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‘Healthcare not politics!’, protest RNs, doctors, and community members
- Related: MYFOX New York - Rally Outside St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan
- Related: WPIX.com - Dozens Protest the Closure of St. Vincent's Hospital
- Related: The New York Times - Nearby Hospitals to Fill Gap When St. Vincent’s Closes
- Press Release: ‘Bottom line: This is a disaster for our community’
- Press Release: St. Vincent’s nurses condemn decision to close hospital
Images: Closing Protest, St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center, 8 April, 2010
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Photography: Deborah Elliott, Lucille Solazzo
Approximately 400 nurses, doctors, patients and members of the community gathered in the late afternoon of April 8 in front of St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center in Greenwich Village to protest the closing of the hospital.
The 160-year-old hospital is estimated to be $700 million in debt, and on April 6 its board of directors voted to shut down the facility’s acute care, rehab and behavioral health services. Ambulances are already diverting patients to other facilities.
For a brief period, it was believed Mt. Sinai Medical Center would acquire the hospital, and before that Continuum Health Partners, but neither deal came to fruition.
Among those speaking against the hospital closure were NYSNA's CEO Tina Gerardi and Economic and General Welfare Program Director Lorraine Seidel, and many of the bargaining unit leaders, including John Hiltunen, Eileen Dunn and Michael Cormier.
NYSNA nurses chanted “healthcare not politics!” and carried signs noting, “A political solution is not a healthcare solution,” and “doc in a box is not a solution.” Community residents spoke about how their lives had been saved at St. Vincent’s, and how frightened they are not to have a nearby hospital.
NYSNA is participating in a job fair being held in the hospital cafeteria on April 14, to help St. Vincent healthcare workers find other employment.
The New York State Nurses Association is the voice for nursing in the Empire State. With more than 37,000 members, it is the state's largest professional association and largest union for registered nurses. It supports nurses and nursing practice through education, research, legislative advocacy, and collective bargaining.