NYSNA Nurses, Allies Hold Town Hall to Oppose Service Cuts at Bellevue Woman’s Center
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, NYSNA nurses joined forces with elected officials and community allies to hold a town hall meeting, demanding that Ellis Medicine restore surgical services at Bellevue Woman’s Center. Early in the summer, Ellis proposed cuts to most surgical services at Bellevue in the operating room and outpatient settings, with c-sections being one of few exceptions. Despite originally planning to implement these cuts in December, Ellis made a drastic change to the timeline, ending services on Aug. 22.
Nurses, elected officials, allies, and community members at the town hall were united in the belief that these closures at Bellevue would pose an enormous threat to maternal and child healthcare, as well as overall patient care, in Schenectady County and the capital region. Dawn Zipp, NYSNA member and nurse at Bellevue, said, "Mothers come to Bellevue because they know they get exceptional care. What the hospital is doing will undoubtedly negatively impact our ability to provide safe patient care. We need Bellevue to preserve these services and our nursing staff.”
Though patients are still able to receive c-sections at Bellevue, any other surgical services now require travel by ambulance to Ellis's chronically understaffed main campus. Shifting these services to an already overworked nursing staff will lead to increased wait times and potentially separate mothers from babies at a vulnerable time post-birth.
Unfortunately, the cuts at Bellevue are just the latest in a series of attacks on healthcare, on both the federal and local levels. For months, the Trump administration has been working to dismantle our healthcare system, targeting services that predominantly support vulnerable New Yorkers, like Medicaid and women’s reproductive health services. In the capital region, the reduction to surgical services at Bellevue comes just over a year after a similar attack on the Burdett Birth Center in neighboring Rensselaer County.
What’s Next
NYSNA nurses and our allies are fired up about the fight to restore maternal and child health services at Bellevue Woman’s Center. At the town hall, many attendees shared moving stories about the care they’ve received at Bellevue and the critical role the hospital plays in their community.
While surgical services at Bellevue ended on Aug. 22, one thing that’s clear is that nurses, elected officials, advocates, and community members aren’t ready to give up the fight to restore the critical maternal and child health services that Schenectady County—and capital region—parents and babies deserve. Show your support for the fight to restore surgical services at Bellevue Woman’s Center and to protect women’s healthcare services in the capital region by signing and sharing this petition.