About a week after Long Island College Hospital announced that it would sell off two more buildings and shutter its maternity ward, city officials (including Councilmember Bill de Blasio, above) and community folk rallied to urge Continuum Partners, LICH’s parent body, to select another strategy to pay off its $170 million of debt. The question no one seems able to answer is why they made obstetrics the victim, when child rearing is the new black here in Brooklyn, and maternity wards are closing elsewhere in the borough—Victory Memorial Hospital in Bay Ridge lost its labor and delivery unit in December because of money troubles, and Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuy lost its maternity ward in 2004. State Sen. Marty Connor made a suggestion, since many of these Brooklyn neighborhoods are growing younger. Maybe instead, they should have cut gerontology, he said.
Officials Urge LICH to Reconsider [Eagle]
LICH Selling Off More Buildings [Brownstoner]
LICH Sales: Real Estate Roguery? [Brownstoner]
Photo by William Alatriste.