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PEP Jul/Aug 2006
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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 governor’s 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. Pataki’s 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.

Pataki’s 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 commission’s 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. “It’s 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 commission’s deadline, so that instead of completing its business on Dec. 31, Pataki’s 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. “That’s why I came here today with my union, to protect what I have,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 
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