rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/local-communities-deserve-a-say-when-our-hospitals-close?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-local-communities-deserve-a-say-when-our-hospitals-close' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Save Beth Israel and NY Eye & Ear Campaign https://actionnetwork.org/groups/save-beth-israel-and-ny-eye-ear-campaign https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/569/980/normal/Save_Our_Hospitals_mem_500.png Hospital closures harm our local communities and reduce our access to health care. They put our own individual health and well-being at risk, particularly those of us living with serious and complex health needs and disabilities. They also threaten our ability to cope with emergencies such as pandemics and natural disasters. Everyday people living and working in an affected community deserve to be involved in evaluating the need for and limiting the harmful impacts of proposed hospital closures.   Right now under New York State law and regulation, we don’t.  Local communities should play a role in developing ways to ensure that people will still receive the hospital-based care we need, particularly in a sudden emergency like a heart attack, stroke, mental health crisis, childbirth, or life-threatening injury. To give local communities a say, the New York State Legislature passed the Local Input in Community Healthcare Act (S.8843A/A.1633B last spring. This bill will: improve public notice and community involvement when hospitals propose to close entirely or shut units like maternity, emergency or mental health services strengthen government oversight of proposed closures, and ensure that a Health Equity Impact Assessment is done, to inform state regulators. This bill now awaits Governor Hochul’s signature before the end of the year. Over the next month, it is very important for everyday New Yorkers to contact Gov. Hochul and urge her to sign this important bill into law. What you can do: Sign this petition to urge Gov. Hochul to sign this bill into law. Send Gov. Hochul your own personal email here. Call Gov. Hochul's office to leave a message about this bill: 518-474-8390. Use this social media toolkit to help spread the word. _______________________ Some background: This new bill will help to preserve access to hospital care in our local communities by improving public notice and community engagement, and strengthening state oversight when a general hospital seeks to close entirely or close a unit that provides key services like childbirth, emergency care, or psychiatric treatment. It will also close a loophole in New York's new Health Equity Impact Assessment process by requiring that such a study be conducted when a hospital seeks to close entirely. While this bill won’t stop hospital closures outright, it will create community engagement requirements to ensure that everyday New Yorkers have a role in discussions about and plans for hospital closures in our communities. The bill also improves transparency of a process that currently leaves the Department of Health making the decisions in private without any public discussion or even a recommendation from the State’s Public Health and Health Planning Council. For the past two decades, New York City communities have grappled with the loss of Cabrini Medical Center in Gramercy Park, St. Vincent's Hospital in Greenwich Village, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in East Flatbush, and several safety-net hospitals in Queens. These closures have severely curtailed access to essential hospital services, and have left residents in these neighborhoods with fewer options, particularly those living in NYCHA public housing developments and other low-income areas. Additionally, there is ongoing upset about the potential closures of Beth Israel Hospital in Lower Manhattan and SUNY Downstate’s University Hospital in Central Brooklyn, as well as attempts to close services in the Capital District (childbirth in Troy, and general medical in Schenectady) and in Sullivan County (transfer of services over to Orange County.) https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/local-communities-deserve-a-say-when-our-hospitals-close