PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Mark Rubin, Nurse at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, on Hospital Closures
2:50:48
·
111 sec
Mark Rubin, a nurse at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, testifies about the critical importance of keeping Beth Israel hospital open. He emphasizes the devastating impact its closure would have on the community and urges the council to prevent the closure.
- Rubin has worked at Beth Israel for 13 years and lives in the West Village, where many residents depend on the hospital for care.
- He argues that urgent care centers cannot replace hospitals, as ICU patients require hospital-level care.
- Rubin stresses that the trend of hospital closures in New York City must stop to maintain adequate healthcare services.
Mark Rubin
2:50:48
Good afternoon.
2:50:48
My name is Mark Rubin, and I'm a nurse at Mount Sinai Beth Israel.
2:50:53
I work in the intensive care unit.
2:50:55
Wanna thank the counsel for having these hearings.
2:50:58
It's a critical issue right now in the city, and I appreciate that.
2:51:04
I have worked at the hospital for 13 years, as I said.
2:51:08
And it's not only where I work.
2:51:12
I also live in the West Village.
2:51:13
And since St.
2:51:14
Vincent's is closed, this would become the West Village is also local hospital.
2:51:19
I live in a a building that is a considered a naturally occurring retirement community.
2:51:25
It's West Beth.
2:51:27
I'm sure you all know it.
2:51:28
I used to be a photographer before I became a nurse.
2:51:31
And all all all the people in my building depend on Beth Israel for their services since Saint Vincent's has closed and myself included.
2:51:46
And hospitals across the city continue to close and we continue to lose services.
2:51:53
And for all the talk of urgent care, there's not one of my patients in the ICU who could be treated in an urgent care setting.
2:52:02
Hospitals are necessary that can't go away as much as the medical establishment would like to move things to a cheaper, easier situation.
2:52:13
Hospitals will never not be needed, and this attack on our hospitals in New York City has to stop, and the loss of death Israel will be devastating to the entire community from 33rd Street down to the tip of Manhattan.
2:52:30
And I urge the council to do everything they can to stop the close.
2:52:35
Closing.
2:52:38
Thank you.
