New York based officials and residents are protesting the potential shutdown of an endangered hospital in central Brooklyn, as the medical facility provides care and treatment for thousands in such a dense city, many of whom are racially marginalized.
On Thursday, the Rev. Al Sharpton, state senator Zellnor Myrie, and hundreds of demonstrators, rallied at the University Hospital at Downstate, urging the state not to permanently close the healthcare center.
The SUNY teaching hospital is on the chopping block under a proposed transformation plan issued by Gov. Hochul’s administration.
Currently, the hospital houses the only kidney transplant program in Brooklyn and one of the two high-level perinatal care centers in the borough, according to the office of Sen. Myrie.
While addressing the crowd, Rev. Sharpton emphasized the neglect of medical care for the predominantly Black area of East Flatbush, where the at risk hospital is located.
“Whatever needs to be done from the state to the federal level, needs to be done,” Sharpton asserted. “But we will not tolerate you shutting down Downstate!”
Rev. Sharpton called upon the state to find the funds needed to save the 342-bed medical center, claiming that many underprivileged communities in Brooklyn depend on the hospital.
“If we don’t do our duty, people will suffer,” he added. “We don’t have many choices in central Brooklyn. So we choose to fight.”
The Downstate medical center sits across the street from the city-run Kings County Hospital Center, where some in-patient services offered by the state-run hospital would be moved under the state’s proposed plan, claimed Katie Blitz, a spokeswoman for the state university system.
However, it is still unclear whether or not the kidney program and the perinatal care department would continue to be provided in East Flatbush.
This could be particularly detrimental for certain communities in the neighborhood, as Black women are three times as likely as White women to die of pregnancy-related causes, according to the federal government. Additionally, a January state Health Department report found that hospital quality is “generally low across Brooklyn and is lowest in communities with a large proportion of Black residents.”
In a passionate speech on Thursday, Sen. Myrie vowed to protect the hospital from closing, citing high maternal mortality rates of Black women and subpar health care options in central Brooklyn.
“Our community has been under siege,” Myrie asserted. “If we have to hold 10 more rallies, we will hold 10 more rallies.”
