Protest Proposed Wyckoff Heights Merger
Students from a local high school descended on Wyckoff Heights Medical Center last Friday, Feb. 17 to protest the proposed merger of the hospital on the Ridgewood/Bushwick border in Brooklyn with two other Brooklyn facilities.
The students came from the premed program at Progress High School, part of the Grand Street campus in East Williamsburg.
“Over the last decade, the number of hospitals has been reduced from 26 to 15,” said Umag Desai, the coordinator of the pre-med program. “With the passage of the current legislation, we’d be down to 10 hospitals serving almost three million people.”
“We feel like a lot of times, poor areas are targeted because of a lack of political involvement and lack of awareness by the community,” he added. “It’s really not fair and it’s classist, in my opinion.”
“We’re talking about a community issue here, not just a medical issue,” said Desai, who also claimed that many times, emergency rooms are used by residents as primary care facilities.
Timothy Foley of the Committee of Interns and Residents (a labor union representing employees at the hospital), told the Times Newsweekly that the union supports a campaign called Save Our Safety Net that is pushing to save area hospitals from state cuts.
“We’ve tried as much as possible to talk about how important it is for the community to be involved in any of the planning that goes on for the future of health care in the borough,” said Foley. “Their voices should be heard.
According to news reports, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center CEO Ramon Rodriguez has stated that the hospital will not merge with Brooklyn Hospital Center in Downtown Brooklyn and Interfaith Hospital in Fort Greene-one of the mergers proposed by the state Medicaid Redesign Team.
The team also proposed merging Brookdale University Hospital with Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, as well as several other changes to Brooklyn hospital services.
“The financial crises facing Brookdale, Interfaith and Wyckoff require immediate intervention and concerted action by stakeholders and the state,” the team stated in a November 2011 report.
