If you want a sneak peek at what New York healthcare would be like with no Certificate of Need process, take a look at St. Luke’s.
After Sandy, Continuum, the hospital chain that runs St. Luke’s Roosevelt, closed down the St. Luke’s Detox and Pediatric units.
They didn’t follow the legally-mandated Certificate of Need protocol. “The community didn’t get any say,” said peds RN Adrian DeMartini.
More than two months after the storm, the units are still closed. That’s the kind of unaccountable, unilateral action we’ll see if Certificate of Need is deregulated.
Nurses and the Harlem community are teaming up to demand that our voices are heard.
After we told our stories to the press, administrators announced that they would apply to the State for permission to close the units. And two Manhattan community boards are demanding that Continuum seek community input on these cuts. Our fight continues.