“ST.VINNY’S SAVED MY LIFE” – LOWER MANHATTAN RESIDENTS MARCH TO KEEP ST. VINCENT’S HOSPITAL OPEN

“St Vinny’s saved my life!” one woman chanted as hundreds others young and old, some in wheelchairs, pushing strollers and even carrying stretchers and symbolic coffins, marched through the streets of Chelsea from 25^th Street & 9^th Avenue to St. Vincent’s Hospital located at 12^th Street and 7^th Avenue to demand for the restoration of the hospitals comprehensive health services which includes the Level-1 trauma center, the emergency room and acute-care services.

The bankrupted St. Vincent’s hospital was forced to close its doors due to it’s over $700 million dollars in debt.  Although the NY State’s plan is to replace it with a new “urgent care” center, residents of the Lower West Side neighborhoods say that is not enough—stating that such a facility may not be able to handle serious emergencies such as heart attacks, strokes, overdoses or victims suffering from violent crimes. Residents say without a full service hospital, lives could be lost.  Each year St Vincent’s hospital treats over 60,000 patients who will now have to travel long distances for emergency care.  The nearest such facilities – Bellevue Hospital Center on Manhattan’s East Side and St. Luke’s Hospital at West 114th Street are about two miles to six miles away, respectively. “The ambulance would never be able to get down these streets with all that traffic” one person stated.

St. Vincent’s has been the primary medical center for the West Side of Manhattan from 59th Street South to Battery Park for approximately 440,000 residents, 815,000 private sector workers and millions of tourists.    The State Senator Tom Duane and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer spoke to a tough and skeptical crowd stating “we are not going the stand for this” and that there should be an investigation.  In response the crowd chanted “We know this already!” followed by “What are you gonna do!” Senator Tom Duane shouted back, “it’s not just about you it’s about us! Every day I am holding our government responsible for spending real healthcare dollars in our community so that we have the health care that we’ve had for St Vincent’s…”

“St Vincent’s was a hospital that cared” stated one man who talked about how they took him in and treated him without insurance.    “That doesn’t happen anywhere else.”   The West Side Neighborhood Alliance are asking for people to take action and call the governor to demand full emergency services be included in whatever replaced St Vincent’s Hospital.