State Sen. Zellnor Y. Myrie stated on Tuesday that he was “happy” with the huge turn-out on the rally to save lots of from closing State College of New York (SUNY) Downstate Hospital within the coronary heart of the Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn.
“Final Thursday, we rallied as a neighborhood in opposition to the governor’s proposal to shutter SUNY Downstate Hospital. Regardless of the frigid temperatures, over 1200 healthcare employees and neighborhood members stood collectively, and the vitality and keenness have been felt by all,” stated Myrie, who represents the 20th Senate District that encompasses Downstate Hospital, in a message to constituents.
“I used to be happy to see so a lot of you be part of us on the rally,” added Myrie, who has been within the vanguard to maintain the doorways of the main hospital in Central Brooklyn open. “The message has been and continues to be clear: this neighborhood opposes any plan to cut back healthcare entry the place it’s wanted most in Central Brooklyn.
“I used to be proud to face alongside so many religion and labor leaders, docs, nurses, and anxious neighbors who stand in robust opposition to this plan,” proceed Myrie, whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica. “In truth, new polling launched right now confirms that Central Brooklyn is overwhelmingly in opposition to the governor and SUNY’s Downstate proposal.”
On the rally, in entrance of the hospital on Clarkson Avenue in Brooklyn, Myrie was express that he’ll proceed to struggle valiantly to save lots of Downstate Hospital.
“Take into consideration the infants who might be born only a few steps from us. Take into consideration the long run we’re defending,” he stated. “If we have now to carry 10 extra rallies, we’ll.
“What extra do we have now to sacrifice?” Myrie requested. “We deserve higher.”
Amid chants of “Brooklyn wants Downstate,” United College Professions (UUP) President Fred Kowal, whose union represents nearly all of employees at Downstate, stated: “We’re right here for one purpose and one purpose alone, and that’s as a result of Brooklyn wants Downstate.
“We is not going to let Downstate shut,” he stated. “Not right now, not tomorrow, not ever.”
Kowal additional warned that if Gov. Kathy Hochul pursues her plan “to shut this place of therapeutic, she might be locking out Black moms and Black infants,” including: “That’s fallacious.”
Civil proper activist the Rev. Al Sharpton additionally spoke on the rally, telling demonstrators: “We don’t have a lot selection in Brooklyn, so we select to struggle.
“If we don’t do our obligation, folks will undergo,” he additionally cautioned.
Later, State Assemblyman Brian Cunningham, who additionally represents Downstate and the encompassing communities, advised Caribbean Life that he remained “steadfast in my dedication to preserving Downstate Medical Middle, a lifeline for 1000’s of low-income folks of shade in District 43.”
Cunningham, whose mom hails from Jamaica, stated whereas the lately introduced funding of $200 million to cowl two years of working prices and $300 million for future infrastructure enhancements “seems promising on the floor, this funding is meaningless with out enter from the area people.
“I’m outraged by the state management’s refusal for actual engagement with residents, healthcare employees, and native leaders,” he stated. “Infrastructure funding can’t be allowed to maneuver ahead with out enter from those that know our neighborhood’s wants greatest.
“I additionally refuse to view funding to maintain the lights on as something greater than the naked minimal,” he added. “That cash is just not charity, neither is it undeserved; it’s important, and our neighborhood has earned it.”
Cunningham famous that earlier final week he launched one other piece of laws, which calls on Gov. Hochul and SUNY management to create a Group Advisory Board “that may play an lively position in funding choices for Downstate.
“The board should characterize the demographics of this traditionally Black and working-class neighborhood and embody sufferers, healthcare employees, clergy, and native authorities leaders who reside within the surrounding neighborhood,” the assemblyman stated. “A metamorphosis plan that isn’t knowledgeable by the wants of our neighborhood is an affront to racial and financial justice and an insult to the folks of Central Brooklyn.”
