New York City-based Montefiore announced plans in October to close the 121-bed hospital and replace it with an emergency and ambulatory facility. The health system has started scaling back services at the hospital, including shutting down the intensive care unit earlier this month.
More than 50 people held a rally outside the hospital July 19 to keep the facility open. During the rally, Sen. Schumer called on Montefiore to expand services instead of eliminate them.
“In the face of the greatest public health crisis we have faced, one that has deeply and disproportionately impacted the Black community, you do not close down hospitals and constrict access to health care in a community like Mount Vernon,” he said, according to the Rockland/Westchester Journal News. “Instead we must preserve and expand that access — in the name of saving lives, and in the name of justice.”
A Montefiore spokesperson previously released the following statement to Becker’s Hospital Review:
“Montefiore Mount Vernon is open, serving the community and no closure plan has been submitted to the state.”
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