UPDATE: SUNY Board Votes To Close LICH

Update, 2:00 p.m. SUNY Downstate board members voted Friday morning to authorize President John williams' proposal requesting the Department of Health allow them to close the hospital and sell it for real-estate development.

Senator Squadron released a statement following the announcement vowing, "Our fight isn't over... DOH has an opportunity to ensure the needs of this community and all of Brooklyn are met -- and that's precisely what we will urge it to do."

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Nurses, community members and local politicians spoke out on behalf of Long Island College Hospital at a special board meeting between SUNY Downstate trustees. The fate of the medical center, which faces foreclosure, will be voted on Friday morning.

SUNY Downstate president John Williams stated in his address that he formally recommended closing the hospital, which has been losing money since its acquisition in 2010.

"I can’t tell you how many times we’ve been to Albany," he stated, according to NYCW. "We’ve talked to the Department of Health, Division of Budget. We've talked to the governor’s office, so we could get some cash, but nothing has worked so far."

Williams asserted to meeting attendees that moneyed residents of the surrounding neighborhoods, such as Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights, "are not using the hospital and are going to Manhattan for much of their medical care." But elected officials and LICH employees offered statements during the public comment period that claimed otherwise.

Councilmember Brad Lander, for one, said that his general practitioner is based out of the hospital.

Sen. Daniel Squadron also urged the board of trustees to vote against a resolution to close LICH with an intense and researched testimony.

"Over the last five years there has been consistent and clear evidence of the healthcare needs in the community surrounding LICH," said Squadron. "Senior staff at LICH, the New York State Comptroller, DOH, and the SUNY Board of Trustees itself have all confirmed two things: a demonstrable healthcare need met by LICH and significant financial mismanagement at SUNY Downstate."

But Squadron also reminded SUNY Downstate members of their previous promises to LICH, stating, "In June 2012, the SUNY Board of Trustees itself adopted a resolution authorizing the Chancellor to establish a $75 million line of credit to Downstate," he said.

"The resolution stated: '...any changes in the healthcare system in Brooklyn must not jeopardize the vital educational and public service missions of Downstate Medical Center.' Unfortunately, based on existing need and a growing local population, the closure of LICH would significantly jeopardize the overall public service mission of SUNY Downstate, as demonstrated by the Comptroller’s Audit, the Berger Report, and DOH."

When LICH was acquired by SUNY Downstate in October 2010, the agreement included a $63 million HEAL New York grant, with $22 million going to LICH and $40 million to SUNY Downstate. HEAL New York's purpose is to ease efficiencies and mergers in New York’s healthcare system.

"Now that we are faced with a plan that essentially turns this $63 million state grant into a subsidy for a massive real estate deal, it should be no surprise that the community and State feels looted," said Squadron.

Employees at the hospital, which number at just over 2,000, also spoke out for the need to sustain the health facility.

“I have been a dedicated caregiver at LICH for over 50 years,” said Mercedes Folkes of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn in a statement. “Every day, my co-workers and I pour our hearts and souls into providing compassionate, high quality care to our community. For the good of our patients, our borough and our city, this disastrous closure must be avoided.”

According the New York State Nurses Association, "LICH serves over 100,000 patients a year, including working families, seniors and other vulnerable patient populations throughout the borough."

With more than 2,000 employees, LICH is also one of the borough’s largest employers, and its closure would destroy good jobs and be a severe blow to the local economy, the group countered.

No one denied that improvements could be made. But many in the community feel that the institution mostly suffers from mismanagement.

"Making it impossible for LICH to be a 500-bed hospital, then shutting it down because it isn't one, is Orwellian," Squadron testified.

A rally in support of LICH and IMC will be held Friday morning.

Stay with Patch for updates.