Community Corner

'It's Just Not Right!'

Hospital care providers, union members, elected officials and community supporters gathered briefly on Wednesday at Cadman Plaza in downtown Brooklyn to stage a "Funeral Walk" across the Brooklyn Bridge in protest of the state's plans to close Interfaith Hospital and Long Island College Hospitals by next month.

"It's a shame," said Marthalie McClean, a Brooklyn Heights resident who worked at LICH for 44 years before retiring.

She said the hospital was her first and only job since she moved to Brooklyn four decades ago. And she was heartbroken to see it go.

Cars on the bridge slowed and honked in support of the marchers. And several pedestrians who were taking a casual stroll even joined the march.

"I had heard about this happening to Interfaith," said Tamara Burroughs, a resident of Bed-Stuy, who happened to be biking across the bridge with her son. "But I didn't believe it would happen... How do you shut down an entire hospital that serves such a large part of a community? And at the same time, the neighborhood is growing!

"It just doesn't make sense to me, so I'm glad to be able to join everybody today, because it's just not right!"


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