SUNY is pursuing a plan that will ultimately close SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Hospital (SUNY Downstate Hospital). This plan is poor public policy, which will reduce health care in Brooklyn, undermine the hospital’s central mission, and harm the Brooklyn communities it serves. Downstate was NYS’s sole COVID-only hospital during the pandemic. Sadly, the key lesson from the pandemic–that we need to invest in public health care capacity–has not been learned. Moreover, this plan jeopardizes the future of health care in NYS. SUNY’s “transformation” plan for Downstate threatens medical education, which provides a pipeline of doctors and medical professionals to New York hospitals statewide. We cannot allow SUNY to close a public teaching hospital!
UUP members work every day to improve, support, and protect the lives of patients at SUNY Downstate Hospital. Together we can remind New York State that an attack on one is an attack on all! UUP invites concerned allies to stand together in the fight to stop the closure of SUNY Downstate. Will YOU stand in solidarity with us to stop the closure of SUNY Downstate Hospital?