By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
On Sunday, Senator Chuck Schumer vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against the Biden administration’s proposal to close two Big Apple hospitals dedicated to caring for hundreds of thousands of New York City veterans. As reported by the NY Post, the Democratic politician announced that he is initiating a petition in the five boroughs of NYC, to oppose the federal Department of Veteran Affairs plans to shutter two of the three local VA hospitals in NYC. The VA plans to close two hospitals—one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn, and contract with private medical providers as part of a “strategic collaboration” to treat the vets.
“We are going to fight this proposal tooth and nail. We are going to put a dagger through its heart, and it’s not going to see the light of day,” Schumer said at a morning press conference on Sunday. “These are the people who risked their lives for us, and the only thing we said in return is, ‘You’ll get good healthcare.’ These facilities give good healthcare,” he added. “We’re not going to take them away.”
There are roughly 210,000 military veterans currently living in the five boroughs of NYC, as per the city Department of Veterans’ Services. “Who is going to take care of them?” demanded Schumer. “We are not going to turn our back on these veterans, plain and simple.”
The federal plan, announced in early March, includes “discontinuing” services at the Brooklyn VA hospital located in Bay Ridge, as well as the Manhattan site at 423 E. 23rd St. adjacent to Bellevue Hospital. The Bronx facility would remain unchanged. In lieu of the two hospitals, the plan is to establish a strategic collaboration with other providers.
As per the Post, on Saturday, Mayor Eric Adams also said he would lobby the Biden administration hard to nix the plan. “There is no reason that we are closing those hospitals. We fought before, and I’m going to Washington DC, and we are going to fight again. We need those hospitals open,” said Adams. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island) also blasted the plan earlier in the month, saying they “are mad as hell” about it.
John Rowan, head of Vietnam Veterans of America, also stressed the importance of having a hospital dedicated to VAs. “They know what our needs are all about,” said Rowan, who was treated several times at the Manhattan VA hospital. “They know what our complications are, having been in the toxic exposures that we had either in Vietnam or in the burn pits.”