STATEMENT OF 1199 SEIU UNITED HEALTHCARE WORKERS EAST ON THE DECISION OF ST. VINCENT’S HOSPITAL TO CLOSE INPATIENT SERVICES

“St. Vincent’s decision to close acute care beds is a disappointing development but given the challenges in finding a long-term solution to the hospital’s fiscal crisis, we understand this was a difficult decision.

St. Vincent’s will continue to operate its many other services, including its primary care, outpatient HIV, mental health, and other vital clinic services that the community relies upon and we hope will continue to operate without disruption.

While we regret that acute care services will no longer be provided, we are optimistic that St. Vincent’s will continue to provide most vital services through the creation of an urgent care facility that can meet virtually all the medical needs of the community including emergency services, ambulatory surgery, diagnostics, imaging and both specialty and primary care clinical services. 

We believe that we now have an opportunity to forge a new model for the future of the delivery of healthcare services.  Moving towards this new model while maintaining current services is the most realistic way of preserving quality care for the West Side and Lower Manhattan communities.

We’d like to thank Governor Paterson for continuing to provide leadership throughout this process and to Council Speaker Christine Quinn and all of the elected officials for all their effort and dedication.

We will continue to work with the Task Force and potential partners in reviewing proposals for St. Vincent’s to operate as an urgent care center."

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With 350,000 members in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland and Washington D.C., 1199 SEIU is the largest and fastest growing healthcare union in the country. Our mission is to achieve affordable, high quality healthcare for all.