NEWS AND ISSUES
SENATOR DUANE DECRIES PROPOSED CLOSING OF ST. VINCENT’S MIDTOWN HOSPITAL
QUESTIONS BERGER COMMISSION’S SUGGESTED CLOSURE OF HOSPITAL SERVING BOOMING TOURIST INDUSTRY AND GROWING BUSINESS AND RESIDENTIAL POPULATION
Manhattan, December 7, 2006
Senator Thomas K. Duane (D WFP － Manhattan) today denounced New York State’s Commission on Health Care Facilities’ recommendation to close St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital. “I am extremely concerned about the ramifications of this for current and future Clinton, Hell’s Kitchen and Midtown residents, workers and visitors,” Senator Duane said in response to the Commission’s findings.
Senator Duane added that the Commission’s recommendation that St. Vincent’s Midtown close defies logic. “With the City recently releasing the bonds intended to finance the Hudson Yards redevelopment － which will bring an explosion of new residential and business properties to the area － it is particularly poor planning to now take away such a vital public accommodation. Already there are millions of people who live, work and visit Hell’s Kitchen and Midtown, and that number will only grow with the Hudson Yards redevelopment, the Javits Center expansion and the Number 7 Subway extension.”
Senator Duane elaborated his concerns last Friday, December 1st, at the State Senate Health Committee hearing on the Commission’s recommendations. As a member of the Health Committee, Senator Duane asked pointed questions on the inclusion of St. Vincent’s Midtown on the closure list, prompting the most intense discussion of the hearing.
Among the questions Senator Duane asked were: If St. Vincent’s Midtown is closed, where will victims be taken if a major disaster happens in Midtown or Times Square? Who will serve the 28 million tourists a year and the 8 million workers every day who are based in this area? What about the thousands of new people who will flood the area as a result of the Hudson Yards Rezoning?
“There must be a solution that can be worked out,” said Senator Duane. “Perhaps the emergency room, for which there is a present and growing need, can be kept, or even expanded, even if non-emergency beds are eliminated,” Senator Duane suggested.
While he was unable to attend today’s rally with St. Vincent’s Midtown staff, healthcare advocates, area workers and neighborhood residents, Senator Duane shares their commitment to preserving the hospital and he pledges to continue fighting its elimination.
