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Public Employee Press
Members tell
Albany: Save our safety net
By
ALFREDO ALVARADO More than 200 healthcare and union activists traveled
from around the city and state June 6 to participate in the Save Our Safety Net
(SOS-C) Day of Action in Albany. They delivered over 25,000 postcards
and petitions calling on Gov. George E. Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Joseph
L. Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to pass bills to make the state hospital
closing commission do a fairer and more thorough job. The huge postcard
campaign for Senate bill 6591 and Assembly bill 10186 was carried out by hundreds
of health care activists and union members who collected the cards and petitions
in just three weeks. The drive also included an online letter-writing campaign
that generated almost 10,000 e-mails to the governor and legislative leaders in
only two days. New legislation
DC 37 strongly supports this legislation allowing for a more careful and
comprehensive review, because without it we could end up with worse health care
and higher costs, said DC 37Executive Director Lillian Roberts.
The new legislation that the health coalition supports ensures that the governors
Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century takes into account the
health issues of all New Yorkers. Introduced by Senate Minority Leader David
A. Paterson and 21 other state legislators, Senate Bill 6591 would make crucial
reforms to Gov. Patakis commission. Assembly member Adriano Espillat, who
chairs the New York State Black, PuertoRican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus,
introduced an identical bill, A.10186, in the Assembly with the support of Richard
Gottfried, the Assembly Health Committe chair, and several other legislators.
Patakis commission is contemplating closing 20,000 of
the 62,000 hospital beds in the state to cut Medicaid costs. Activists from the
Save Our Safety Net Campaign, which includes DC 37, other unions, and community
and religious groups, charged that the commissions criteria neglect health
concerns in minority, low-income and immigrant communities, underserved regions
and rural areas of the state. We deserve to be at the table, that
is why we introduced this bill, said Espillat at the June 6 lobbying session.
Its déjà vu all over again. We remember what happened
in Harlem 10 years ago and in the South Bronx. Four hospitals were closed in my
community, and New York Presbyterian Hospital had to drastically increase their
services and include ambulatory care clinics. An
open process The two bills would extend the commissions deadline,
so that instead of completing its business on Dec. 31, Patakis last day
in office, the process would continue until February 2007. The amendments
would also provide for the commissioners of mental health and alcoholism and substance
abuse services to actively participate in the discussions of what facilities will
be recommended for closing. In addition, these bills would require a much more
open process with more public accountability and a thorough assessment of community
health needs, particularlyrelating to people with disabilities,senior citizens,
and those who are uninsured and underinsured. Thomas Brosnan, a Nurses
Aide at Coney Island Hospital, was one of dozens of DC 37 members who made the
trip to Albany. Closing hospitals means losing jobs and services,
said the Local 420 member, who has worked at the hospital for 34 years. A victim
of a mugging by neighborhood teenagers that left him with a broken nose, Brosnan
feels fortunate to have health insurance and a secure job. Thats why
I came here today with my union, to protect what I have, he said. | |