CIR Fights for Residents and Patients at Caritas Hospitals

After a hard-fought battle, workers at St. John’s Queens and Mary Immaculate Hospitals in Queens had to face the news that the two facilities were filing for bankruptcy and preparing to close, with almost no transition plan.

CIR represents roughly 200 residents at the hospitals, which are operated by Caritas Health Care and had been struggling financially for several years.

Residents got involved immediately in the fight to keep the hospitals open, writing to elected officials and coming out to several rallies. When it looked like there was no rescue plan in sight, the union turned its attention to helping residents through the stressful process of finding a new placement. Although the transition was unusally sudden and stressful, many housestaff expressed relief to be represented by CIR at a time like this.

“It’s a tough situation for anyone,” said CIR President Dr. L. Toni Lewis, “But for me it was also personal, because I spent my own residency at Caritas in Family Medicine and Geriatrics. It was important for us to stick together through this fight and for CIR members to know the union was looking out for our best interests.”

After originally learning in late January that the Caritas hospitals were facing imminent closure, CIR joined together with other hospital unions and community allies to pressure politicians to come up with a rescue plan.

In a series of rallies throughout the month at St. John’s Queens, New York City Hall, Mary Immaculate and, finally, in Albany on the steps of the State House, CIR residents called on the state to stop the closure of the two hospitals, which together serve 200,000 patients a year in Queens, a severely under-bedded borough of the city.

CIR leaders made lobby visits in Albany on February 11 to several elected officials, including Gov. David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, whose district includes Mary Immaculate Hospital, and Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, whose district includes St. John’s Queens. Residents urged the legislators to come through with a last-minute rescue plan, stressing the damage the closures would do to the community. Their face-to-face work was complemented by an online campaign in which over 1,400 emails and nearly 200 faxes were sent to politicians at the state and local level, imploring that they intervene to keep the hospitals open.

Second-year Internal Medicine resident Dr. Diana Israeli expressed the sentiments of many of the physicians at a Saturday rally at Mary Immaculate. “The closing of the hospital feels like a family breaking up,” she said. “There are many employees who rely on the hospital. As residents, we get placed, however other employees are not so lucky. Where will the 65-year-old transporter go? Who will hire him?”

Despite the political pressure and huge public outcry, the state was unwilling to continue supporting the failing hospitals, and the hospital board moved ahead with bankruptcy proceedings that would close the hospitals by the end of February.