Babies converge in march to save Brooklyn’s LICH
'Stroller march' in Cobble Hill
On April 3, a Long Island College Hospital (LICH) ambulance team and cardiology doctors and nurses saved the life of a13-year-old Brooklyn boy who had collapsed in his Boerum Hill classroom, in full cardiac arrest.
Parents say that events like this are why they gathered their babies and toddlers on Saturday morning to rally and hold a “stroller march” to save LICH, threatened with closure after more than 150 years in Cobble Hill.
“As the mother of a young child who was born safely at LICH after a complicated pregnancy, and who has visited the ER on several occasions, I am acutely aware of how important it is to have accessible emergency and ob-gyn/maternity care for the families in the neighborhood,” said Brooklyn mom Liz Holden.
Holden said that studies have shown that if LICH were to close, neighboring hospitals would not have the capacity to deal with the overflow, in particular for maternity services.
“This would pose a major public health crisis, and people could literally die as a result,” she said. “It’s wildly irresponsible of Gov. Cuomo to let this closing go forward, and even more of an affront that this valuable neighborhood resource would be replaced with a giant condo development that would overextend the already crowded schools.”