Once again, rumors of the demise of Long Island College Hospital, better known as LICH, are swirling. After getting a stay of execution in 2011 with $62 million worth of grants and a merger with SUNY Downstate in Albany, the hospital is once again on the chopping block. According to the NY Times,
Mr. Doyle said that H. Carl McCall, the chairman of the SUNY board, and Dr. John Williams, president of Downstate, had met with “stakeholders” in Brooklyn recently to explain that SUNY Downstate faced severe financial hardship, and that the money-losing LICH was part of the problem. He said the closing could be put to a vote of the board in “the near future,” as part of a plan to ensure that SUNY Downstate, a major teaching and hospital center in Brooklyn, could survive.
Seems the hospital has been losing money, and patients, for nearly 17 years. And the gentrification of the neighborhood is being named the culprit–with officials claiming “affluent newcomers” are heading to Manhattan for care. If it does close, will you miss it?
Sure will miss it, I don’t understand how come someone cannot fix the issue (revamping the bed capacity, adding specialities, etc….)
Good luck to LICH
Are you joking when you ask if people will miss the only hospital in the neighborhood? First of all, life & property insurance rates are higher if your neighborhood doesn’t have things like a firehouse or a hospital. But more important, when minutes count in emergencies or stroke or heart attack, you’d be glad you had LICH – a designated stroke center and cardiac center – close by. Its beds averaged 90% full everyday in 2012 & they still are. The “empty” beds are those that are set aside on closed units waiting for the new programs & services that Downstate was supposed to be bringing in but in 2 years still hasn’t. brought any new services. Believe it or not, LICH is a good hospital & one of the few better ones in Brooklyn. 66 LICH doctors from 35 specialties (Like Ear, Nose & Throat) are ranked in the 2013 US News & World Report as best in the nation, its neonatal ICU is ranked #2 in Brooklyn, its neuroscience & pulmonary departments are nationally known, its nursing staff has a reputation for high quality. The main thing wrong with LICH is the financial mismanagement, the executives who plundered it for 17 years, and the state that has done nothing with it in the 2 years since taking it over. LICH is a good hospital. I know. I’ve been here 30 years and worked there. So I’m signing Joan Millman’s petition on Change.org and I’m writing to the SUNY trustees and the governor to tell them how much this area of Brooklyn needs this hospital. Yes I would miss it. I just hope that none of us ever has to pay for its closure with our lives.
PS
This is not about LICH, its about LICH real estate $$. Downstate wants to sell some assets to salvage its financially strapped medical school. The governors commission that was charged with evaluating Brooklyn hospital recommended that LICH be kept open & that Downstate consolidate its hospital services there to maximize its utilization. According to a SUNY board trustee in November 2012, the Flatbush hospital is “not attractive and won’t bring the best deal in a sale”. All of the sudden 2 months later, it’s LICH that may be for sale instead. Sure. It’s in a better area, is a nicer building, and has great views of the Hudson & Manhattan & will bring a better deal – up to a 1/2 billion.