Nurses Protest Possible Closure Of Long Island College Hospital
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Nurses took to the streets in Brooklyn Thursday to protest the possible closing of Long Island College Hospital.
As NY1 first reported last week, the cash-strapped State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, which bought LICH in 2011, is considering selling it to save money.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli says Downstate loses $1 million per week, but the community and hospital staff says LICH must be saved.
"Over 150 years, this hospital has been here, and if it has survived that long, it must be doing something right," said Herdley Hill, a LICH nurse practitioner. "And while it might be true that there are financial issues, I'm certain that the objective of keeping the hospital open can be achieved not by closing it, but by rearranging the services, by focusing on the strengths of the hospital and providing a more diverse set of services and better management financially."
Without a plan, SUNY Downstate will be unable to pay its bills come May.