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

Occupy Sandy Protest Near Mayor Mike Bloomberg's Mansion

Several hundred citizens affected by Hurricane Sandy, healthcare professionals, activists, and members of Occupy Sandy relief effort participated in a rally and march near Fifth Avenue and East 79th Street to protest what organisers said was a lack of care and concern by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Hospitals that were evacuated due to hurricane damage have not reopened, and hurricane survivors are dealing with mold, no heat, no hot water, and no electricity in the winter. Healthcare professionals describe conditions that could lead to a public healthcare crisis. Yet, rally participants kept asking, "Where is Mayor Bloomberg?"

It wasn't confirmed, but many people speculated that Mayor Bloomberg could be spending this weekend in his palatial compound in the tropical island of Bermuda.

This independent video was made in solidarity with rally organizers to educate the public about Mayor Michael Bloomberg's lack of care and concern for survivors of Hurricane Sandy, and this video includes information about Bill Rudin : another billionaire, who also bears responsibility for some of the issues raised by some rally participants.

Read also : Nurses Will Picket Mayor Bloomberg's Mansion

For more information about hurricane relief efforts, please visit : http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/

Hurricane Sandy Hospital Crisis Grows

From True News From Change NYC :

Closing of NYU and Bellevue Hospitals Because of Sandy Should Have Been A Wakeup Call That NYC Has A Hospital Crisis.

New Yorkers are Getting Sicker and Even Dying (esp. the poor) Because of A Hospital Crisis Made Worse by the Floods . . . Where is the Pols, Media and Activist Outrage?

Nobody Notices Hospital Crisis Or Sandy's Wake Up Call

With Some Hospitals Closed After Hurricane, E.R.’s at Others Overflow (NYT) Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn had 1,100 more emergency patients last month than in November 2011; the increase was mostly attributed to a hospital shut by the storm. * Hospital in Brooklyn Files for Bankruptcy Protection (NYT) Some New York medical centers are adding extra shifts and converting offices and lobbies into space for patients as emergency room visits surge. * Half of Brooklyn hospitals on life support | Crain's New York Business

The Angry New Yorker's Who Demanded Their Rights is Gone

Where are the Mayoral Candidates on the Hospital Crisis?

Why Is There No Movement To Save These Hospitals Like There Was in 1980 Against the Closing of Sydenham Hospital? 3 hospitals closed in Queens, St Vincent's murdered for a Co-op in Manhattan, 5 hospitals in trouble in Brooklyn. The activist and progressives are all over Facebook and twitter demanding pay for fasttfood workers because it is being pushed by unions looking for membership. It is very stranged that these same activists are silent on the health care needs of many of these workers who depend on the hospital system for all their health care needs. Could it be that the help unions provide the reason the activist are supporting their issues?

City Hall Protest Against Bloomberg's Inadequate Healthcare Response To Hurricane Sandy

Meet at City Hall this Friday, 11/16, at 12:00 p.m. to tell Mayor Bloomberg that there are urgent unmet healthcare needs caused by Hurricane Sandy !

Date : Friday, November 16, 2012

Time : 12:00 Noon

Place : City Hall

2012-11-16 Mike Bloomberg City Hall - Hurricane Sandy Relief Rally Flyer

St. John's Episcopal Hospital At Capacity, Upper East Side Residents Complain About Hospital Crisis

After Peninsula Hospital closed, St. John's became the only full-service hospital in Far Rockaway. It is now operating at 100% capacity, meaning, it has no more room to take in patients. This condition is compounded by the fact that patients have nowhere to be discharged to, and by the fact that many of the employees have become homeless as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

Nearby nursing homes and adult homes have been evacuated and are not yet re-opened. Electricity continues to be a problem throughout the area and patients with special needs may have lost homes or cannot go back to homes without electricity or heat. Staff, many of them without homes or who have been evacuated, also need places to stay so they can continue to work. Homeless staff are given vouchers for hot meals.

St. John's has set up two funds for donations. To donate to St. John's Episcopal Hospital to continue its efforts to serve the community, please make a check out to St. John's Episcopal Hospital and mail it to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, 327 Beach 19th Street, Far Rockaway, NY 11691. To donate to the Hurricane Sandy Staff Relief Fund, please make the check out to St. John's Episcopal Hospital, and write in the memo "Hurricane Sandy Staff Relief Fund" and mail to the above-mentioned address. To pay by Paypal or Credit Card go to www.ehs.org.

Separately, WCBS 2 News did a piece about how the people in the Upper East Side are now beginning to complain about all the people from Lower Manhattan swarming their hospitals.

Maybe it is going to take complaints by UES residents to ring alarm bells about the uneven distribution of hospital beds in Lower Manhattan ?

NYC Hurricane Sandy - Hospital Evacuations and Berger Commission - FAIL

Why is it acceptable for us to allow hospitals go through such desperate attempts to equally and adequately fund the healthcare needs of patients ? Look at the consequences of the blackouts of New York City hospitals in Lower Manhattan.

The issue before us is whether the rebuilding of our hospitals will continue to favour wealthy institutions, which primarily serve the well-insured, or will we use this opportunity to examine and fix the unequal distribution of healthcare in New York created by the Berger Commission ?

As it is, we are on a path that will continue to force us to accept less and less. Look at how nursing homes were instructed by health officials not to evacuate, and then they are criticised by the Department of Health for unacceptable conditions compounded precisely because they were instructed not to evacuate. Is this acceptable ?

If we believe in the dignity and equality of all people, then our healthcare system must be reformed to provide patient care-centered healthcare, to equally meet the needs of all patients. Please support a truly universal, single-payer healthcare system.

Bellevue Morgue Under Water

In a post about the final two patients still remaining at Bellevue Hospital, The New York Times obtained details about some of the severe conditions inside the hospital's morgue :

The sources also said that after Hurricane Sandy hit, the Bellevue morgue was under water, so the bodies of patients who died of their illnesses after the storm had to be kept elsewhere. Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the city medical examiner, confirmed that the Bellevue morgue had been flooded, but that with the assistance of the medical examiner, the bodies had been put on higher racks to keep them out of the water.

She did not know how many bodies there were. Ms. Borakove said the medical examiner’s morgue, which is separate, remained dry.

What is missing from these incremental reports about the deteriorating conditions at many hospitals in the wake of Hurricane Sandy is the failure of the mayor's emergency management plan that did not anticipate for infrastructure failures.

Not only that, but the New York State Department of Health has responsibility, for the irresponsible distribution of hospital beds in Manhattan. After nine New York City hospitals have closed, how do Gov. Andrew Cuomo ; Dr. Nirav Shah, the Secretary of the State Department of Health ; Stephen Berger, who continues to advocate for still yet more hospital closings ; and other statue health officials now view the issue of reducing the number of hospitals, when a mass civilian trauma event or natural disaster can destroy the infrastructure of the fewer remaining hospitals we have now ?

Here's an Associated Press video of the beginning of the evacuation of Bellevue Hospital :

Bill Rudin Hospital Evacuations and NYC Marathon Reality Check

Bill Rudin said that it would be safe to close St. Vincent's Hospital, which was the only Level I Trauma Center and full-service hospital in the Lower West Side of Manhattan. He and his billion-dollar real estate development company got easy building permits, zone-busting waivers, and approvals from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. At the time, Mr. Rudin and Speaker Quinn said that if people in Lower Manhattan became sick, or if there was a mass civilian trauma event, patients could be transported to Bellevue Hospital, which was the next closest Level I Trauma Center.

But the aftermath of hospital evacuations at NYU Langone and Bellevue Hospitals following destruction by caused by Hurricane Sandy expose the risks of the Rudin Condo Conversion Plan approved for St. Vincent's Hospital.

Note that the NYC Marathon would have three giant electricity generators, which would be used for the media tent, meanwhile, NYU Langone and Bellevue Hospitals had to be evacuated due to backup generator failures.

Watch this NBC News report about the hurricane destruction. Note that Mr. Rudin is a sponsor of the NYC Marathon, and he wants the Marathon to still take place this week-end, even though first responders haven't yet finished recovering all the dead bodies on Staten Island, or, for that matter, ensuring public safety or providing emergency care to the people rendered homeless by the tsunami of the storm surge and flooding.

Hurricane Sandy Bloomberg Nursing Home Evacuation Scandal

Rockaway Beach Nursing Homes Told Not To Evacuate Ahead Of Hurricane Sandy, Officials Say

Five nursing homes in floods zones in New York City were told by officials not to evacuate before Hurricane Sandy made landfall, The Huffington Post reported.

Residents of the nursing homes, which were located just blocks off the New York City coastline with the Atlantic Ocean, experienced the horror of Hurricane Sandy's destructive winds, rains, and storm surge.

"It was like Niagara Falls," said an employee, who asked to remain anonymous, about the four foot flooding on the first floor of Rockaway Care Center.

"The New York Office of Emergency Management did not return multiple calls or emails about the condition of the nursing homes, the status of the residents, or the decision not to evacuate prior to the storm," reported The Huffington Post.

While politicians, such as Mayor Michael Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and Queens Borough President Helen Marshall tour some of the areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy, politicians are using the emergency with the subway system and the power outages to cover up for the hospital evacuation crisis, this nursing home crisis, and the upcoming Election Day voting crisis.

Gary Tilzer, the political journalist, posted a blog post in which he asked, "Why Is the Media Silent On the Board of Elections Lack of A Plan to Allow People to Vote in the Black Out Areas ?"