LICH supporters ‘astonished’ by SUNY’s plan to end ambulance service May 12
Court order calls for full service until May 22
Long Island College Hospital (LICH) supporters say they are evaluating their legal options after receiving notice from SUNY Downstate Medical Center that the hospital will not be accepting ambulances starting Monday, May 12 at 7 a.m.
According to a letter addressed to patients signed by Michael Miller, Interim CEO of LICH, the ambulance diversion is taking place “due to the scheduled closure of the hospital on May 22.”
“The diversion is permanent,” he wrote. “When 9-1-1 is called, the Emergency Medical Services division of the Fire Department of New York will take patients by ambulance to the other area hospitals. Walk in patients to LICH will receive medical screening and stabilizing treatment until May 22.”
An agreement reached after a long legal battle over the future of LICH, a 155-yar-old hospital in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, calls for SUNY to exit operations on May 22. But nurses and other health care workers say that SUNY has been prematurely closing down departments, eliminating personnel and removing equipment for weeks, and the ambulance diversion is just the latest salvo that may leave LICH floundering before a new group can take it over.