you like to see of all the names you have heard in the frame outside of yours ?

Alec Baldwin : Probably Bill de Blasio. Right now, I'd have to say Bill de Blasio.

Piers Morgan : Why ?

Alec Baldwin : Well because, first of all, I start looking at the other candidates, all of whom have good qualities. The thing that concerns me most is obviously about Quinn. I've been very outspoken about Quinn, who's a lovely person. But she certainly is Bloomberg's hand-picked successor. And I resent that to some degree that Bloomberg feels he needs to control the fate of City Hall and of Gracie Mansion beyond his term. He already over-turned a voter-approved referendum that had term limits for two terms. Quinn has that blood on her hands. She was the one, who single-handedly killed the voter referendum at Bloomberg's behest and gave him a third term. And I was very, very upset about that. And I just don't think that Quinn is trustworthy. I think that she's a very, very - she's a very nice person, I've met her. But in terms of her political aspirations, she's a very untrustworthy person. She's very, very self-seeking.

Interfaith To File For Bankruptcy, May Become Tenth Hospital To Close Under Christine Quinn

Related : J31 Rally to Save Interfaith and LICH outside Gov. Cuomo's Office - Stop Hospital Closings

Interfaith Medical Center Plans To Declare Bankruptcy This Week.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo empaneled a consulting group called the Medicaid Redesign Team headed by investment banker Stephen Berger. The last consulting group headed by Mr. Berger came to be known as the Berger Commission. The tasks of both groups was the same : to identify hospitals to close down, so that New York State could implement cuts to the state's healthcare budget.

In the latest development, it was announced today that Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn plans to file for bankruptcy. The Medicaid Redesign Team has identified three hospitals in Brooklyn, which serve uninsured and underinsured patients for closing ; one of these was Interfaith.

How the Cuomo administration plans to carry out the closings is to merge the financially unstable hospitals together in some combinations, so that that the hospitals can hemorrhage money faster, so that they can end up collapsing under the weight of their combined debts.

Interfaith officials told The New York Times that turning over operational control to Brooklyn Hospital without the state’s first promising the financing needed to keep Interfaith going would be tantamount to a covert plan to close Interfaith in a year and a half or so.

A similar money-losing arrangement was made between a string of hospitals lead by St. Vincent's, which lead to the financial collapse of each hospital : St. Vincent's, St. Johns Queens Hospital, and Mary Immaculate Hospital.

Because the Medicaid Redesign Team's sole purpose has been to make even deeper cuts to the state's healthcare budget, Gov. Cuomo's austerity plan is responsible for the bankruptcy filing. In letters to state officials, Nathan M. Barotz, the chairman of Interfaith's board of trustees, has said that a 2010 cut in Medicaid reïmbursement rates cost Interfaith 40 percent of its inpatient revenue and precipitated its current crisis.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, so many New York City hospitals endured damage. There is a shortage of functioning hospitals right now.

One hospital executive, Michael Dowling, is trying to profit from the disaster that Hurricane Sandy has caused to his competition. Mr. Dowling is head of the parent-holding company of Lenox Hill Hospital. Mr. Dowling opposes opening anymore hospitals, because Lenox Hill Hospital is now making record amounts of money from an influx of patients from the damaged hospitals with which he competes.

NYU Langone Hospital, Bellevue Hospital, and Coney Island Hospital were evaucated after each hospital suffered damage and power failures. None of these hospitals have been able to return to 100% functioning levels. How can it make sense for Gov. Cuomo to keep forcing hospitals to close ?

Related : With Some Hospitals Closed After Hurricane, E.R.’s at Others Overflow

If Interfaith does indeed close, it will become the tenth hospital to close since Christine Quinn became speaker of the New York City Council in 2006.

Hurricane Sandy Healthcare Rally at City Hall

New York City doctors and nurses are sounding a public health alarm on the stressed hospital network after Sandy.

Healthcare activists held a rally on the steps of New York's City Hall to demand that Mayor Michael Bloomberg do more to improve healthcare for survivors of Hurricane Sandy.

Sandy's floodwaters severely damaged NYU Medical Center, Bellevue Hospital, Coney Island Hospital, and Manhattan's VA Medical Center. Patients who would have sought care at those facilities are now turning to other hospitals that remain open. (WNBC)

Emergency room doctor Marisa Fernandez, who has been volunteering in the badly damaged Rockaways neighborhood, said, "We're having to recreate an entire healthcare infrastructure from scratch—everything ranging from assessment and triage of newly housebound individuals, to mobile clinics." (Zimbio)

Despite what some hospital administrators have claimed, Sandy turned out to be exactly what weather forecasters were predicting, so while the Manhattan VA and NY Downtown were evacuated before the storm hit, Bellevue, Coney Island and NYU Langone waited until after. We can't say for sure why--but certainly the loss of revenue may have been a factor in that decision. Even public hospitals depend on reimbursements from patient visits to stay financially viable. (Socialist Worker)

Hurricane Sandy Exposes Risks of Closing of St. Vincent's Hospital

Hurricane Sandy Exposes Risks Of Closing of St. Vincent's Hospital.

The New York City Fire Department is helping Bellevue Hospital evacuate some of it patients, the Associated Press has reported.

Bellevue Hospital lost power during the blackout created by the storm surge, flooding, and damage from Hurricane Sandy.

Even with backup power operating, the Associated Press reported that the power outage had left many sections of Bellevue Hospital in the dark and rendered major medical equipment unusable without access to electricity.

After St. Vincent's Hospital was closed, activists had demanded that politicians explain how mass trauma events would be handled with the irresponsible geographical distribution of hospital beds in Manhattan created by the Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion plan approved by New York City Council Christine Quinn.

After St. Vincent's Hospital closed, a Gross Imbalance in the Distribution of Hospital Beds in Manhattan

Chelsea Building Collapse Hurricane Sandy

Related : NYC Hurricane Sandy - Hospital Evacuations and Berger Commission #EPICFAIL

Related : Related : Hurricane Sandy - Political Accountability For Hospital Evacuations

Across the street from 92 8th Avenue where building facade collapse just happened. (ok to use, plz credit me) twitter.com/MegRobertson/s…

— Meg Robertson (@MegRobertson) October 29, 2012

Fire and rescue personnel respond to a partial building collapse in Chelsea on Eighth Avenue, between 14th and 15th Streets. On local news reports, the building was shown to be missing the front façade of the building.

MAN 2-ALARM 92 8TH AVE, MULTIPLE DWELLING BUILDING COLLAPSE,

— FDNY (@FDNY) October 29, 2012

The building collapse took place less than five blocks from the former St. Vincent's Hospital. If people were hurt, they no longer have a Level I Trauma Center or full-service hospital at St. Vincent's since New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn approved the luxury condo conversion plan by the Rudin Family.

I see 8 fire trucks and many police cars and vans #sandy 14/8 twitter.com/gilgul/status/…

— Gilad Lotan (@gilgul) October 29, 2012

Yankee Stadium Bailout But Not For St. Vincent's Hospital

Early this morning, Tom McDonald was hosting Sports on 1 on NY1, when a gentleman called into the sports TV show. The caller complained about how governments gave the owners of the new Yankee stadium complex hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies, but yet found no money to bail out St. Vincent's Hospital.

Mr. McDonald brushed off the criticism, saying that the new Yankee Stadium was good for tourism and that funding healthcare or keeping hospitals solvent were not important uses of taxpayer money.

Occupy Activists Brilliantly Infiltrated Koch Brothers Anti-Occupy Rally

From The Guardian :

A conservative rally billed as an opportunity to "stand up to Occupy Wall Street extremists" fell flat on Thursday when it was co-opted by members of Occupy Wall Street.

Supporters of Americans for Prosperity, a Tea Party-esque group funded by the billionaire Koch brothers, gathered at the Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan to demonstrate against both Occupy Wall Street and President Obama.

But almost half of the sparse crowd were Occupy Wall Street protesters, smartly dressed and bearing signs parodying Americans for Prosperity's ultra-conservative message.

Read more : Occupy activists commandeer anti-Occupy Wall Street rally

$10 billion bonanza, but none of it to save New York safety net hospitals ?

During the course of many years, New York politicians have gone along with a radical plan to close safety net hospitals in a scorched campaign against spiraling healthcare costs. Hospitals with charity missions, like St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village flat-lined as a way to cut off hospitals that served the uninsured, underinsured, and Medicaid-insured.

Related : St. Vincent's Hospital closing was a 'significant disaster,' says Bellevue chief (NYDailyNews

Now comes New York Andrew Cuomo, with news that his austerity program to slash Medicaid will yield a $10 billion bonanza from the federal government, but none of that money, nor any effort to reform any other parts of the state budget, were made to save the many hospitals that have been closed by NYS Department of Health officials : nine hospital have closed in New York City alone during the time that Christine Quinn has been speaker of the City Council.

Media outlets, that promote Gov. Cuomo's neo-liberal agenda, praise the governor's budget cuts and hospital closings, even though Gov. Cuomo delegating all the draconian work to Stephen Berger, who, together with the governor, are shredding the safety net and gutting the very programs that help people with the least.

Rosie O'Donnell Has Heart Attack ; SVH Luxury Condo Fears Ambulance Response Times

Earlier today, Rosie O'Donnell blogged about having had a heart attack last week. Earlier this year, Mr. O'Donnell purchased a luxury condo from the Rudin family in the complex that used to be St. Vincent's Hospital, before it closed. Everybody is glad that Rosie is doing better, and we all wish her a speedy recovery. Some community activists hope that Ms. O'Donnell will see her heart attack as a wake-up call to create a full-service, Level I Trauma center in the Lower West Side. With the Rudin family's luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital, there is now no trauma-emergency care in the entire Lower West Side of Manhattan.

About the EMS response and transport time that people live in fear in the West Village, the artist and political blogger, Suzannah B. Troy, wrote that Ms. O'Donnell "would not have made it to Beth Israel like Richard Scheirer --- Rudy Giuliani's guy that died because he had a stroke and did not make it from the West Village where there is no St. Vincent's Hospital -- no trauma level 1 hospital."

2011-12-25 Bill Rudin Robber Baron Band-Aid Flyer

(CBS News) Rosie O'Donnell says she is "lucky to be here" after suffering a heart attack last week.

O'Donnell, 50, detailed the experience on her blog Monday, saying that she helped lift an "enormous woman" out of her car on Aug. 14 - and that a few hours later, her chest ached, her arms were sore, she became nauseous and had clammy skin.

She initially thought she had pulled a muscle, she continued, but then added in her free-verse writing style, "Maybe this is a heart attack/i googled womens heart attack symptoms/i had many of them/but really? - i thought - naaaa."

O'Donnell said she took a few aspirin ("Thank god/saved by a tv commercial/literally") and went to a cardiologist the next day.

She said her coronary artery was 99 percent blocked. A stent was inserted.

"They call this type of heart attack/the Widow maker/i am lucky to be here," she wrote. "Know the symptoms ladies/listen to the voice inside/the one we all so easily ignore/CALL 911/save urself."

A rep for O'Donnell told Us Weekly that she is now "home and resting comfortably." Earlier this month, she revealed that her fiancee, Michelle Rounds, was diagnosed with desmoid tumors.

The comedian recently hosted "The Rosie Show" on the Opera Winfrey Network. It was canceled in March.