Good news! We and our partners in the Save Beth Israel and New York Eye & Ear Campaign have prevailed in Round 1 of our combined efforts to save Beth Israel Medical enter and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary!  We’ve taken on the one of the big Goliath hospital networks in our city, and tamed them for now.

Beth Israel will not be closing any time soon, services are going to be restored, and our community now has a court-ordered seat at the table to determine its future. How this process goes will set the table for a similar discussion to come about NY Eye & Ear.

Join us at noon this coming Saturday April 13 for a street march to kick-off Round 2 of this campaign. We’ll be celebrating our Round 1 success, and telling Mount Sinai that “It’s Time to Find a Way!” to provide hospital services in Lower Manhattan, instead of closing down facilities to sell them off as real estate, and thereby turning our community into another hospital desert in our city.

Here’s our march plan (Sat. Apr. 13):

• 12 noon – Kick-off Mini-Rally in Abe Lebewohl Park at 2nd Ave. & 10th St., in front of St. Mark’s in the Bowery Church
• 12:30 p.m. – March to New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at 2nd Ave. & 14th St. for a Solidarity Rally
• 1:00 p.m. – March to Beth Israel Hospital at 1st Ave & 16th St. for a patient and hospital worker speak-out

Here are march information materials to use and share with others:

• Online event page and RSVP form – please fill out this form so that we keep in touch if things might change.
• Facebook event page to share with others.
• PDF flyer to send by email or print out to distribute.

As a reminder, Beth Israel is the last remaining community hospital for much of Lower Manhattan, from Canal St. up to 23rd St. from River to River, including the neighborhoods of;

• Hudson Square, Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side
• West Village, Central Village, East Village, and Alphabet City
• Chelsea, Union Square, Gramercy Park, Stuyvesant Square, and Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village

We look forward to everyone joining with us this coming Saturday afternoon to celebrate our accomplishments, and build unity for what comes next in Round 2: determining the future of both these important Lower Manhattan hospitals.

Background on how our Round 1 success happened:

Mount Sinai Health System submitted a closure plan for Beth Israel Medical Center to the New York State Department of Health in late October, and expanded it in mid-November. In late November, Beth Israel held a required community meeting to explain their plan to an overflow crowd of community residents, hospital workers, and local public officials, all of whom vigorously objected to it.

Under significant community pressure, in mid-December the Department issued Mount Sinai a cease-and-desist order to stop all unit closures at Beth Israel Hospital until the Department had made a decision on Mount Sinai’s closure plan. This order was completely ignored by Mount Sinai. In January, the Department sent staff into Beth Israel to monitor and document what had been and was happening on site.  

In March, the Department issued a scathing report about all the ways Mount Sinai had been a) placing patients at risk by illegally closing down units at Beth Israel, and b) had been illegally turning away ambulances and transferring emergency room patients to other hospitals rather than treating them on site.  

Early last week, the Department returned Mount Sinai Health System’s closure plan for Beth Israel as “incomplete”. They also directed Mount Sinai what to include in any future revised closure plan, and these new items will take several weeks (if not months) to compile and provide. The Department also told them that if and when a closure plan is approved, nothing can be closed down until at least 90 days after that date.

Alongside this regulatory oversight, in early February several community groups and Beth Israel patients and workers filed a joint lawsuit in New York County Court against a) Mount Sinai to stop illegally closing down units at the hospital, and b) the Department of Health for insufficient oversight and enforcement. Soon thereafter, the Court granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the ongoing closure of units, and last month this TRO was expanded in scope. These court orders were also ignored by Mount Sinai. Last week, the Court ordered Mount Sinai to restore all services it has illegally closed down since late last year, and to negotiate a plan for that with the Dept. of Health and local elected officials & community leaders.

In addition, the Lower Manhattan community has organized and taken action together through our campaign. We have:

• Turned people out for public meetings and town halls with public officials and Mount Sinai executives.
• Held press conferences and rallies outside Beth Israel
• Collected over 2,000 signatures (so far) for our online petition to Gov. Hochul and the Dept. of Health that calls on them to preserve hospital care in Lower Manhattan.
• Recruited scores of people to send personalized emails to Gov. Hochul and Health Commissioner McDonald to share their own personal stories and perspectives.
• Conducted a survey and published a report of nearly 1,000 community residents who have used and rely on Beth Israel Hospital about their experiences as a patient.
• Built a cadre of Lower Manhattan elected officials from all levels of government who meet together regularly, and have continually engaged with Mount Sinai officials, Gov. Hochul’s office, and state and federal hospital regulators.
• Brought together a collaboration of Lower Manhattan Community Boards to represent community needs and concerns, and provide information back to community members.
• Formed a campaign leadership team of local health care advocates, political activists, and community-based organizations and non-profits.

What people can do to support and get involved:

• Show up for our Community Victory March this Sat. April 13th starting at 12 noon (see details above — be sure to RSVP here!)
• Sign this online petition to get on our mailing list.
• Fill out this online survey if you rely on or have gotten care at Beth Israel Hospital.

Another good development:

In response to local community-led opposition campaigns that have formed in response to proposed closures of Beth Israel Hospital in Lower Manhattan, University Hospital at SUNY Downstate in Central Brooklyn, the Burdett Birth Center at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, as well as a sudden severe financial crisis at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, state legislators have come forward with two important bills to improve how hospital closures are considered and managed by state officials:

• Local Improvement in Community Hospitals Act (S.8843/A.1633-A, Rivera/Simon) This bill overwhelmingly passed the Assembly last week, and now awaits action in the Senate.
• 2024 Hospital Closure Moratorium Act (S.8907/A.9819, Gonzalez/Wallace) This bill is being expanded to be broader in scope, and a companion Assembly bill is being introduced soon.