PUBLIC HEARING STATEMENTS ON LONG ISLAND COLLEGE HOSPITAL,
ONGOING HEALTH CARE CRISIS IN BROOKLYN

Photograph by Stephen Lipuma

• Statements By Elected Officials
• Testimonies Delivered At The Hearing
• Testimonies Received After The Hearing

Statements By Elected Officials

Marty Markowitz
Brooklyn Borough President

“I applaud Governor Paterson and the New York State Department of Health for responding to the cry of the residents of the LICH catchment area to preserve the absolutely necessary services that have been offered by this hospital for generations and are vital to the health of our borough.

This could not have happened without the hard work of dedicated community residents and elected officials, as well as concerned LICH physicians and staff, who have all come together to form a very powerful and persuasive advocacy team.

As we have said from the start, closing Long Island College Hospital is not an option.

My office will continue to monitor the situation. We will continue to convene our stakeholder’s group and be vigilant in our advocacy efforts in the days ahead.

This is a solid first step as we move ahead with the real work of ensuring that LICH will remain a full-service hospital in this growing community for all the years to come.”

Joan Millman
Assemblywoman 52nd District.

Thank you, Mr. Borough President, for convening this public hearing to discuss ways to save Long Island College Hospital and the ongoing health care crisis we are facing in Brooklyn.  Thank you all for coming tonight.

For 150 years, the communities of Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, DUMBO and Downtown Brooklyn have depended on LICH as their primary medical facility.  To lose OB-GYN and Pediatrics services means that scores of women and children will be without a neighborhood medical facility and would be forced to travel to over-burdened hospitals elsewhere in Brooklyn, or to hospitals or clinics in Manhattan.  I believe that eliminating these services would be disastrous for our community.

We understand the serious financial crisis that LICH is facing but many of us believe that there are better alternatives than closing departments and clinics and selling off property.  Closing vital departments simply because they are unprofitable, with little regard to the actual needs of the community, sets a dangerous precedent.  Without a sound financial plan for LICH's future and staff and community involvement in this process, Brooklyn residents have no way of knowing if this is only a cutback in service or the prelude to closing the hospital.

I have repeatedly stressed to the Governor’s office and the State Department of Health our community’s need for LICH to remain a full-service neighborhood hospital.  They have assured me that they are working with Continuum Health Partners to explore all possible options.  I have also spoken with the Attorney General’s Office and I am pleased to tell you that Andrew Cuomo’s office is working to help LICH, including investigating ways to restructure the Othmer bequest.

I have met with community members, other elected officials, doctors and staff at LICH and officials of LICH’s parent company, Continuum Health Partners, to voice our serious reservations about the eliminating of these vital services at LICH and the impact it would have on our community.  In addition, I am working with our Representatives in Congress to assist Continuum in restructuring its federal loans to reduce LICH’s burdensome debt service.

Again, thank you, Mr. Borough President for hosting this public hearing and thank you all for coming here tonight.  I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Testimonies Delivered At The Hearing
Notes from oral testimony delivered at the public hearing on “Long Island College Hospital and the Ongoing Health-Care Crisis in Brooklyn” - Brooklyn Borough Hall, November 17, 2008

Daniel D. Ricciardi, MD
Chief of Rheumatology, LICH


Dr. Ricciardi stated that Continuum has been allowed to systemically take apart LICH, the medical expression is “sucking the bone marrow out.”  Despite pleas from the medical staff and administrators to stop the bleeding, Continuum had no plan and their agenda was to take the property and institution of LICH.

Dr. Ricciardi also stated that he has first-hand experience as to the way Continuum handles business.  Some of the past CEOs of LICH have openly said to tell the government this is taking place.

The medical staff of LICH has provided care to the community for 150 years and it’s time that the community gets its hospital back.  Understand that this is not new; it has been going on for five years.

Sandra Williams Cornwall
Former LICH & Continuum Board Member
Board Member of Brooklyn Heights Association

Ms. Cornwall stated that LICH is essential; it has given the community access to health care, which is very important to the quality of life in these communities.

The idea of closing pediatric emergency is amazing, the idea of closing the pediatric ward is unacceptable.

She is urging everyone to realize that this is important.  No one can afford to lose these services, nor the doctors who rely on these services.

Leslie Gulick
Pediatrician, St. Vincent Services for Children

Says there are foster care agencies that center themselves in downtown Brooklyn just because of the hospitals in the area that work with them providing care.

Studies show that teenagers who have care in school-based clinics are much more informed and able to ask appropriate questions, and their serious medical problems have not increased.  This is due to the availability of doctors already in the hospital.

Thomas Small
43-year resident of Brooklyn Heights

Mr. Small stated that both his mother’s and father’s lives have been saved at LICH, and his niece was also born at LICH.

He continued to say that if you are in a serious medical condition you do not have time to travel to Manhattan for care.  The building in which he resides, at 55 Pierrepont Street, is mostly filled with senior citizens.  Almost every day there is an ambulance in the front of the building taking someone to LICH for quick intervention, and they do an excellent job.

“Continuum says cut back; I say fight back”

Barbara Brookhart
Resident of Carroll Gardens

Says that she has a great group of private practitioners that she and her sister deal with who are affiliated with LICH.  She has had surgery three or four times in the last year at LICH and is able to walk down to the hospital for care.

Her sister has Bridle diabetes, 10 times she has ended up in a coma in the middle of the night.  The EMTs (guardian angels) come quickly and revive her and she is able to go to LICH.

If LICH closes and she has to wait a while until the ambulance comes and cares for her it may be too late.  Many times they have said she was 3-4 minutes away from dying, and if you close LICH she will not be able to get that support quickly enough.  

Robin Norwood
Resident of Cobble Hill since 1992

All of her children were born by C-section at LICH.  She is grateful that when she delivered another set of twins who had to spend time there after delivery, she was able to walk to visit them.  If LICH was shut she would have to travel farther and not have access to her children in the first week of life.  She can not imagine why someone would want to close such services.

She ended by saying that she would be embarrassed to be associated with the closing of LICH.

Doug Biviano
Construction engineer

Mr. Biviano stated that there should be a mandate to protect the community.  This is a national security decision.  It should not be talked about in the boardroom because it is dealing with so many lives.  When the bridge in Minnesota collapsed, it was because of neglect. If we neglect our institutions, they’ll collapse, and take lives with them.

Caroline Johnson
RN LICH, 18 Years, NICU Unit

Stated that she went to work one day and the next day her department was told that it was being closed.  She said that Continuum is telling them their services are no longer needed.

There have been women in pre-labor and full-term labor who have been scheduled to deliver at another hospital but because of their emergency situation they had to deliver at LICH.

Ms. Johnson stated that she has also seen neighbor hospitals overloaded with patients and having to turn away them through something called “diversion,” and LICH has been the hospital to which those patients come.

In all of this process, Ms. Johnson stated that special doctors are being lost due to uncertainty.

LICH is a family-based hospital that cares for the total person from birth to death, and to see it go is a tragedy.

Jim Devor
Community Education Council, District 15
Patient of LICH

Mr. Devor stated that his family has received care over the years at LICH, including two and a half years ago, when LICH saved his life. Without LICH, there will be a big hole in downtown Brooklyn.

Dr. Barry Eckert
Dean of School of Health Professions at LIU

LICH is one of their training sites, and losing it would be a big blow for two reasons. The first is that a lot of time is taken to identify the shortages in the health-care profession.  The second is that it allows many residents of Brooklyn to enter into a good, meaningful health career that will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

Testimonies Received After The Hearing

Lynn Bell

I am one of the hundreds of Brooklyn residents & taxpayers who are the patients of LICH - who not only depend on LICH for the VITAL services it provides us, but also the vast network of doctors connected with LICH located in the surrounding community.  For years, our use of LICH services has helped sustain & build up LICH.  

Continuum's slow destruction of LICH is an outrage & a crime against us the patients - especially, as alleged, how finances available & earmarked to run LICH have apparently been mismanaged, squandered or just plain given away to finance Continuum's Manhattan hospitals!

Now, by shutting down departments such as dental, Continuum is jeopardizing our health care - forcing LICH patients to split up their medical treatment among different hospitals.  For the many LICH dental patients whose medical conditions require dental care in a hospital setting  (including myself) - this means that, should medical complications arise at a new dental location, we risk getting treatment from doctors unfamiliar with our medical histories, rather than our own LICH-affiliated doctors.

Continuum's layoffs of LICH staff poses another threat to our health care - I and the other patients have grave concerns for the effect that staff shortages will have on the quality of care in remaining departments, as well as the cleanliness of the hospital.

Deterioration of conditions guarantees that more patients will leave, especially those who can afford to go elsewhere, further straining the hospital finances, & all but guaranteeing the eventual shutdown of the entire hospital.

We need our elected representatives to step up NOW to save our healthcare!  The LICH financial situation needs to be thoroughly investigated & it must be known without a doubt where the LICH-earmarked finances have gone!  Should the LICH-earmarked finances have been used for anything other than what they were intended, ALL steps must be taken to recover the full amount.  The LICH doctors' alternative plan needs to be implemented & given a chance to succeed.

We are all now seeing the damage done to the economy by previously well-respected financial institutions - because no action was taken as the problem was developing.   Here on the sidelines in Brooklyn, our healthcare faces a similar fate.

PLEASE don't ALLOW Continuum to destroy Brooklyn healthcare!

Sincerely,

Lynn Bell

Please click here to view more testimonies received after the hearing in PDF format (41,317 kb)