2013 Cobble Hill Concert Series continues TONIGHT @ 7pm

Tonight we continue the 2013 Cobble Hill Concert Series in Cobble Hill Park. We'll have the musical stylings of the barnstormers from Brooklyn, The Bodega Tallboys on hand. If you can't join tonight, then how about next Thursday at 7 when we have Brooklyn icon Kenn Lowry with us. 

July 25: The Bodega Tall Boys 
A gang of barnstormers from New York City and Brooklyn, The Tallboys have been at it for only a year but their sound is the timeless kind, born of lost highways and deep woods. Collectors of roughhewn country and soul tunes, rambling ballads, original barnyard stompers, and classics turned on their heads, this five-piece heart-on-its-sleeve outfit of guitars, mandolin, banjo, harp, sax, and percussion, plays musical chairs every time they take the stage. They swap instruments, trade off vocals, and always deliver a high-octane performance and their infectious brand of urban Americana  

Massive Rally for LICH

Please join our community's work to keep LICH open by attending a rally and march this Wednesday sponsored by NYSNA and 1199.

The march will begin at Cadman Plaza Park at the intersection of Tillary and Cadman Plaza East at 4:00 PM. The rally will be at City Hall on Broadway between Park Pl. and Chambers St. at 5:00 PM.

Call To Action to help Save LICH

It's been a see-saw weekend of near hospital closure and temporary restraining orders and so on at LICH. Please continue checking @CobbleHillAssoc on twitter for all the latest updates.

In the meanwhile, please see the below details from a Patients for LICH flyer that is making the rounds in our  neighborhood.

Call To Action to help Save LICH  We’re looking for patients of Long Island College Hospital (LICH) (past and present) and their families and friends to help with one or more of the following:* · Make a phone call to an elected official · Write a letter and/or send an email · Attend a rally or two · Speak at a rally or community meeting · Speak to the press *Assistance will be available If you are interested or for more information, please contact: Sue Raboy (former patient) 917.822.4381 suerab1@gmail.com We are supporting the work of: The Concerned Physicians of LICH  (www.lichmedicalstaff.org) The NY State Nurses Association (NYSNA) 1199 SEIU Healthcare Workers East Parents for LICH . Cobble Hill Association Brooklyn Heights Association and many more of your neighbors and friends!

2013 Cobble Hill Concert Series begins TONIGHT @ 7pm

Tonight we kick off the 2013 Cobble Hill Concert Series in Cobble Hill Park. It begins with the musical stylings of Amelia Robinson, who's bio & picture are below. Can't join tonight, then how about next Thursday at 7 when we have the barnstormers from Brooklyn, The Bodega Tallboys on hand. 

Amelia Robinson (c) www.lizzydoe.co.uk

July 18: Amelia Robinson 
Founder/Creator Mil's Trills a series of live interactive performances introducing grown-ups with young children to the world of instruments through original, quirky and whimsical songs on the electric ukulele. Mil’s Trills has also appeared with Sesame Street’s Elmo & Gordon at South St. Seaport’s Children’s Day in 2011 and has been recommended by New York Magazine, Time Out Kids, The New York Times, AOL’s Patch, plus Brooklyn Parent Magazine, A Child Grows in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

Where will the ambulance take you?

Important message to area residents:

In it's continuing effort to close Long Island College Hospital, SUNY Downstate has now diverted all ambulances from LICH-- even though it is fully staffed and open. Even if you live immediately adjacent to the hospital you will NOT be taken to LICH if you call 911 for emergency service. All ambulances will be sent to Methodist, Brooklyn Hospital or any other hospital that has available beds. Only walk-in patients will be admitted to the LICH emergency room. Emergency patients requiring critical or acute care will be stabilized and then sent at other hospitals.

The Cobble Hill Association made a TV commercial highlighting this issue:
LICH Two Minutes to Live commercial - YouTube

What can you do:

Let Governor Cuomo know that he needs to take charge. So far, he has refused to meet with our local elected officials. Tell Governor Cuomo that we expect him, as our elected representative, to act in the best interests of the western Brooklyn residential and business community.

Write to: The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224 

Call: (518) 474-8390
Email: Greg.Smiley@exec.ny.gov

For your convenience, simply sign and send the following message:

Governor Cuomo,
As a constituent, I urge you to develop a plan to save Long Island College Hospital so that it can provide needed health care for the fast-growing residential and business communities of western Brooklyn. As Governor, you must act to insure (i) that the process is transparent, (ii) that Downstate makes current audited LICH financial records available to all interested parties, and (iii) that a 150-year-old teaching hospital is not summarily closed without a full assessment of the community's needs by the NYS Department of Health.

Arrests at the Save LICH Protests

Pasted from News 12 Brooklyn website (for those who do not have cable and cannot access the site). 

Protesters, Public Advocate Bill DeBlasio arrested at Long Island College Hospital Rally at SUNY Midtown office

BROOKLYN - A group of 15 people was arrested for civil disobedience today after they blocked the doors of SUNY’s Midtown office in protest of the potential closure of Long Island College Hospital.

Among those arrested was Public Advocate and mayoral candidate Bill DiBlasio and Brooklyn Councilman Steve Levin.

The protest is part of a long battle with SUNY Downstate and workers who say SUNY is diverting ambulances and cutting staff at LICH.

SUNY Downstate says it was forced to stop ambulances from bringing patients to LICH because it lost too much staff to adequately serve patients. Nurses and Brooklyn residents who were arrested today say that SUNY is playing a dangerous game and putting people's lives at stake.

SUNY Downstate is expected in court on July 15 for a contempt hearing, where it will be determined whether or not it has violated two restraining orders, calling on the hospital to remain open and fully staffed.

*Update: during this Rally the CHA's Jeff Strabone was also arrested. The following day at another rally to #SaveLICH Assemblywoman Joan Millman, and local activists Dorothy Seigel and Peter Sakora were also arrested. 

March to "Save LICH" - happening now!

The march is on with the community and electeds rallying strong despite large police presence. If you're not there in person, follow the action live from our Twitter feed where Jeff Strabone is providing real time updates for us using the CHA twitter handle @CobbleHillAssoc

2013 Cobble Hill Concert Series begins in 1 week

One week from today, we kick off the 2013 Cobble Hill Concert Series in Cobble Hill Park. It begins with the musical stylings of Amelia Robinson, who's bio & picture are below. Hope you can make it on Thursday July 18th at 7pm to see her. if not, come check out the full line up here and join us anyone of the following Thursdays. 

Amelia Robinson (c) www.lizzydoe.co.uk

July 18: Amelia Robinson 
Founder/Creator Mil's Trills a series of live interactive performances introducing grown-ups with young children to the world of instruments through original, quirky and whimsical songs on the electric ukulele. Mil’s Trills has also appeared with Sesame Street’s Elmo & Gordon at South St. Seaport’s Children’s Day in 2011 and has been recommended by New York Magazine, Time Out Kids, The New York Times, AOL’s Patch, plus Brooklyn Parent Magazine, A Child Grows in Brooklyn and the Brooklyn Heights Blog.

Hundreds Rally at Gov Cuomo's office

A nurse at LICH just forwarded along these great images to share. The crowd was strong as hundreds of hospital workers, doctors, nurses, patients, elected officials, & community members insisted that Governor Cuomo "LISTEN TO BROOKLYN!" demanding "Save Our Hospitals" "No Hospitals -- NO VOTES!"

(photo: Tim Foley)


(photo: STOPNYMRT)


(photo Pete Sikora)


(photo: NYSNA)


(photo: Cara Noel)



(photo: NYSNA)

VIDEO:
HUNDREDS RALLY GOVERNORS OFFICE TO SAVE BROOKLYN'S HOSPITALS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGGC_su4ZeU

Stroller March to Save LICH - Part Trois! - 7/11 @ 5:30pm

(c) CobbleHillBlog.com

Governor Cuomo is failing our neighborhoods - so we're taking it up a notch. With SUNY refusing to accept ambulances at the fully-staffed LICH ER, Methodist and Downtown Hospital ER's wait times are as long as 48 hours. And SUNY just shut down overnight pediatric care at LICH, so when kids tend to get sick, they can't get proper care. Meanwhile, developers are circling the property, waiting to get their hands on the real estate.

It's time to send Governor Cuomo a message loud and clear: we need hospitals - not condos. Our health, emergency care, and 2,000 jobs are at stake.

Please join us for Parents for LICH's biggest protest yet: We will rally at the LICH playground from 5:30 to 6ish, then hold our signs and raise our voices as we march to the Brooklyn Bridge (Adams and Tillary Streets).

At the Brooklyn Bridge, we will rally up on the big sidewalk near the entrance to the bridge. We will be done at 6:45. This event is kid and stroller-friendly. Elected officials will join also us, as will nurses, doctors and other health care workers from LICH.

Governor Cuomo is making a political decision: go with the community, or go with real estate developers. We all know LICH needs to be restructured with better management. But to close it down to build more condos is outrageous. We need to up the pressure on the Governor so he stops closing our neighborhood hospital.

The unions are also upping the pressure, with 2 rallies next week. The first is Mondayafternoon from 4-6pm outside the Governor's office at 633 Third Avenue in Manhattan. On Wednesday, they will rally at SUNY at 10amand deliver petition signatures to SUNY Chancellor Zimpher. The SUNY building is at 33 West 42nd Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues). Please come out to these rally's too if you can!

Again, our Toddler Speak-out and Stroller March to Save LICH will be this Thursday the 11th at the LICH playground (Henry St between Amity and Pacific Streets), rallying from 5:30 to about 6:00, then march to the Brooklyn Bridge. Thank you.

LICH patients REFUSE to be transferred

A concerned staffer at LICH shared with us this story from the past few days, giving a sense of both how urgently we need to keep the hospital alive as well as the power we as the community has in assuring a positive outcome. 

The other day, a LICH neighbor came in to the ER & was deemed to require hospital admission. Of course he was told he would be transferred someplace else. This guy was smart.  He refused transfer, saying that his doctor & records are here & LICH is his hospital, it's open, staffed, and theres no "closed" sign on the door.  He insisted on being admitted to LICH or he would take legal action.  Guess what? He was the first patient to be admitted to LICH since June 19th.

Many of our dialysis patients are refusing to go elswhere for their treatments...and they aren't.  Maternity patients are calling to say they are coming & will refuse to be transferred.  Yesterday, one of them was admitted to LICH and had her baby safely delivered. 

Moral of the story, the community has the power.

New Save LICH poster in the area

Our  community has been crystal clear that it wants to keep emergency services open at LICH and so many windows of homes and business have been seen sporting this #SaveLICH poster. Now it seems there is another poster popping up around the neighborhood, put out by Parents for LICH and the Working Families Party - South Brooklyn Club, suggesting the best approach to keep the fight alive - Call Governor Cuomo. 
(518) 474-8390

Concerned patients ask legitimate question: "Who do I sue?"

Many thanks to all the Save LICH supporters who have helped keep up the pressure on our elected officials as well as Governor Cuomo, who unfortunately still remains completely silent on the health care crisis in our neighborhood. 

A registered nurse at LICH offered us this update below.  We urge everyone to read it in full, and call Governor Cuomo directly to voice your concern. 

(518) 474-8390

LICH EMT reports that yesterday, a Cobble Hill resident was suffering a heart attack just a block or so from LICH but ambulance was forced to take him to Methodist due to continued LICH patient diversions. According to the EMT, it took a full 9 minutes to get to that hospital and then more time to assess the patient and begin treatment. Heart muscles die with each delayed moment. In the first 9 minutes that it took just to travel to another hospital, the Cobble Hill resident could have already been in the LICH cardiac catheterization lab restoring his heart's blood flow, reducing the injury and increasing the chances for survival.

Also, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports on a woman who was choking in Carroll Gardens. According to that patient, because of LICH's diversion, the ambulance had to take her to Methodist & travel time was 20 minutes on a Sunday. Thank G-D for the paramedics who were able to treat her on the way. She asks the reporter "who do I sue" over this. Others report on the impact of long delays for care at Brooklyn Hospital as well. (see:http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/residents-fear-worst-brooklyn-er-crisis-drags-2013-07-04-160300)

This is no joke now. People's lives absolutely are in danger as SUNY Downstate continues to thumb its nose at everyone - elected officials, supreme court judges, community residents, etc.

Does there need to actually be a death in the ambulance before the city and state put a stop to this insanity and full services at LICH are resumed?

FYI: In LICH ICU today, there are 2 attending physicians present, plus one attending physician on call, 6 ICU Registered Nurses, 2 physician assistants, 1 nurses aide, a nurse manager and a case manager - all for just 2 patients - both of them being transferred out of ICU today. There's even more staff than that in ER. There's just 28 patients in the entire hospital, with a full staff of nurses, doctors, and other caregivers on those floors too.

So what is the reason again that our ambulances are being diverted, our admitting office cannot admit anyone, and patients cannot come to LICH?

Lives here are being put at risk because Downstate has big plans to build new care centers around Brooklyn but has no way to pay for it. Are people going to die in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Carroll Gardens and Redhook just so LICH can be sold to fund SUNY's grand ideas? (see:
http://mcbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2013/07/how-can-suny-downstate-design-brooklyn.html)

The Department of Health's representative was just at LICH again, counting all the staff on each unit, saying nothing, but looking astounded at the incredulous situation here.

So where is the NYC public advocate and the NYC mayor for these NYC residents in Brooklyn? Where is the Governor? Do they all need to be sued by the family of a patient that SUNY causes to be harmed by continuing this debacle before they start to seriously advocate for this public and not just come out for a photo op? How is this all still being allowed to continue?

This is a tragedy with a mega-lawsuit waiting to happen and the city, state, SUNY and Downstate officials and Governor Cuomo will find themselves being held responsible. LICH's full hospital services need to be resumed now.

Become a CHA member....online!

The ability to become a paying Cobble Hill Association member online has been long overdue, but finally the option is here. Before you head out of town for the holiday weekend, check out the 'Join Us' link at the top of the gray box to right of this text and follow the simple instructions through our partners at NYcharities.org. Within minutes you can sign up as a member and submit payment to help any number of our advocacy efforts from Saving LICH to Fixing the Ditch to keeping Cobble Hill Park so perfect, and more.