SUNY’s plan will also result in the loss of desperately needed health care professionals in Central Brooklyn. Closing Downstate’s Hospital will negatively impact medical education and financially harm its medical school, which provides a pipeline of doctors and medical professionals to New York hospitals.

As a public teaching hospital, SUNY Downstate treats all patients who walk through its doors, including patients who are unable to pay for care. It also provides state-of-the-art procedures that other hospitals can’t or don’t offer.

The vast majority of Downstate’s patients — nearly 90 percent — are on Medicaid, are underinsured or have no health insurance. Yet the state stopped providing any operating funds to all three of its state teaching hospitals years ago.

The State of New York is in the best position to provide health care to the vulnerable central Brooklyn population through its own hospital, SUNY Downstate. It should not abandon its obligation to this hospital and the people of Central Brooklyn!

Join UUP to save SUNY Downstate and reimagine it as a viable, vital health care center that serves the unique needs of Brooklyn and New York City.