Members of the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel and the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary were joined Monday by Assemblymember Harvey Epstein and State Sen. Kirsten Gonzalez at the Community Board 3 office on Fourth Street to release the results of the health equity impact assessment that explores the consequences of closing Beth Israel.
Among the results from the report, titled "Lower Manhattan Lifeline: What Beth Israel Medical Center Means to Local Residents" (copy here):
• Lower Manhattan seriously lacks hospital capacity. Below 14th Street, there is only one full-service hospital with 180 beds for more than 300,000 people. That's less than one hospital bed per 1,000 people — far below the state and national averages of 2.4 beds per 1,000 people.
• Closure of the nearest hospital above 14th Street — Beth Israel — would send people needing emergency care to Bellevue and NYU Langone, which are already "high volume" ERs with average wait times of more than three hours.
• People with disabilities and frail elderly people, some of whom have depended on Beth Israel for their entire lives, are terrified of losing what they regard as their community hospital and worried about the cost and physical challenges of traveling to uptown Mount Sinai hospitals.
• The zip codes from which significant percentages of Beth Israel patients are drawn — especially 10002 — include some of the city’s poorest residents, higher-than-citywide rates of public insurance, speaking a language other than English at home, and having only a high school or less education. These are the people who told our surveyors they fear the closure of Beth Israel will leave them without nearby hospital care.
"There are massive equity implications to Mount Sinai's attempt to close Beth Israel Hospital," Epstein said. "The results of the health equity impact survey show that people with disabilities and low-income folks will suffer the most. The closure of MSBI would disproportionately impact the most vulnerable people in our community. We will not stop
fighting to preserve this vital neighborhood hospital."
Organizers sent a copy of the report to New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald, who must decide whether to approve the Mount Sinai Health System's request to close Beth Israel.
Beth Israel executives have said that the closure is necessary because the hospital has racked up over $1 billion in losses in recent years.
As previously reported, there's a pending July 12, 2024, closing date on the books. In October, officials reportedly notified state regulators — who must sign off on their plans — of their request to shutter the 799-bed teaching hospital.
21 comments:
Couldn't this building be used to house the influx of immigrants?
And yet... what the area needs is a new hospital well-south of 14th Street, not this falling-apart hospital whose owner is completely disinterested in renovating or refreshing it.
If you look at any area of New York you will see people who can be labeled as needy. But everyone who lives right near Beth Israel should be going to Bellevue. It's a MUCH better facility. And no one is waiting three hours in the ER there if they're having a heart attack... that's disingenuous to suggest.
The more I read about this problem, the more I understand that there's a need for an ER and inpatient facility on the Lower East Side to relieve pressure from the hospitals along First Avenue. A less-ideal version of this would be to significantly redevelop one of the Beth Israel sites to have such a facility - a NEW facility - as part of a larger rebuild. As far as I can see, "don't close the current version of Beth Israel" is the worst approach to this problem... people don't trust this hospital... all of it should have been redeveloped into a mixed medical/residential facility a decade ago...
The powers-that-be are dancing around this issue knowing that the state regulator is guaranteed to allow its closure. It's awful that people in this neighborhood are being made to feel like they don't have options, when they certainly do. And at the same time, the need for hospital services in other neighborhoods is being poorly addressed with this facility which is in near-ruin.
Thank you for sharing this. Truly saddened by this one, especially as someone who has seen personally with a member of my own family how devastating a three hour wait at the ER can be…every second counts and this is a prime example of our health being commoditized yet again…
As has been noted, Mount Sinai has been bleeding their profitable health services from Beth Israel and moved them to their uptown facilities for some time now, the death of a 1,000 cuts. All of our local politicians were late to the game on this. That being said, this has never been about NYS mandated healthcare for Mt. Sinai but for real estate profit. And with Governor Kathy Hochul, like Cuomo before her (and Pataki was even a lot worse before him) being fully bought and paid for by REBNY, without her 100% support to save Beth Israel, the future does not look bright here for a save. We shall see.
Mount Sinai bought this hospital and decided to close it in 2016. They had a plan drawn up for only better paying outpatient patients at a free standing ambulatory center.
Most of the physicians were quickly diverted to other centers and then floors were closed.
Until this time, the hospital and floors were full.
This closure was just about money... Closing hospital which attracted poor patients to open lucrative well paying and insured outpatient medicine.
(physician who worked there)
Always about profits over people and the outsize influence of the Real Estate Board of NY, the largest political contributor and lobbyist in the state. Never doubt this is a long term and very cynical profits only driven plan by Mt. Sinai management, as clearly evidenced by Edmund at 10:26 and anyone who has been paying attention over the years. More "luxury" housing on the way. Look at what happened with St. Vincents in the West Village.
This angers me. Beth Israel was a lifeline for all of us who live in the EV or nearby. Removing this hospital will be felt by many. So sad.
@9:50AM: You say: "But everyone who lives right near Beth Israel should be going to Bellevue. It's a MUCH better facility."
Well, medically you may be right, but have you ever BEEN an inpatient at Bellevue?
Someone I know spent multiple weeks at Bellevue in Spring 2023, and their RELATIVES had to bring supplies of incontinence pads because BELLEVUE DIDN'T HAVE ANY.
I've known several people who were hospitalized at Bellevue, and while they were there, BELLEVUE RAN OUT OF CLEAN SHEETS to change the beds, and unfortunately that was not a rare occurrence.
PS: I cannot fathom your reasoning when you say that Beth Israel should have been "redeveloped into a mixed medical/residential facility a decade ago". Do people want to live on top of a hospital, with ambulance sirens wailing under their windows all the time? For whom is that desirable??
BIMS is not providing good care to the community, last time I was there, I discharged myself because the care was so bad; this is not the oldBI where the care was excellent
Langone is right up the street and a better hospital, no great lose.
I unfortunately spent a few nights there last year and the beds were full. A friend who was transferred from BI to Bellevue liked BI more. The food at BI is incredibly awful. It's a teaching hospital so often the medical care is well meaning but not seasoned professionals.
The problem with suggesting a replacement is that it would take a long time and big dollars to spin up a hospital of this size.
Healthcare is relentlessly moving towards fantastic science fiction concierge medicine for those above the capitalist waterline and crowded, frustrating public health for the rest of us. Capitalism is our state religion, and I had this conversation with frustrated overworked specialists. The insurance rackets bleed the system for all they can leaving the bare minimum left, if that.
While I'd certainly welcome a community arts center, I think PS64 would be a great location for a hospital.
"Langone is right up the street and a better hospital, no great lose."
No great "lose". I'm betting you have never used the NYU emergency room before. Well I have and although my fantastic medical team is NYU based, their service will be, as noted in the PDF report, severely impacted by the closure of Beth Israel. And I guess you have not read the PDF or even the EV Grieve text summaries of that report in his post. At the recent NYU dental school town hall re this issue, a brave active Beth Israel nurse spoke with great eloquence and disgust on how MT Sinai has devastated Beth Israel with their lies and greed. I guess you missed that meeting as well.
@8:06 PM
PS64 would not be good for a hospital. The surrounding streets aren't set up for that kind of ambulance traffic, the square footage would not be many beds and the buildout would extremely expensive. When the couple of billion involved in a new hospital comes up there will be better locations.
It has seemed to me all along that Mt. Sinai's intention was to so degrade the level of care at BI that people wouldn't care that it closed. From there, it becomes a pure real-estate deal to develop condos on that site.
Because in NYC, it's all about money & it's all about real estate development.
What people might actually NEED seems not to matter in the least.
And don’t forget with the traffic restrictions on 14th Street, if you are sick or have mobility issues, almost impossible to find a taxi as vehicles can no longer drive through.
So would be even harder for some to get to another medical location.
My first thought as well
Just another NYC hospital whose ability to function has greatly diminished over the years to a point where you would rather go anywhere else for a major health issue. For all of you who are boo-hooing the closure; there are health clinics all over Manhattan and the LES where you can go instead of wasting time in a hospital's emergency room when there isn't one.
"Just another NYC hospital whose ability to function has greatly diminished over the years to a point where you would rather go anywhere else for a major health issue. For all of you who are boo-hooing the closure; there are health clinics all over Manhattan and the LES where you can go instead of wasting time in a hospital's emergency room when there isn't one."
Another person who has never been to a hospital emergency room or actually read the PDF report or went to the recent town hall on this issue. These drop in clinics are fine for minor medical issues. Example being (me) clearing out ear wax, etc. But for something like taking out a stomach peg that had gotten loose (me again) one has to go to a real hospital emergency room, never mind something more serious like getting hit by a car, possible stroke, etc. Many of these private drop in clinics do not take Medicaid, never mind not having any insurance at all. But I guess those LES/EV/NYC poor residents should just get a life, get a grip, etc. F them. The lack of empathy posted at this thread for this issue is off the charts.
I spent overnight at a hospital on 1st Ave in a bed in the hallway, and with an mri, an xray and one pain killer the charge was $12,500. So whatever is happening at BI has nothing to do with its ability to generate profit, unless the city is doing its best to extract its pound of flesh at the expense of the locals who use and overuse the hospital emergency room.
For those misinformed people who are posting at this thread that the closure of Beth Israel due to the RE greed of Mt. Sinai is no big deal, be careful for what you wish for:
"Atlanta’s health care system is strained by major hospital’s closing, doctors and patients say"
"We are less safe as a community without a robust public health infrastructure," said a doctor at the city's sole remaining Level 1 trauma center for adults."
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/hospitals-strained-atlanta-medical-center-closing-doctors-rcna137451?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma&taid=65c37ee6f671c60001a9563f&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
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