Story and photos by DEBORAH A. MILES
As dawn was breaking over Brooklyn on a mild January 11 day, busloads of PEF and other union members gathered for a rally. Donning bright yellow hats and scarves, downstate health care workers chanted in front of the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott hotel where Stephen Berger was speaking at a forum about the future of Brooklyn hospitals.
Berger, an investment banker who was behind the 2007 closures and mergers of several New York state hospitals, was on the path again to restructure health care in central Brooklyn. The protestors were there to let him know they don’t approve of his new plan, which is now part of the governor’s budget proposal.
Inside the Marriott, Berger was the featured speaker at a $75-per-plate breakfast forum called “Solving Brooklyn’s Hospital Crisis,” sponsored by Crain’s New York Business.
Berger’s latest recommendations made to the state health commissioner in 2011 include closing the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, and closing beds at SUNY Downstate University Hospital and shifting its inpatient operations to the Long Island College Hospital campus.
“Berger’s proposal would remove essential health care services from Brooklyn, an area where there is a critical need to serve the underprivileged,” said PEF Vice President Pat Baker.
“Our council leaders, Don Morgenstern and Jasmine Wilson-LaFond, did a phenomenal job getting members here. They rallied with others from the Civil Service Employees Association and United University Professions to let people and the press know we are deeply concerned about improving and not removing health care services to Brooklynites,” Baker said. “Closing Kingsboro will only disrupt patient care to those with mental illness. The mere thought of closing this facility is outrageous.”
A flock of reporters, photographers and TV camera men interviewed Baker and other union members, as the protesters chanted continually for an hour. The chorus of voices shouted, “Save SUNY services,” “We are the 99 percent” and “Berger has to go.”
PEF Region 11 Coordinator Jemma Marie-Hanson said, “SUNY Downstate serves thousands of people in Brooklyn with low incomes, many of whom are on Medicaid or have no insurance. These people need help. They don’t need to be abandoned. They don’t need wealthy investors to decide their health care. What they do need is a regular doctor and high-quality staff in the emergency rooms.”
When the sun came up and shined on the nearly 300 protestors who overpowered the sounds of morning traffic, the doctors, nurses, technicians and social workers went back to their jobs. One nurse said, just prior to boarding the bus back to Kingsboro, “There are lives who literally depend on us. That’s why we came here.”
The Communicator Letters policy
We welcome letters to the editor about union issues and events relevant to PEF's diverse membership. All letters are subject to editing for space, fairness and good taste.
Please keep them brief (up to one page, double-spaced or a maximum of 250 words), and please include your name and phone number for verification.
Send letters to thecommunicator@pef.org:
The Communicator
Public Employees Federation
P.O. Box 12414
Albany, N.Y. 12212-2414
Email to Sherry Halbrook, Editor or Darcy Wells, Editor-In Chief