COUNCIL CANDIDATE WRITES TO GOVERNOR TO REJECT PLANNED
CLOSURE OF ST. GEORGE CHILD HEALTH CLINIC
Staten Island, N.Y. - 49th City Council candidate Debi Rose
wrote to Governor George Pataki and N.Y.S. State Health Commissioner Antonia C.
Novello today urging them to reject the planned closure of the Child Health
Clinic in St. George.
"I write to express my great concern about the planned
closure of the St. George Child Health Clinic operated by the N.Y.C. Health and
Hospital Corporation (H.H.C.) on Staten Island," she wrote. "Although the
Clinic at 51 Stuyvesant Place has been temporarily closed for renovation, the
planned permanent closure and relocation of services to a site in Stapleton,
will negatively impact the low-income population of children that the clinic
was created to serve," she continued.
"At a time when recent reports indicate that there are
between 18-22,000 uninsured or underinsured children on Staten Island, with
most of them located in the North Shore, this proposed closure does not make
any sense and is not in the best interest of our neediest population. Given the
State and City's campaign emphasizing participation in Child Health Plus and
Health Stat programs, it is contradictory for H.H.C. to close health care
services for this at risk population," she wrote.
"Instead of reducing services on Staten Island, as evidence
by the recent closing of emergency services at Bayley Seton Hospital on the
North Shore, we should be looking to maintain and expand health care options
for our most vulnerable residents," she wrote. "Therefore I urge you to reject
the planned closure of the St. George facility as you review H.H.C.'s request",
she concluded.
On May 3, 2001 H.H.C. wrote to the State Department of
Health seeking the closure and consolidation of 27 H.H.C. health clinic
facilities (12 neighborhood and 15 school based clinics) in the City of New
York. Ms. Rose joins other candidates, elected officials and community
activists opposing the closures in New York City, including NYC Comptroller
Alan Hevesi, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields and Bronx Borough
President Fernando Ferrer.
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