Interfaith 'Fighting Tooth and Nail' Against Closure

Interfatih Medical Center-- the hospital serving primarily residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant-- has only enough cash to operate through July, and the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo has given them a final order: Close it down.

This is the second Brooklyn hospital, after Long Island College Hospital, in the past week to receive marching orders from the state.

Both hospitals filed for bankruptcy in December and then signed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding in February in which they agreed to negotiate a merger. But since that time, discrepancies over which services should stay and which should go, have kept the two hospitals at an impasse.

So Interfaith’s trustees sought alternative strategies—everything from drawing up a restructuring plan, to seeking debtor-in-possession financing, and sending a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo seeking direction about the best way to move forward.  

“The reality of it is, we submitted a plan to the state to cut costs, because the state asked for a plan that didn’t include them spending any money,” said District Leader Robert Cornegy, Jr., who has been an outspoken opponent for and lead organizer against IMC’s closing. 

“So in order to do that, a tremendous amount of services had to be cut-- primarily mental health services—which have been, for a lack of better words, the hospital’s bread and butter. We submitted a plan that would dramatically cut mental health services.

“But we also showed the state how, if it gave us just $4.1 million, we could keep all of the services intact, which was a mere pittance.”

To that plan, the state offered no response, said Cornegy.

So, last Thursday, on July 18, hundreds of workers from both hospitals, elected officials and members of the New York State Nurses Association and 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers East protested outside of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Manhattan offices last Thursday to keep IMC open. 

But on Friday, July 19, the state did respond in a letter, rejecting the hospital trustees’ restructuring plan and told them to resubmit another plan by Thursday that moved toward closure.

The hospital’s board now is working feverishly on yet another plan-- one that still does not consider closure.

“I’m not sure what the board is doing now, but I do know we’re still pushing to keep the hospital open,” Cornegy told Bed-Stuy Patch.  “A closure plan is basically accepting defeat, and we’re not willing to do that right now.”

Today, at 4:00 p.m., Cornegy, along with several hundred patients, caregivers and other elected leaders from Central Brooklyn will meet at Cadman Plaza for a "Funeral March" across the Brooklyn Bridge wearing black and carrying coffins to mourn the death of community hospitals. The event will culminate in a rally at Foley Square in City Hall Park.