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Rally to save Beth Israel hospital
Mount Sinai Beth Israel, one of the last remaining hospitals that serves Lower Manhattan, is on track to shut its doors this summer. FOX 5 NY's Briella Tomassetti has the latest.
NEW YORK CITY - Mount Sinai Beth Israel, one of the last remaining hospitals that serves Lower Manhattan, is on track to shut its doors this summer in NYC.
Demonstrators and elected officials have been rallying ever since, including over the weekend, to save the hospital before its scheduled shutdown in July.
Mount Sinai ordered to halt Beth Israel hospital closure by NY state
The New York state Department of Health has ordered Mount Sinai to stop closing inpatient beds at Beth Israel hospital in Gramercy Park in Manhattan.
Mount Sinai made the decision to close the campus in the fall, and ever since, there’s been ongoing pushback.
Residents are upset there wasn't more transparency involved in the process, and with the hospital slated to close in less than 16 weeks, neighbors and community advocates are pushing the Department of Health to come up with some sort of viable alternative.
Community advocates, local elected officials and neighbors are calling on state intervention to keep the facility operating.
Where is Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital?
Beth Israel, founded in 1889, is located at First Avenue and 16th Street and provides critical medical care for around 400,000 New Yorkers. If the hospital closes, New York Presbyterian Lower Manhattan will be the only facility serving Manhattan south of 23rd Street.
"Our city, its most vulnerable residents, who are low income, elderly or suffering from an acute illness that can't wait for an hour-long trip uptown, need this hospital and the service it provides," Rep. Jerry Nadler said.
Community rallies to save Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital from closure
New Yorkers are pushing back on plans to close Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in Lower Manhattan
Beth Israel first announced plans to close its doors this past fall, with Mount Sinai citing on its website "changing health care landscape and financial reality."
"But you can't say that you are in the business of saving lives, but that cost is too high," St. Sen. Kristen Gonzalez said.
Officials issued a memo shortly afterwards, saying they would reduce services in the months leading up to the facility’s closure.
In December, the state Department of Health sent Mount Sinai a cease and desist letter, threatening to fine the system $2,000 per day for shuttering the services without approval.
But since then, stroke and cardiac services have been discontinued. The Health Department previously told FOX 5 NY that stroke and cardiac services are still on the hospital's operating certificate, but the hospital system, Mount Sinai, allowed the certifications to expire. The system had argued that it could not keep those units adequately staffed.