Q&A
Council Member Rita C. Joseph discusses SUNY Downstate's future with state representatives
1:54:05
·
3 min
Council Member Rita C. Joseph engages in a discussion with State Senator Zellnor Myrie and Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon about the future of SUNY Downstate Medical Center. They discuss the vision for the hospital, the status of a commission meant to address its issues, and the challenges it faces due to lack of investment.
- The state representatives emphasize the need for world-class healthcare services and express frustration with the yearly struggle for funding.
- There's concern about the delay in convening a commission to address SUNY Downstate's issues, particularly given tight statutory deadlines.
- Council Member Joseph commits to advocating for SUNY Downstate in Albany, recognizing its importance to her district.
Rita C. Joseph
1:54:05
So at the end, what's the vision for downstate?
1:54:08
And what is the state doing to make sure that we preserve and not close the doors on downstate?
Zellnor Myrie
1:54:13
Thank you, council member, and you are my councilwoman as well.
1:54:17
So thank you for your continued service to our district.
1:54:21
The the plan is that we should have world class health care services just like everybody else, period.
1:54:29
We hate having to come to the state and beg every year.
1:54:33
Let's make the real investment upfront.
1:54:36
Let's have a world class women and children's hospital in the center of the maternal health crisis.
1:54:42
Let's continue to provide kidney transplant services to a constituency that needs it desperately.
1:54:48
Let's work on eradicating asthma in our communities.
1:54:52
Let's step up and do something big.
1:54:55
This is the only state run hospital in the entire city of New York.
1:54:59
The state should be embarrassed that we have to keep coming back every year on this.
1:55:04
So I am looking forward to being in the fight not just with my colleagues in the state, but with all of you so that we can show what government can do when we care about the people we represent.
Rita C. Joseph
1:55:15
Thank you.
1:55:16
And know that you have a partner as well, and you have us as as on the city level to support you.
1:55:22
1 of the you mentioned the commission.
1:55:24
What is the status on the commission?
1:55:26
And I know there was supposed to be a $100,000,000 given to downstate from what we understood.
1:55:30
There's a down payment of 20,000,000 but they still haven't stepped up and give up the 8 other 80,000,000.
Zellnor Myrie
1:55:36
And I I'm gonna shout out my colleague, Assembly member Simon, as well.
1:55:40
She joined me in writing a letter to the executive chamber to request what the status of this commission is.
1:55:48
The unfortunate truth is that we don't know.
1:55:51
It has not yet been officially convened, and that is troubling given the time constraints that the statute has us under.
1:56:00
And I don't know if the assembly member wants to add to that.
Jo Anne Simon
1:56:04
Yep.
1:56:05
There we go.
1:56:06
So thank you, and thanks Senator Myri for his incredible leadership on this and all of you for your support.
1:56:13
You know, one of the things we tend to do in the budget is that because there's a budget crunch, We make decisions.
1:56:21
We make decisions based on some sort of negotiation, but very little data, which is one of the reasons why we wanted the the Litchat because it would provide us with that data of impacts.
1:56:31
Not just data on the number of beds, but the actual impacts.
1:56:35
And so the problem with this commission is when I first heard about this, they invited us to dinner.
1:56:41
A bunch of us heard that they were not gonna be able to stay open because they had too much debt.
1:56:47
And that debt is primarily because of the physical plant.
1:56:53
Right?
1:56:53
There's been no investment in the infrastructure or very little Some parts of the hospital are in great shape.
1:56:58
Some parts are in terrible shape.
1:57:00
Right?
1:57:01
And so the state hasn't invested, and then the state goes, oops, we have no money.
1:57:05
We're gonna have to sell it, do something else.
1:57:07
And they have here a struggling hospital and they were planning on kind of just pushing everything over to Kings County, which is also a struggling hospital.
1:57:16
How long was that gonna last?
1:57:18
So there's very little planning that actually happens.
1:57:21
It's just sort of decision making under in crisis all the time.
1:57:27
And the more we can do to help create that vision, but also let we have a commission.
1:57:33
Come on.
1:57:33
Let's have a meeting.
1:57:34
Let's figure out what's going on.
1:57:36
I don't wanna find out about that meeting in January.
1:57:38
When we have a deadline, a budget deadline of March 31st for an April 1st deadline.
Rita C. Joseph
1:57:44
So this year, here's my commitment, not only going up to fight for education as the chair, I'll be updated to fight for health and hospitals as up for hospitals as well.
1:57:51
So you have my full commitment as as the education chair here, but also having do soon SUNY downstate in my district.
1:57:59
It's in my consultative district.
1:58:01
So I'll be up there, Albany, get ready.
1:58:03
I'll be there.
1:58:03
Thank you.
Jo Anne Simon
1:58:04
Thank you.
