Save Brooklyn Health Care

Level of Government: State

As a registered voter, a member of UUP and an employee of the State University of New York, I urgently need your help!

The Medicaid Redesign Task Force, a state-appointed committee led by multimillionaire financier Stephen Berger, has called for the closure of inpatient operations at Downstate's University Hospital and recommended that Downstate's administration shut down inpatient services and relocate them to the Long Island College Hospital (LICH) campus.

Thousands of Brooklynites, both inpatient and outpatient, will have their ongoing treatment disrupted if this hospital closes. Many will lose access to necessary, quality health care, which is provided regardless of patients' ability to pay for treatment. If this is allowed to happen here, it can happen anywhere in New York. It is time to say no!

Downstate University Hospital has been internationally recognized for excellence in patient care and research. SUNY Downstate includes colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Health Related Professions and a school of Graduate Studies, a teaching hospital, an M.P.H. program, and research facilities. In 1998, one of Downstate's medical faculty won the Nobel Prize for medicine.

In 2011, SUNY Downstate acquired LICH, which was financially unstable and in danger of closing. Now, Berger and his committee want to shutter inpatient services at the East Flatbush hospital and move operations to LICH in Brooklyn Heights.

Closing these hospitals will lead to a great economic downturn for the whole community. Health care workers and mental health professionals will lose their jobs. Homes will be lost, businesses will close and jobs for our youth will disappear.

We need all state legislators to speak up for SUNY Downstate Medical Center, the 2.5 million residents of central Brooklyn and Brooklyn's 5 million residents. Please stand up for the people of Brooklyn, UUP members, and state employees. Say "no" to closing these hospitals! Keep SUNY Downstate and Kingsboro open and public! Your support is vital, and very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Your Name Here