One Brooklyn
BROOKLYN, NY, February 20, 2018: Today, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and Brooklyn’s entire New York City Council delegation joined in calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to allocate $10 million in the City’s Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) budget to complete the capital and operating costs for the creation of Brooklyn’s first burn unit. This renewed push comes amid a rise in local fires; last year, the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) responded to 8,206 structural fires and 4,974 non-structural fires in Brooklyn alone, an increase of nearly two percent and 6.5 percent over 2016 statistics, respectively. Cost estimates for the first year of operation for a new eight-bed burn unit, including build-out and operating costs, are approximately $14.5 million. Borough President Adams has committed $4.15 million from his Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) capital budget to go toward the construction of a burn center in Brooklyn; he and the members of the Brooklyn delegation emphasized the need for the City to act on this public health and safety imperative.
“If Brooklyn were an independent city, it would be the fourth-largest city in the United States…yet, in a borough of 2.6 million people, there are no burn centers within its borders,” wrote Borough President Adams and his elected colleagues in a letter to Mayor de Blasio. “As a point of comparison, Chicago — a city with a population roughly equivalent to that of Brooklyn — has two burn centers. Modern burn centers not only address burns suffered in fires, but are also integral to treating burns from scalding liquids as well as road burns resulting from pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist, and motorist crashes. The siting of a burn center in Brooklyn would go a long way toward ensuring high-quality care for our constituents in case of such eventualities.”
Borough President Adams was joined on the letter to Mayor de Blasio by Council Members Alicka Ampry-Samuel; Inez Barron; Justin Brannan; Robert E. Cornegy, Jr.; Laurie A. Cumbo, Chaim M. Deutsch; Rafael L. Espinal, Jr.; Mathieu Eugene; Brad Lander; Stephen T. Levin; Alan N. Maisel; Carlos Menchaca; Antonio Reynoso; Mark Treyger; Jumaane D. Williams, and Kalman Yeger.
“The welfare of Brooklyn’s children and families compel us to act,” said Borough President Adams. “Fire prevention education and outreach are critically important, but so is ensuring we have local health care infrastructure that can mean the difference between life and death. The deaths of the Azan family in Sheepshead Bay have reignited my determination to bring our borough its first burn unit, just as the deaths of the Sassoon family in Midwood first sparked my call three years ago.”
“Being the most populous borough in New York City, combined with the announcement of One Brooklyn Health, makes the siting and building of this burn center quite timely,” said Council Member Ampry-Samuel. “The ability to deliver state-of-the-art treatment to burn victims in our borough will improve outcomes and extend lives. I gladly join with my colleagues in support of funding a Brooklyn burn center.”
“With a population of 2.6 million, it is critical we devote the resources necessary to ensure Brooklynites have access to care that gives them the best opportunity to survive injuries that result from tragedies like fires,” said Council Member Cornegy. “Siting and building a burn center in Brooklyn must be a budget priority in FY19.”
“The importance of building a burn center in Brooklyn cannot be overstated,” said Council Member Eugene. “There have been far too many incidents of structural fires in our neighborhoods for our borough to be lacking in this critical need. It is vital that we continue to improve the quality of care available to burn victims in Brooklyn, so that they may receive better treatment and have an improved chance of recovery. We have a moral obligation to ensure that our constituents can receive emergency medical care in a timely manner, and that is why we are urging Mayor de Blasio to support this funding request.”
A burn center provides all four phases of health care for burns, including treatment of wounds and surgery, interventions to prevent shock, rehabilitation services, and reconstructive surgery. Burn units treat a variety of burn types, such as the thermal burns sustained in a fire, chemical burns caused by common household cleaners and swimming pool chemicals, scald burns produced by hot liquids, as well as electrical burns that can also cause internal damage. Currently, burn victims in New York City are either sent to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, Jacobi Hospital in the Bronx, and Staten Island University Hospital North. Fire victims in Brooklyn with obvious burn damage are sent to one of those three locations, while those with burns that are not evident get treated initially at local hospitals, and are only then transported to other boroughs to receive care for their burns.
Borough President Adams also renewed his call for the State to contribute funding support for this initiative; he and State Senator Kevin S. Parker, who has championed this issue in Albany, have been joined in this bipartisan push by State Senators Martin Malavé Dilan, Martin J. Golden, Jesse Hamilton, Roxanne Persaud, and Diane Savino, as well as by Assembly Members Rodneyse Bichotte, Pamela Harris, Dov Hikind, Joseph R. Lentol, Walter T. Mosley, Felix Ortiz, N. Nick Perry, Diana Richardson, Jo Anne Simon, Latrice Walker, and Helene Weinstein.
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