I am writing to share the gratifying news that yesterday SUNY officials announced that they have withdrawn the closure plan for LICH and have agreed to work with the commuity and our elected officials to seek a viable, sustainable plan for providing the health care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
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