LICH Patients' Committee to Save Our Hospital

This message came in from the New York State Nurses Association, a continuing source of support in our community's efforts to keep our local hospital open and strong.

Dear Neighbors,

That Long Island College Hospital remains open for care is the product of a strong coalition of community groups, unions, physicians and elected officials. This coalition continues to be active and is working hard to assure that LICH serves our communities as a full service hospital for years to come.

Individual hospital patients and former patients have been a key component of our coalition. Some patients have shared their stories with the media and at rallies, some have distributed posters and literature, and others have involved their families and neighbors to support the Save LICH campaign.

Susan Raboy, a Brooklyn Heights neighbor and former LICH patient who has been a constant presence at our community events would like to invite other LICH patients and their family and friends to join the newly formed the LICH Patients' Committee to Save Our Hospital.

In the weeks ahead we will be working to keep the LICH story alive, and LICH patients and their family and friends will be to be major part of that effort.

If you or someone you know would like to join this committee, please contact Susan Raboy at suerab1@gmail.com.

SUNY Downstate Town Hall Meeting

We got word of a town hall meeting tomorrow morning to discuss a sustainability plan for SUNY Downstate, the hospital that controls the fate of our local Long Island College Hospital. This is another important opportunity for the community to offer public comment and force those in charge to properly prioritize our health care needs.

Town Hall Meeting
Monday, May 20, 2013
9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
SUNY Downstate Medical Center
Alumni Auditorium, 395 Lenox Road, Brooklyn, New York

Persons who wish to make brief comments (no more than three minutes) are requested to file their names with the Registration Officer in advance of the beginning of the Town Hall Meeting. This can be done in person at the Town Hall Meeting prior to the starting time, or by e-mailing hospitalsustainabilityplan@suny.edu with the speaker’s name, e-mail address, and phone number.

The Town Hall Meeting will begin with a brief presentation from SUNY and Downstate officials, followed by comments from interested elected officials. All registered speakers will then be called upon in the order in which they have registered. Extended, written testimony may also be submitted to hospitalsustainabilityplan@suny.edu.

To learn more about the situation at Downstate and provide ideas directly to the process, visit www.suny.edu/hospitals/downstate/. For additional info contact David Doyle; David.Doyle@suny.edu; 518-320-1311

Eyes on Hicks Street Re-Stripings

As we announced last week, the Department of Transportation has begun some long awaited safety enhancements to Hicks Street. Fresh stripes on the ground improve crosswalks, delineate a parking lane that will soon return alternate side of the street parking to Hicks Street in the Northbound direction, and at two notoriously dangerous corners - both Kane Street & Congress Street - fresh paint marks off neckdowns that give pedestrians a bit more space and better sightlines. Stay tuned for more updates as DOT's progress continues. (and please excuse these photos being night time shots).

Hicks Street at Congress Street

Hicks Street new parking lane striping

Hicks Street at Kane Street

"The Vultures after LICH"

For some of the finest reporting we've seen to date, check out Kimberly Gail Price's piece on recent developments in our associations fight to save out local hospital for unnecessary demise.

http://redhookstar.wordpress.com/2013/05/08/the-vultures-after-lich-by-kimberly-gail-price/

Hicks Street Traffic Calming project to begin May 13th

The Department of Transportation reports that the Hicks Street Northbound Traffic Calming project presented to our Transportation Committee at their June 2012 meeting will be installed beginning the week of May 13th. Among other measures, this project will restore parking in the east lane along the length of northbound Hicks Street adjacent to the BQE Trench during the morning rush hour as a way of narrowing the street to calm speeding traffic making it safer, especially for crossing pedestrians.

Reminder - CHA & PS29 Present Rummage/Recycling Event Sunday, May 5th

MUST READ: LICH Factbook 2.0

The Cobble Hill Association's LICH Factbook 2.0 is ready for your reading pleasure. It is up to date and includes SUNY's May 1, 2013 RFI, a very important document that all LICH-interested parties should read for themselves.

As with the first edition of our LICH Factbook, all information is quoted and sourced with links. Please feel free to use this information any way you see fit: quote it, send it to journalists, impress your friends with arcane LICH trivia.

We hope to see you all later tonight, May 2, at the CHA's General Meeting on LICH: 7:30 p.m. at LICH, Conference Room A.

Information is power.

LICH Factbook 2.0

Rummage & Recycling Day May 4th 10a-4p @ PS 29

Once again, the Cobble Hill Association is partnering with PS 29 for another green event that will allow residents to recycles a wide array of items, and prevent it from unnecessarily ending up in the trash. 

Sunday May 5, 10:00AM - 4:00 PM 

Spring Rummage & Recycling Event: 

Electronics, Textiles, Document & Hard Drive Shredding

PS 29 Schoolyard - 425 Henry St. Sunday, May 5, Public School 29

LICH Community Meeting - Thursday 5/2 @ 7:30pm

Many months of calls, emails, protests, and community efforts have brought us great news regarding the future of Long Island College Hospital. Below is CHA President Roy Sloane's statement and community meeting announcement:

I am writing to share the gratifying news that yesterday SUNY officials announced that they have withdrawn the closure plan for LICH and have agreed to work with the commuity and our elected officials to seek a viable, sustainable plan for providing the health care services that are essential for the communities and downtown business areas served by Long Island College Hospital. We are deeply grateful to our elected officials – City Councilmembers Brad Lander and Steve Levin, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assemblywoman Joan Millman, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and our Borough President Marty Markowitz – the Concerned Physicians of LICH, NYSNA, 1199 SEIU, and all of our neighboring community associations and the community activists who devoted some much time and effort to saving our hospital. 

I wish that I could say that the battle has been won, but that is far from the case. In many ways, the real work must  now begin: the task of crafting a viable, sustainable hospital that truly serves the needs of our community for the next 150 years is still before us. 

To that end, the Cobble Hill Association will be hosting a community forum on the future of LICH this coming Thursday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. The purpose will be to update the community, discuss the next steps, and also to do a little celebrating! We have a lot of people to thank and a lot of work that remains to be done. We sincerely hope you'll be able to join us for this next, most important phase of the battle to save our hospital.

There is still a lot of work for us to do, but to get caught up to speed on what has been done, please review some of these news links before Thursday's meeting.
ABC, Crain's, Daily News 1, Daily News 2, Brooklyn Eagle, NY Post, Brownstoner, Brooklyn Heights blog

SUNY withdraws plan to close LICH

Some amazing news was just released that may save LICH yet. Thank you to the community for its support & advocacy to our local electeds and state officials.

For Immediate Release: Friday, May 26, 2013

SUNY DOWNSTATE TO WORK WITH KEY STATE STAKEHOLDERS TO DEVELOP SUSTAINABLE PLAN FOR MEDICAL EDUCATION AND MEDICAL SERVICES FOR BROOKLYN

Withdraws LICH closure proposal while plan is being developed 

BROOKLYN, NY – SUNY Downstate Medical Center today withdrew from the New York State Department of Health (DOH) its proposed closure plan for Long Island College Hospital and said it would continue to seek a provider of healthcare services within the LICH community, including potentially a hospital operator.

“The financial conditions at LICH remain unchanged. LICH’s continued financial losses still threaten the viability of Downstate Medical and our world-renowned medical school. We are withdrawing the closure plan so we can work with the State and other stakeholders on a sustainability plan for Brooklyn’s only medical school and to ensure quality medical care throughout the borough. The current legal proceedings prohibit this dialogue,” said Downstate President Dr. John F. Williams, Jr.

In Search of a New Home

With so many children in our neighborhood, its clear that there is an ongoing need for schools. The following important message came recently from Susan Kuhlmann, of our local Linden Tree Preschool.

My name is Susan Kuhlmann, I am the Principal of Linden Tree Preschool in Cobble Hill. We have been in operation for over nine years with a wonderful reputation and a staple in our community. Each year we turn away hundreds of families looking for quality preschool services due to the abundance of growing families. This past July, the beautiful building our school was housed in, Christ Church at 180 Kane Street, was unfortunately struck by lightning and severely damaged. For safety reasons, the NYC Department of Buildings closed the buildings and keep them remained closed.

Our families are in need of a preschool and our nine dedicated staff members employment. As we are unable to return to the space we are looking for a new permanent home. Christ Church has plans to re-open Linden Tree sometime in the future and so it is preserving the name. However, in order to continue serving our families, staff and greater community by providing a beautiful preschool experience, myself and a colleague, Jennifer DeLuna, have formed our own LLC, Building Bridges. To do so, we are in need of a permanent location.

We require a minimum of 3000 square feet but willing to exceed that for the right opportunity. We are also willing to sign a long term lease. As you know rental space in our community is costly and difficult to come by. We have been searching for months and continue to. If anyone can help us please reach out, we need a home and can provide a nice income stream for a rental space.

We appreciate any assistance
susan@lindentreepreschool.com 
buildingbridgesbklyn@gmail.com

#saveLICH in the news again

Some promising news about the LICH closure we're hoping to avoid... Council members Steve Levin & Brad Lander sponsored a resolution calling on SUNY and the state Health Department to find a new hopsital to take over LICH so that it can remain open and fully functionally. For more on that story read the Daily News article linked to below.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/long-island-college-hospital-owner-vows-broad-search-new-operator-article-1.1326632#ixzz2RRo7SkIP

You can also watch the City Council Hearing in full here at this link.
http://legistar.council.nyc.gov/Video.aspx?Mode=Auto&URL=aHR0cDovL2NvdW5jaWxueWMucGVnY2VudHJhbC5jb20vZmxhc2gvbWVkaWFfcGxheWVyXzc5OGMuc3dmP3NlcnZlcj1ueWMtcnRtcC5wZWdjZW50cmFsLmNvbSZhY2NvdW50PWNvdW5jaWxueWMmdmlkZW9GaWxlbmFtZT1OWUNDLVBWLTI1MC0xNDEzMDQyNC0xMzI2MTcubXA0&Mode2=Video#.UXi6EpMoUfg.twitter