Cobble Hill Wants LICH Hospital, Not Condos
One fear some Cobble Hill residents harbor is that if indeed Long Island College Hospital shuts down its maternity and pediatric units, as it has threatened to do, the buildings will become condos. What about all the babies and kids those new condo residents will surely have? What about all the babies and kids already…
One fear some Cobble Hill residents harbor is that if indeed Long Island College Hospital shuts down its maternity and pediatric units, as it has threatened to do, the buildings will become condos. What about all the babies and kids those new condo residents will surely have? What about all the babies and kids already in the neighborhood, one of the many Brooklyn locales where procreators flock? What will happen if LICH closes some of its doors? Well, Jeff Strabone, president of the Cobble Hill Association, predicts this: “People would die, he told the NY Times. People would die because at some point, someone’s not going to make it to the hospital in time, either because they’re taking a taxi to Manhattan or they’re taking an ambulance across Brooklyn to another hospital.” Problem is, Contiuum Health Partners, LICH’s owner, says if they don’t lop off maternity and pediatrics, they’re in danger of going bankrupt. Contiuum has vowed to work with the State Department of Health, who offered them a $3 million loan (pocket change for a hospital, apparently), and a couple of other plans have been floated: “The hospital’s staff has proposed taking it over and maintaining all its operations, and others have suggested a partnership with another local hospital.” In fact, the staff have their own Web site dedicated to saving the hospital, with news about their hopes to wrest it from Continuum’s clutches.
As a Hospital Awaits Its Fate, It Leaves Lives in the Balance [NY Times]
Photo by LICH Medical Staff.
The hospital has been there in one form or another for 150 years! Theirs was the first medical school in the US to do bedside teaching of medical students, and the first to use the stethoscope routinely. American medicine was a complete joke before such measures were popularized, and any serious student had to go to Europe for an education.
It’s a shame that greed can so quickly ruin the place, and that the corporate overlords have forgotten LICH’s heritage.
Hmmmm…..Let’s think about this….the hospital is around more than 140 years, then Continuum takes over and within another 10 years, the hospital is on the brink of bankruptcy? Gotta wonder….
As usual, the hospital gets no love. It’s a crying shame.
For once, I actually agree with the CHA. Lives might be lost if this hospital closes. The Obstetrics Unit and the Pediatric ER were, in fact, the two very best things about this hospital. The Cardiac unit used to be pretty good too, until they chased Dr. Sacchi away {At Methodist now].
We need to save this hospital and getting it away from Continuum is likely the only way to do it.