1 1 2 3 4
NEW JERSEY STATE HEALTH PLANNING BOARD HILTON PENN STATION HOTEL NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
5 6
MARCH 14, 2008 5:00 PM
7 8 9
THE PUBLIC HEARING OF:
10
THE APPLICATION FOR
11
CERTIFICATE OF NEED
12 13
TO CEASE GENERAL HOSPITAL SERVICES AT ST. JAMES HOSPITAL
14 15 16
B E F O R E: WILLIAM CONROY, CHAIR
17
CONNIE BENTLEY-McGHEE, ESQ.
18
SHAROL A. LEWIS, MD
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
GLOBAL COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC. 70 Hilltop Road Suite 1000 Ramsey, NJ 07446 (201) 825-1020
2 1 NAME
SPEAKERS: PAGE
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Assemblyman Coutinho 4 Councilman Amador 7 Joseph Nardone 11 Dean DeBrosse 14 Renee Steinhagen 16 Terry Suess 19 Reverend Weirich 22 Nancy Zak 24 Pastor Freiberg 27 Alice Schreiner 30 Viola Draude 32 June Kruszewski 33 Leonard Thomas 35 Sara Lobman 39 Maria Beretto 41 Carl Putkowski 42 Victor Monterrosa 44 Rocco Barros 47 Aminifu Williams 49 Janet Santos 51 Josephine Punla 54 Christine Hilo 56 Cheryl Munoz 60 George Tillman 62 Aminifu Williams 65 Nancy Piwowar 66 Renata Khas 68 Dorothy Givens 69 David Hungerford 70 Ellen Culver 72 Janet Martinez 73
3 1
MR. CONROY: Good evening, everybody.
2 I'd like to get started, if you can take your 3
seats. Thank you. Can everybody hear me in the
4 back? Thank you. 5
This meeting is a meeting of the State
6
Health Planning Board on the application to cease
7
general hospital services at St. James Hospital.
8 Notice was published in accordance with the Open 9
Public Meeting Act, published as a legal notice, by
10
the Secretary of State, and in newspapers.
11
We will take testimony first from any
12
elected officials, then from members of the
13
public. When you testify, please state your name
14
and spell your name for the reporter.
15
You'll be allowed to have three minutes
16 to speak. We're going to have a timer here just 17 to track you and we'll give you a warning when 18
your time is up. We will also accept written
19
comments.
20
As to the process, we're here to listen
21
to you. Although not all members of the Board are
22 present, a recording of this meeting will be part of 23 the record. The State Health Planning Board will 24 25
review the application and the transcript. The next meeting of the State's Health
4 1 Planning Board will be on April 3rd. And we will 2
have one hour public comment, we will hear from
3 the applicant and the discuss the application. 4
Right now, we have two members of the
5
Board present, as you can see. Connie
6
Bentley-McGhee. My name is Bill Conroy, I'm
7
Assistant Commissioner with the Department of
8
Health. Our chairperson, Judy Donlen, is on her
9
way, as well as Dr. Lewis, another member of the
10 Board. But I don't want to delay any further, so 11 I'd like us to get started, if you would. 12 13 14
Our first speaker is Assemblyman Coutinho. ASSEMBLYMAN COUTINHO: Good evening to
15
the Members of the Board, good evening to the
16
members of the community that are here. My name
17
is Albert Coutinho, C-O-U-T-I-N-H-O. I'm the
18
Assemblyman for District 29, which represents the
19 area covered by St. James Hospital, as well as 20
Columbus and St. Michael's.
21
Let me begin obviously stating that,
22
unfortunately, I am fully supportive of this
23
application, given the point in time where we're
24
at. And I'd like to, for the record, really
25
almost beg this Board to forward on to the powers
5 1
that be, be that Commissioner Howard and Governor
2 Corzine, as I will be doing, of the complete 3 inappropriateness of this process. 4
As you know the plan that is before you
5 has basically already happened. In fact, in a few 6 hours, officially, St. James will cease acute care 7
services because our current system does not call
8 for looking at bankrupt institutions, but rather 9
for institutions which voluntarily choose to
10
terminate services. This effectively almost
11
borders on complete disrespect of this community.
12
And I think that is relevant as we address this
13 application this evening. 14
That being said, I do believe that it is
15
important to note that the prospective buyer,
16
Catholic Health East, has been honest, upright,
17
and fair with the steering committee of local
18 officials. And I believe has done their best 19
efforts, given the circumstances to accommodate
20 some of the more urgent needs that this community 21 22
has. Also, that being said, I do believe that
23 the application has been amended and upgraded so 24 that the commitments that Catholic Health East has 25 made in regards to the St. James campus are part
6 1
of that. And so that the record can reflect to
2 the best my recollection, those commitments are a 3
24 hour satellite emergency room, the
4
establishment of a prenatal clinic, diagnostic
5
services with conditions, a whole series of clinic
6
services, primary care services for the community.
7
The continuation of behavioral health services, as
8 well as application for long term acute care 9 10 11
services and the PACE program. I would hope that these conditions -I'm sorry, these commitments from Catholic Health
12 East, which were made in good faith. I believe 13 that they need to be made conditions of this CN 14 application. And, furthermore, I believe that it 15 is imperative that these commitments be maintained 16 17
for a minimum of a five year period. And, lastly, I think it's imperative
18 that these services continue. And I will tell you 19 why. Your two colleagues are running late, probably 20 because they're stuck in traffic. This meeting 21
started late because people were stuck in traffic.
22
My principle issue of the safety net
23 factor of the St. James campus is that during rush 24 hour, it is impossible to cross Penn Station. So 25
any termination of urgent care in this community
7 1
will cost lives because you will not be able to
2 pass Penn Station and make it to St. Michael's, 3
either from 7:30 in the morning to 9:30 in the
4
morning or 3:30 in the afternoon to 5:30.
5 6
I think having this hearing here, you had an opportunity to see the congestion first
7 hand. And there was no game at the arena, there's 8 nothing at the art center yet, the parade was over 9 two hours ago. This is a standard operating 10 condition. And that is the biggest argument I can 11
have for the urgent need to continue, basically
12 indefinitely into the future, emergency room -13 first class emergency room services at the St. 14
James campus.
15
Thank you very much for your time.
16
MR. CONROY: Thank you. We will next
17 18
hear from Councilman Amador. COUNCILMAN AMADOR: Good afternoon,
19 everyone, Members of the Board and the public and 20
members of the community. I would like to first
21 of all to thank you for coming a little bit 22 outside of the Ironbound community for this 23 hearing, to attend this hearing. Because this is 24
probably one of the most important issues that our
25 community has faced since I've been -- at least
8 1 since I've been a council member. I have a 2
prepared statement that I'd like to enter into the
3
record, a written statement.
4
And I totally agree, first of all, with
5
the statement made by Assemblyman Coutinho. He
6
left out a couple things. He left out, which I
7 will address in my statement. 8
He left out the fact that St. James
9
Hospital has been the first line of defense, to
10
put it -- for the lack of a better term for
11 anything that has happened or could happen or can 12
happen at the airport, at the port, at the train
13
station, at the arena, at the New Jersey PAC.
14
So it's imperative that those conditions
15
that Assemblyman Coutinho spoke about be
16
addressed, be taken into consideration by this
17
Board before the final decision is made in terms
18
of St. James Hospital.
19
The closure of two hospitals, St. James
20 and Columbus in Newark, within a short period of 21 time has not allowed for an assessment of the 22
impact on the public health system. While the
23
certificate of need application strongly suggests
24 that the applicant include the local public health 25
authorities in the discussions at the beginning of
9 1 the process, this was not done. 2
The City of Newark must be given enough
3
time to assess and prepare as best as possible for
4 the changes. The City must be given an 5
opportunity to convene a meeting with other
6 providers to encourage them to extend services 7 8
that will meet the gaps. The steering committee has identified
9
the following services as paramount. Satellite
10
emergency room services must continue and meet the
11
standards described in N.J.A.C. 8, primary health
12
care. There are not enough primary health care
13
facilities and physicians that can meet the needs
14
of our community for those that lack adequate
15 health insurance. Many indigent residents receive 16 all of their care through hospital emergency 17
departments, crippling their ability to stay
18
viable.
19
A recent report of NJDHSS show that the
20
rise of ER utilization is related to the
21
conditions and medical episodes that may have been
22
avoided through better access to primary care.
23
MR. CONROY: Thirty seconds.
24
COUNCILMAN AMADOR: Thirty seconds
25
already? So I'll go to the most important points
10 1
of my letter. As a result of the meetings,
2
Catholic Health East agreed to the continuance or
3
the establishment of the following services at the
4 St. James campus: 24 hour satellite emergency 5
department link to St. Michael's Medical Center,
6 and offering basic life support and emergency 7
care, x-ray, ultrasound, and lab services.
8
Prenatal care that connects expectant
9
mothers to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center for
10 their deliveries and for perinatal services. 11
Primary care services to include
12
regularly scheduled on-site health screenings for
13
blood pressure, diabetes, breast cancer, prostate
14 cancer, and other conditions. 15
Transportation to scheduled ongoing
16 specialty clinic services at St. Michael's Medical 17 18 19
Center. Diagnostic services, including basic radiology, lab and ultrasound.
20
Scheduling transportation for health
21
care services should be available at St. Michael's
22
Medical Center to be provided in part by Ironbound
23
ambulance squad.
24 25
Behavioral health and patient services will continue at St. James campus.
11 1 2 3
And the formation of a community advisory board. What we're asking for is these
4
commitments to be incorporated in the Certificate
5
of Need before the decision is made by the State.
6
And also exactly what Assemblyman Coutinho said
7 that these conditions should be obeyed by Catholic 8
Health East for a period of at least five years.
9
Thank you.
10
MR. CONROY: Thank you. We have a
11
number of community residents who have signed up
12
to speak.
13
(Dr. Sharol Lewis arrived.)
14
MR. CONROY: We have as our first sign
15 16 17
up, Mr. Joseph Nardone. Mr. Nardone. MR. NARDONE: My name is Joseph Nardone, that's N-A-R-D-O-N-E. I'm a resident of the
18 Ironbound. With three minutes, I can't say very 19 much. I just want to go quickly through these 20 21
things. The first thing that surprises me, along
22
with the closing of this hospital, is that a
23
couple weeks ago a couple Newark policemen were
24 injured in a high speed chase on James Street. 25
And you may not know where James Street is in
12 1 2
Newark, I do. They were close to St. Michael's
3
Hospital and could go there. The question that I
4
ask is where are the Newark police and fire unions
5
protesting the closing of this hospital? Because
6 if something happens to the firemen or the 7
policemen in the Ironbound, they're not going to
8
get to St. Michael's in time. And very often in
9
emergencies, time is of the essence to save your
10 lives. So our emergency personnel, police and 11
fire, are put at risk by the closing of this
12
hospital.
13
Another issue that I've discovered on my
14
own trolling the web investigating Catholic Health
15
East. It seems I never saw when I investigated
16
the documents at the hospital -- at the library,
17 excuse me, about St. Michael's Hospital is that 18
Cathedral Health Systems was fined 5.6 million
19
dollars by the Department of Justice -- I
20
downloaded the document from the Department of
21
Justice -- for cheating on Medicare and Medicaid,
22 over billing them, which is amazing they're having 23 24
these problems. I also downloaded the 319 page State
25 document, which encourages and is the basis for
13 1
the closing of this hospital. The State can stop
2
the closing of this hospital, because it has
3
become State policy from Jon Corzine -- who I
4 think we should recall and send back to 5
Washington -- to close these urban hospitals,
6
whether it's Columbus, whether it's St. James, or
7 Muhlenberg Hospital. That's in that 319 page 8
document, which I downloaded on my computer.
9
Thank God for the web.
10
There was also a study downloaded by the
11
employees union at a hospital in Camden about
12
Catholic Health East. And the study was done by a
13
college. I downloaded that, too. And that study
14
showed Catholic Health East is one of the most
15
aggressive of the hospitals to go after the
16 charity care people to get them to pay their 17
bills. Which is why -- I learned from
18
wherethemoneygoes.com and hospitalprofits.com,
19 Catholic Health East is a billion dollar a year 20
company. It is a nonprofit company that makes a
21
billion dollars a year. It rivals private
22
companies.
23
And the people at the head of Catholic
24 Health East even their salaries was posted, earn 25
hundreds of thousand dollars more than the people
14 1
who even use the hospital. Many of the people who
2
have to go there because they don't have medical
3
insurance.
4
Now, given this, I think that the State
5 should reconsider and along with Councilman Amador 6
and Assemblyman Coutinho that five years for them
7
to maintain St. James Hospital and the services
8 that were delineated is a pittance. If they're 9 make a billion dollars a year, they can probably 10 do it for ten years. 11 12
And I think that consideration should be given to the police and firemen who risk their
13 lives to help all of us, that they get care at a 14 local hospital and not die in transit to St. 15 16
Michael's. MR. CONROY: Thank you. Our next
17 speaker is Dean DeBrosse. 18
MR. DeBROSSE: My name Dean DeBrosse,
19 Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Congress, 20 10th District. 21
Today, we stand with the people of New
22
Jersey as we face the closing of hospitals in New
23
Jersey, Muhlenberg, Columbus, and the St. James.
24
Working class people are being -- are facing the
25
brunt of these closings all over in our
15 1
communities, in working class communities around
2
the state because of profits and all these
3
corporations.
4
Hospitals being run by for-profits and
5 in doing that, I mean, all the working class 6
people are bearing the brunt of that. What this
7
primarily means is that workers are faced with
8 more time, longer wait times. 9
What I mean by that is it takes longer
10
for them to get to a hospital. For instance, in
11
Irvington General, which is closed for over a
12
decade right now. You see there are no hospitals
13 in there, so they have to go to Beth Israel. Same 14
thing in East Orange, with the University
15 Hospital, like that. 16 17
I mean, no longer can hospitals be run by the profit motive. We are working class
18 people, we need to have hospitals to work in the 19
interest of working people like that. Because
20 with us, we're only -- we face more -- we face the 21 22
brunt of their lowering profits and all that. So, I mean, we are the Socialist Workers
23
Party. We stand with all people in New Jersey to
24
say that, I mean, we should say no to the closings
25 all around New Jersey. Thank you.
16 1 2 3
MR. CONROY: The next speaker is Renee Steinhagen. MS. STEINHAGEN: Renee Steinhagen,
4
S-T-E-I-N-H-A-G-E-N. Good evening, my name is
5
Renee Steinhagen, I'm the Executive Director of
6
New Jersey Appleseed Public Interest Law Center.
7 8
Two weeks ago, I spoke to you about what was wrong about the process that the Department of
9 Health and Seniors Services has permitted to 10 transpire here. Tonight, I am going to simply 11
focus on what the Department must do now to ensure
12
that the closure of St. James Hospital, that will
13 officially be closed tomorrow, will not have an 14 15 16
adverse impact on the residents of Newark. Reading the responses and documents supporting this CN application before you, it is
17 clear that the assumption, based on occupancy 18 rates, statistics, and letters of commitment to 19 accept patients from other hospitals, that the 20 closing of St. James will not have an adverse 21
impact on the residents of Newark and specifically
22
the East Ward. This assumption qua conclusion
23 relies on general statistics and is not tied to 24
any specific finding of need for any particular
25
type of acute beds, or specific non-acute or
17 1 2
emergency services. Rather, the ongoing closure set in
3 motion a political process where the City 4
attempted to conduct a community needs study under
5
coercive conditions, inadequate resources and the
6
lack of institutional leadership, which as I
7 mentioned last time, I felt should have been 8 provided by the Department. 9
For that reason, New Jersey Appleseed
10
cannot in good conscience stand here and tell you
11
you should condition the closure on an ad hoc list
12
of services that were the outcome of a flawed
13
process, or simply the ideas of the CHE, such as
14 the LTAC, or now it's stated intent to keep 15
inpatient psychiatric beds there. Instead, we
16
stand here today, we ask you to condition the
17
closure on more general conditions, some of which
18
were secured most recently upon the sale of
19
Bayonne Hospital, that will ensure CHE's
20
continuing presence as a health care provider in
21
the East Ward, accountability to the broader
22 community, and accountability to the State that's 23 lending it up to 250 million dollars to complete 24 this transaction. 25
I'm going to make the following
18 1 demands. I'm only going to list them, I'm not 2
going to attempt to try to speak more about them,
3
as I've done in my writing, because you're just
4
going to ask me to slow down.
5 6
So the first is I'm asking for a commitment to operate St. James Hospital primarily
7 or in part as a health care facility for a period 8
of ten years following the transfer and the
9
closure of the acute care. It cannot be forgotten
10
that Newark is documented medically underserved
11
according to HRSA. And currently, St. James
12
Hospital provides several primary care and
13
non-acute services that are vital to the
14
neighborhood.
15
Secondly, a commitment to undertake a
16
community needs assessment within three months of
17
the transaction.
18
Commitment to infuse some portion of the
19
25 million in new equity and the bonds proceeds
20
into the provision of services at St. James.
21 22
And lastly, a commitment to appoint a representative of the Department of Health, the
23 relevant union, and a local community board to the 24 Board of Trustees, the Board of Trustees of the 25 new entity and to appoint a community advisory
19 1 2
board. And I go into more specific things of
3
the relationships. And you did that in Bayonne
4
Hospital. This is not something that's new.
5
In summary, we urge the Department to
6
take all actions necessary within its authority,
7
and it will come up later, to specifically to
8 appoint a health care monitor under CHAPA to 9 ensure the quality, affordability, and 10
accessibility of health care, to make sure it's
11
not diminished after the closure of this facility.
12
Thank you.
13 14 15
MR. CONROY: I believe the next name is Terry Suess. Thank you. MS. SUESS: Good evening. Thank you for
16 holding the hearing. 17 18 19 20 21
MR. CONROY: If you could spell your name for the reporter? MS. SUESS: S-U-E-S-S and I live in Newark, New Jersey. Having been a recent emergency room
22
patient at Beth Israel, I would say that this is a
23
disastrous move. I think that the information
24
presented earlier about not being able to access
25
those hospitals during rush hour is critical.
20 1
But I'd like to connect some of the dots
2 because we shouldn't even be having this 3
conversation. The conversation we, as a room full
4
of adults need to be having is that 11 billion
5 dollars a month being spent in Iraq and 6 Afghanistan is bleeding us dry. 7
It's bleeding, not only the families of
8 New Jersey who are sending half of their National 9 Guard there in June, it will bleed -- it is 10
bleeding our budgets. It is bleeding our hearts.
11 It is bleeding the fact that we are allowed to 12
commit torture around the world in violation of
13
international laws. And we're talking about
14 health care and humane treatment here tonight. 15
And what we're doing in Iraq and Afghanistan is
16 the opposite of that and illegal. 17
So we, as adults, need to end that so we
18
can have the real conversations that we need to
19
have about quality care here in the United States.
20
That we're closing hospitals here is insane. It
21
makes no sense whatsoever. I can't believe you're
22 allowing this to happen. And I would invite all 23
of you to go to Beth Israel one night and sit
24 there among 30 people and basically be told, you 25
know what, if you have a car, you should go to
21 1
Summit.
2
The urban area is tremendously,
3
tremendously underserved. And we're being
4
squeezed and we're being ruined, basically. It's
5
not fair. And with global warming, more people
6
should be living in urban areas. But instead,
7
we're providing services out in the suburbs. So
8
everyone would rather rush there and drive two
9
hours to work every day.
10 11
So these are important issues. The people have come out here have the most at stake
12 today because this is their neighborhood hospital. 13
I live across town, but it affects me, too.
14
Because what affects one of us affects all of us.
15
And as we lose one hospital, we lose more and more
16
and more.
17
I mean, up my way, we lost Irvington
18
General, we've had severe cuts in East Orange. So
19
I would just like to appeal to all of us as adults
20
here to contact our Governor, to contact all our
21
representatives, to urge that this war be brought
22 to a speedy close. And that we be allowed to have 23 resources here for the state budget crisis that 24
we're all facing. And that should not be a
25
problem for us. So thank you for your time.
22 1 2 3
MR. CONROY: The next speaker is Reverend Weirich. REVEREND WEIRICH: My name is Mosey
4
Weirich, W-E-I-R-I-C-H. I'm a pastor at Grace
5
Community and St. Steven's Church. And also a
6
resident in the community.
7
Thank you for our friend that just
8 brought up the wonderful words about us being all 9
adults. I mean some of you are sitting at the
10 table tonight. You are at a meeting at Columbus, 11
and I was. And my questions continue the same.
12
If the closing is today, why are we sitting here
13 like this? Is this the right thing to do? I just 14 15 16
don't get it. I think that it's a great omission. From the words we just hear, we all -- we all are
17 responsible for what we do. For example, if I'm 18 standing here today to represent our community and 19
the folks that cannot be here and the seniors, I'm
20 here fighting because I'm not just fighting for 21 22
me, I'm fighting for them. If you are sitting here today and you
23 are listening, you need to be able to pass this 24
word on. We can't shut our mouth because yeah,
25
the health care system, unfortunately, the
23 1
hospital is losing money. What can we do? Yes,
2
we can do things.
3 4
I don't think that in this kind of process that all the possibilities were explored.
5 They were not really explored. And again I just 6 want to remind all the reality that we have, we 7 cannot generalize this place. We saw already, it 8
was said before what is the traffic like here,
9
what is the amount of people that live here, what
10 are the different things that we have here. The 11 arena, the New Jersey PAC, the new place that is 12
going to be open soon in Harrison right across the
13
street.
14 15
And in the future, we will be responsible to say why we as leaders and why the
16 State, I mean you all and why we let the 17 institutions that are now behind this deal don't 18 expect that they are saying necessarily what is in 19 our interest. We need to say what is in our 20
interest. I mean because a lot of the information
21
this community has known, we have no one because
22
Cathedral Health Care System or Catholic Health
23 East knew it before we knew it. And that is not 24 25
right. So I urge you to rethink the process and
24 1
at least take serious those comments that were
2 just made. The services that are now offered, as 3 beautiful as they look on a piece of paper, all 4
cost money. Oh, we will have a beautiful center
5
at St. James. And St. Michael's is going to be
6
wonderful. The words are not enough, the reality
7 is what tells us what to do. 8
So I would like to urge you to take the
9 commitment from what the community is saying and 10
take it serious and express our really, you know,
11
discontent with the whole process that the State
12
kind of knew it because we have been out on the
13 streets. And we have been talking to your 14 15
Department since January. There's no way that the Department of
16 Health can say, unfortunately, you know, this is 17 the only time we can do the meeting. Unless you 18
show it from now, the commitment, we can always go
19
back and say, yes, you know, the process was not
20
done right. And you are responsible for the
21 process being the way it is. Thank you. 22
MR. CONROY: The next speaker is Nancy
23
Zak. Resident, ICC, Ironbound Community
24
Corporation, I believe.
25
MS. ZAK: Nancy Zak, Z-A-K. In looking
25 1
at the application as a lay person, I tried to go
2 through it. First of all, I just think the word 3
that should be used is outraged that we're having
4
a public hearing about this closure the night
5
before the closure is just a total insult to the
6
Ironbound Community.
7
But here are some of the things. I find
8
this a very unclear document. Page seven, they're
9
talking about a walk-in family care center with
10
extended hours. And yet in the next section,
11
where the pages aren't numbered -- which makes it
12
impossible to follow -- under table 2.2, it talks
13
about that same 12 hour walk-in family care
14
center. But is this instead of or in addition to
15
an emergency room?
16
There's a whole plan starting on page
17
eight and repeated about psychiatric beds. This
18
is totally confusing. They can't decide if they
19
should go to St. Michael's or Ironbound.
20
They did not answer the question on page
21 14 about whether they were constructed with 22 Hill Burton funds. How could they not complete the 23 24 25
application? It should be done. Under table 2.4, it says that St. Michael's is going to serve the north, Beth Israel
26 1
is going to serve the South Ward, University is
2
going to serve the Central Ward, and St. Michael's
3 is supposed to serve the East, Central and North? 4 You have essentially three hospitals downtown 5
right now, so that doesn't serve anybody in the
6
East Ward.
7
The six federally qualified health
8
center sites and then four school based clinics.
9
The public can't go to school based clinics. We
10 would not be allowed in those school based 11
clinics. I want to know if those six federally
12 qualified health centers have anybody who speaks 13 Portuguese or Spanish in them and I bet not. I 14 15
think you should call them and ask them. Above table six, it says that the
16
existing hospitals have under-utilized capacity.
17
This is not what we heard at the St. Michael's
18
hearing. We heard that there were people standing
19 in the aisles and waiting for beds at St. 20 21 22
Michael's, at Beth Israel. On question nine, it says what were the alternatives explored about before deciding on the
23 cessation of acute care. It's not answered. And 24 the community board of the hospital did not say 25 anything about those alternatives.
27 1 2
The letter from Mr. Haitala (phonetic), which says that maybe they'll continue the
3 emergency room, only based on whether it's used 4
enough. That's a letter that's attached inside
5
the CN.
6
The completeness review questions. St.
7
Michael's is the only group that says they were
8
given community input on the steering committee.
9 Why was St. Michael's, which is the beneficiary of 10
this proposal, the group that was given the right
11
to represent this community? It's totally crazy.
12
And I would also just like to mention
13 Ironbound has many specific needs related to poor 14
air quality and toxic waste, which are not
15
addressed anywhere in this C of N, which is why
16 you need to do a needs assessment. Thank you. 17
MR. CONROY: Thank you. The next
18 speaker is Pastor Freiberg. 19
REVEREND FREIBERG: Reverend Maristela
20
Freiberg, F-R-E-I-B-E-R-G. I'm a pastor at Grace
21
Community in the Ironbound. I'm a resident. I
22 live in Lafayette. My two daughters were born at 23
St. James Hospital.
24
Not only me, but this community has,
25
really, a relation with this hospital. Because
28 1
St. James Hospital is not only located in the
2 Ironbound, but it is a community hospital, 3 sensitive to the reality of the people that live 4
here. And I think this is to be transferred. As
5
a patient to another hospital, it need to have a
6
consideration that's reality.
7
About the application. The process is
8 inappropriated (sic) and disrespectful for the 9 community. It is unfair, as some of you said 10
before, to have a hearing one day before the
11 ending of -- the closing of St. James Hospital. 12 Just to underline that. 13
The other thing related to the
14
negotiations between the Catholic East and the
15
steering committee for some of our politicians
16
here, to the public, to the community, we have not
17 seen anything written down. That is a promise 18 only there. And we want more accountability for 19
that. We want it on paper. It's not only about
20
the promise. We want to see that.
21
And in this way, I wanted to underline
22 some of the recommendations that Renee did before. 23 I think they are well done. And some of, really 24
people that can do that are the ones that are --
25
could be part of this process. But talking one
29 1
more thing is to the closing of a hospital, there
2
is an impact to the community broader that we can
3
now see. The consequences are a lot more that we
4
realize now.
5 6
One is today, I was talking to a pregnant woman, Julianna, 27 weeks. She was ready
7 to give birth at St. James. She will be giving 8 birth at St. Barnabas because her physician, who 9 has an office at Lafayette, is now sending her to 10
St. Barnabas. What she said is when I will begin
11
some discomfort, not seven, five minutes, but
12 discomfort, I will call my husband and say this is 13 14
time to rush. And she went this week, she went
15
yesterday for the first time. And they touch her,
16
they looked at her, and they said go home, you
17 still need a lot to wait. She will be there again 18
tomorrow. And she will be there probably five
19
times more before she give birth to that child.
20 It is a lot of expenses that we are having. 21 22
And in this way, physicians are already moving out. It is not only a hospital that is
23 closing, our physicians are moving out, primary 24
physicians. Recommendations are there underlined
25
that Renee made recommendations, but I would ask
30 1 some health care facility for ten years to provide 2
primary care, first class, with beds. And input
3
of the community needs of assessment. Thank you.
4
MR. CONROY: Thank you. Our next
5 speaker is Alice Schreiner. 6 7
MS. SCHREINER: My name is Alice Schreiner S-C-H-R-E-I-N-E-R. I don't know whether
8 to say good afternoon or good evening. I started 9 out in the afternoon, but by the time I got here 10 with the traffic I think it's evening. So anyway, 11 12
I bid you hello. I am a supervisor for the City of Newark
13 and I work at the Ironbound Senior Citizens' 14
Center. I thank all the seniors who are here out
15
tonight. As you can see, some with canes,
16
walkers. Those that aren't here though, I would
17 like to speak on their behalf. 18 19
I wish you could come to my office for one day and hear the stories that I have to hear
20 that these seniors are suffering with the closing 21 of St. James Hospital. It is affecting them so 22 much, their needs are not being met, their 23
services that they require. I had a list from
24
them ultrasound, mammograms, CAT scans.
25
Just for instance, the other day, a
31 1 senior, Connie Garcia, 89 years old, was told she 2 had a possible blood clot in her leg. Her doctor 3
said you need to get to Clara Maass Hospital to go
4
have a test done. Well, she had no way of getting
5
there, which most seniors don't drive. They need
6 a ride. So here is another added expense that we 7
are imposing on them. $75 it cost her to get a
8
taxi from the Ironbound senior center in Newark to
9 go to Clara Maass Hospital. I've quotes from 10 local cab companies, one company said 16 dollars 11
each way, 25 to 30 dollars waiting time per hour,
12 while the patient is there being serviced. 13
How can we put this on our seniors,
14
telling them we can't offer you services at a
15
local hospital, leave the community, take more
16
money out of that little bit of income that you
17
have from Social Security. For instance, this
18
additional $75, which she didn't even have that
19
day, to pay the cab company and go and get
20
services elsewhere. It's a disgrace what we were
21
doing to our seniors. They need local services.
22
They need a local hospital.
23
Connie also told me her brother-in-law
24 went to St. Michael's. He spent two days -- this 25 is last week -- in a bed in a hallway before he
32 1 2
even was admitted into a room. Now, you've closed our hospital,
3
Columbus Hospital, taken away over 300 beds, and
4
added only 20 more to St. Michael's and tell us we
5
will be serviced. I don't think so. They can't
6
service the people today, how are they going to
7
service us in the future?
8 9
I think instead of rerouting us to another hospital, you need to consider rerouting
10 the money and put it into St. James for services. 11 12
Thank you. MR. CONROY: Thank you. Next speaker
13
is -- I apologize if I get your last name
14
incorrect, Viola Draude?
15
MS. DRAUDE: Good evening, everyone. My
16
name is Viola Draude, D-R-A-U-D-E. I am here on
17
behalf of speaking for the senior citizens, as I
18
am. We've heard everything what our politicians
19 and councilmen said. And it is true. But I am 20 speaking for the seniors themselves, like I. 21
I have lived in the Ironbound section, a
22
half a block from the hospital all my life, which
23
is 83 years. And my children were from St. James
24 Hospital, St. James school. I even remember when 25
the old hospital was torn down and the new one was
33 1 built, I'm still there. And we do need the 2
hospital there because when we have our children
3
and something happens, where we going to run right
4 away? You might say, okay, the emergency is 5
there. But sometimes we don't need the emergency.
6
If they have to be put into the hospital for
7
tonsils and different things. And especially for
8
us seniors.
9
In fact, I changed doctors so I can have
10 everything in my area, where I can walk. I don't 11
have a car, I don't drive anymore, there's no one
12
to take me. Unless as we said before, we have to
13
take a cab or something, which we don't have that
14
kind of money anymore.
15
That's what I'm begging you people,
16 don't close the hospital. We need St. James down 17
there. My mother passed away there, my father
18
did. And I'm begging for all the seniors here
19 that we need a hospital in our area. Don't take 20
it away from us. I'm serious saying that. And I
21
thank you.
22 23
MR. CONROY: Our next speaker is June Kruszewski.
24
MS. KRUSZEWSKI: Good evening, everyone.
25
I'm June Kruszewski, K-R-U-S-Z-E-W-S-K-I. I am a
34 1 resident of the Ironbound since the day I was 2 born, I still live here. I went through the 3 school in the neighborhood. I go to church in the 4
neighborhood. And St. James is in my
5
neighborhood. We have fought through everything.
6
They tried to take the park away, we fought the
7
park and we won it for our neighborhood. We don't
8
have much here. We, in the Ironbound, are strong.
9
And when you try to break us up, we fight.
10 11
Anyway, so about the hospital. My son was born there and I was. Anytime anything
12 happened, St. James was the hospital because it 13
was in our neighborhood. We are 55,000 residents
14
in the Ironbound. How dare you take our hospital
15
away. We need it here. We have down here, Penn
16 Station and the hospitals are uptown and then out 17
of town and we can not get to them. St. James is
18
close, we need it here.
19 20
We are near the airport, like Ruth said, and we are near the port. We were fighting
21 chemicals all our lives. We live on chemicals. 22 Any time anybody digs a hole in the ground, 23
there's chemicals in it because the factories we
24
had were allowed to bury the chemicals.
25
Now, how can we, as seniors, I'm 84
35 1 going on 85, how can we go all the way to Beth 2
Israel?
3
And I was in St. Michael's only two
4
weeks ago. I have a problem, I have nose bleeds.
5 It almost hemorrhaged. And I have to get 6
transfusions. By the time I got to St. Michael's,
7
the nose bleed had stopped. So I sat there for
8 three hours, three hours. And then they sent me 9
home. Now, if I was up in Beth Israel, it would
10
cost me $75 to get home. This is ridiculous.
11
We live here in the Ironbound, we want
12 to stay here. But don't take our hospital away. 13 14 15 16
Thank you. MR. CONROY: The next speaker is Leonard Thomas. MR. THOMAS: Good afternoon, my name
17
Leonard Thomas, T-H-O-M-A-S. I'm a resident of
18
Ironbound, resident of Newark.
19
Closing St. James Hospital is going to
20 cause major hardship to the residents of Ironbound 21
district. Pregnant women, people with heart
22
conditions, victims of accidents, and other time
23
critical events would have a hard time getting
24
across Broad Street.
25
As you know, tonight, getting to a
36 1
hospital such as St. Michael's, University, or
2
Beth Israel, it almost makes it a non-hospital
3
event because it takes so much time to get there.
4
I've walked faster getting to these places than
5
getting there by car.
6
On paper, on a map, it looks good. But
7 in a practical instance, it does not work. It's 8
just three to four times the time it would
9 normally take to get to St. James. That's not 10
good. It's not good for people here.
11
Even in the case of these hearings, it's
12
being disrespectful to the people of the Ironbound
13
because you're not holding them in a place where
14 people can actually come. Over here, they still 15
have to come up over this way, rather than having
16 it in the community where it's going to affect 17 18
people. It seems you would have these hearings
19
where people can come out from the community more
20
easily so they can let you know how they feel
21
about this closing.
22
Have you thought about what's going to
23
happen when the hospital closes? I keep hearing
24
well you know hospitals, we're going to have other
25 types of care. Have they started? Are you just
37 1
going to say we'll stop now and if you survive
2 until the time we can do something as an 3
alternative, have some other care available, good.
4 If you don't survive, it's not a problem, you 5 6
didn't survive. That seems to be so callous. I mean, you're leaving people out there
7 just to struggle on the best they can. Take two 8 buses, take $75 cab rides to get to the hospital. 9
All that involves time, it involves money. Money
10 that people don't have. 11
People that are in Ironbound are hard
12
working people. And what you're doing is you're
13
causing them a major, major hardship.
14
I just want to read a letter from
15 another resident, something they wanted to let you 16
know. The closing of St. James Hospital places
17
the health and safety of the entire community at
18 risk. I urge the Attorney General and the State 19
Department of Health to immediately stop the plans
20 to close this vital institution. As a life long 21
resident of community, 55 years, my involvement
22 has been over the decades as a volunteer candy 23
striper, financial contributor to fund raising
24
efforts, visiting sick friends and family members,
25
support of the community events, health fairs and
38 1
member of the Friends of St. James, and as a
2
patient.
3
I have been attended to by professionals
4 and staff in the most respected and compassionate 5
manner. It has been my hospital of choice for
6
emergency care and surgery.
7
The relationship can be multiplied by
8
thousands who have utilized this institution over
9
its existence. The relationships and services of
10
this hospital have provided the existential and
11
the quality of life to the community that it
12
deserves. Yet their voices and feelings have not
13
been adequately heard or respected.
14
The Ironbound is a predominantly
15
immigrant community, comprised of residents who
16
have limited or non-English speaking backgrounds,
17 having limited financial assets, and rely on the 18 use of public transportation, use the assistance 19
of translators, and often come with no family or
20 social service support systems. They will have to 21
bear the greatest burden of the closing of this
22
hospital.
23
Physical boundaries, such as railroad
24
crossing, highways, rivers, bridges separate and
25
isolate this densely populated area. And heavily
39 1
travelled routes with congestion, morning and
2
afternoon of the day, also help to separate the
3
Ironbound residents from the rest of the
4
community.
5 6
MR. CONROY: Mr. Thomas, it's time to let another person speak. Thank you.
7
MR. THOMAS: Thank you.
8
MR. CONROY: The next speaker is Sara
9 10 11
Lobman. MS. LOBMAN: My name is Sara Lobman, L-O-B-M-A-N. I'm a Socialist Workers Party
12 candidate for U.S. Senate here in New Jersey. 13
I should start by demanding that St.
14 James Hospital be reopened and stay open as a full 15 service acute care facility. The machinery, the 16
equipment that's been moved out can be moved in
17 just as rapidly. 18
The claim that it's necessary to close
19
St. James, as well as Columbus and Muhlenberg
20
Hospital in Plainfield because they're losing
21
money is outrageous. St. James and other
22 nonprofit hospitals generate millions for 23
bondholders, who always get paid, no matter what
24 else happens. I think the gentleman who spoke 25
earlier, who noted that Catholic Health Care has a
40 1 billion dollar a year profit is something worth 2 3
noticing. While hospitals are shutting down across
4
New Jersey, more than a dozen in the last decade,
5
hospitals open in wealthier neighborhoods. The
6
decisions that have been made that it's simply not
7
profitable to have hospitals where working people
8 live and need them. It's just another way, like 9 the rising fuel costs, the cut in our pay, the 10 number of people who die on the job, to put the 11
brunt of an economic crisis on the backs of
12
working people.
13
The person who said that the money
14 should be rerouted had a point. Why don't we open 15 the books and see what's happening with the 16 billion dollars and see how that can be used to 17 help keep all the hospitals open and well-funded 18 19
with the equipment that they need. Health care shouldn't be a business,
20
it's about human lives. And that has to be the
21
starting point.
22
I think the point that many people here
23
have made about the farce of these hearings hours
24
before St. James Hospital is scheduled to close as
25
an acute care facility is an example of why we
41 1
can't rely on the government to keep our hospitals
2
open. We have to rely on ourselves.
3
I wanted to make a point of inviting
4
people to a protest tomorrow in Plainfield, New
5
Jersey, to keep Muhlenberg Hospital open. Working
6
people in that neighborhood are at the beginning
7 of the fight that we've been involved in. I'm 8
sure they would welcome our participation. Thank
9
you.
10
MR. CONROY: Our next speaker, I believe
11 the person's name is Maria Beretto. 12
MS. BERETTO: Good evening, my name is
13 Maria Beretto. I'm here on behalf of -- to read a 14 letter that somebody that can't be here wrote. 15
It says: As a native Ironbound resident
16
and currently Ironbound property owner, resident,
17
and teacher in Newark, I wish to express my deep
18 concerns about the closing of the facility in our 19
neighborhood.
20
St. James is not only necessary, but
21
essential for the health, well-being and survival
22 of our neighborhood residents. And it should not 23
be closed. The health and survival of both
24
children and elderly would be severely compromised
25
by the threatened closing. I am so grateful that
42 1
my 92 year old mother's life has been saved many
2
times - thanks to the proximity to St. James to
3
our Ironbound home.
4
I know that as a Catholic based service,
5
you would reconsider the devastating effect the
6
closing of St. James will be to thousands of your
7 neighborhood residents. Thank you, Diana Silva. 8 9 10
MR. CONROY: The next speaker is Carl Putkowski. MR. PUTKOWSKI: Good evening to all. My
11
name is Carl Putkowski, P-U-T-K-O-W-S-K-I, first
12
name is Carl with a C.
13
I'm on staff at Columbus Hospital and I
14 understand what you folks are going through in 15
Ironbound, I truly do. And as has been said, as
16 to what all the people, Ironbound and North Ward, 17
will go through.
18
On a personal note, I've been at
19
Columbus a little over two years now. I'm
20
currently out on medical disability. But I have a
21
lot of brothers and sisters -- and I don't mean
22 that in the normal every day saying of you’re my 23
sister, you're my brother. I consider them my
24
brothers and my sisters. Their blood and flesh is
25
my blood and flesh. And I know they feel the same
43 1
about me. Through thick or thin, we're there for
2 one another. 3
I can't speak for the staff at St.
4
James. I was there one time and one time only,
5
delivering -- correction, picking up some
6 equipment. But from what I saw and what I heard 7
from the staff members, just being a bystander,
8
it's the same way at that hospital. They're
9
brothers and sisters.
10
Another point I'd like to bring up, back
11
in the 1970's, which seems like a million years
12
ago to me, I was an emergency medical technician
13 at St. Joseph's Hospital. I had the contract for 14
the intensive care nursery for the transport of
15
premature, ill-born infants, high-risk moms and
16
high-risk pediatric cases.
17
All the hospitals that we had to go to
18
were known as sending hospitals. I knew at least
19 three different ways of getting there, daytime, 20
nighttime, snow, rain, hail or sleet. I knew how
21
to get to these other hospitals and back the
22
safest and quickest way.
23
At one time, I had one-and-a-half pound
24
baby in my hand. She's alive and well today, to
25
the best of my knowledge. I saw her ten years
44 1 2 3
ago. With Newark being as congested as it is, I hope the Lord calls me home before something
4 massive happens. Because they will not be able to 5
set up MASH tents quick enough. People will die.
6
Thank you.
7
MR. CONROY: Thank you. Our next
8 speaker is Victor Monterrosa. 9
MR. MONTERROSA: Victor Monterrosa,
10
M-O-N-T-E-R-R-O-S-A. I'm here today, hopefully,
11
representing the people who are part of this
12
community. I'm part of the Ironbound, I live
13 close to St. James almost all my life. My parents 14
have, my grandparents have, when my grandmother
15
first came to this country.
16
And I can't express the value that a
17
hospital serves to any community, not only St.
18
James, but any one that exists, that many people
19 have expressed are the closings all over the State 20
of New Jersey. We have to make the point clear.
21
Hospitals must stay open. It makes absolutely no
22
sense ever to close a hospital, no matter what.
23
This situation proves the risk that
24
people had expressed many years ago about the
25
problems of privatization. The fact that they end
45 1
up being movements of multi-million dollars that
2
cause pain and suffering to communities all over
3
the State of New Jersey and all over the country.
4 This is sick. This makes absolutely no sense. 5 6 7
This is absolutely not humane. Just yesterday, we have had a secret meeting at congress about, supposedly about FISSA, (? phonetic)
8 that's all we can gather because it was secret. 9
And supposedly these things are happening like
10
9/11 because of terror, because of risks, of
11
problems, that are happening.
12
And if we remember on the day of 9/11, I
13
went to Science High School, three blocks away
14
from Prudential Insurance place. And they had
15
that place on lock down. They had us on lock
16
down. They wouldn't let us out because they had
17
an idea that that would be a terror target.
18
Now, what will happen if something
19 actually happens, if something were to actually 20 happen? What would happen to everyone around? 21
The whole idea of privatization, this
22
idea that this brilliant economist came up with,
23
economic shock therapy, where when things happen
24
like 9/11, they would come up with these brilliant
25
economic schemes that they would start moving
46 1
forward all these different changes, just like
2 this. Right when we're going into economic 3 recession. What's the idea? To save money, we 4
have to cut out the people who are getting help
5
from charity care, getting help from Medicaid, and
6 be able to pump the money back into the economy. 7 8
That makes absolutely no sense. When has government stood for private
9
profit? Sadly that has been for way too long.
10
The days of FDR are long gone. The President who
11
put us through not only the World War, and not
12
only a recession, but depression.
13
Here is the problem. It's an insult,
14
it's a shame, it's a travesty. How do we have a
15 hearing the day before the hospital closes? 16
UMDNJ is not going to cut it. I've been
17 there, I've gone to St. James plenty of times. 18
I've been to UMD, I tell you that I vomited right
19 in the lobby, I've bled right in the lobby, I've 20
had a broken foot right in the lobby, hours before
21
seen in pain. What does anybody do? Nothing
22 because it takes that much time, it takes six 23 hours sometimes to be seen. This is complete 24 disregard and disrespect. 25
I'm going to leave with one more note.
47 1
I had a friend, the week before we had the hearing
2 for Columbus Hospital, his grandfather died just 3
recently. On the day of February 22nd, his
4
grandfather was taken out of St. James Hospital,
5
almost a month before it was actually closed. And
6 he was sent to St. Michael's Hospital. He died 7
just recently. While he was dying, while he was
8 on his death bed, that's when we felt that it was 9
a good idea to stuff him in an ambulance and send
10
him to another hospital where he obviously didn't
11 get the care to keep him alive. He's now dead. 12
It's causing pain and suffering, the
13
same pain and suffering that we will see for years
14
to come. And that will increase for decades
15 unless we have more health care and more proper 16
and accurate assessment of what the community
17
needs.
18 19 20
MR. CONROY: The next speaker is Mr. Rocco Barros. MR. BARROS: Rocco Barros, B-A-R-R-O-S.
21 I had this whole prepared speech, it was very 22
sarcastic, I was going to praise you all for a job
23
well done. But after hearing this old woman here
24
speak, I would like to say that first of all this
25
entire process, this meeting, is an absolute scam.
48 1
It's a sham. It's a shame is what it is.
2
You have your little egg timer. You sit
3 here like life is going to go on for you. These 4
people are going to be highly effected by this
5
absolute -- I don't know how to -- it's a
6
travesty, like that last gentleman said.
7 8
You couldn't make it to this meeting on time. And you expect these people to get through
9 the same traffic to get to a hospital when they're 10
sick?
11
Part of my speech was going to be that I
12
was going to make a catapult to propel people from
13 my East Ward house to the St. James parking lot. 14 It was supposed to be a joke. But right now, I'm 15
not in the mood for jokes.
16
I'm really at a loss for words. The
17
last time I came up, I was mad. I said some
18
things I probably shouldn't have. This time,
19 there isn't a damn thing that I shouldn't say. 20
You people can't even look me in the face. Thank
21
you.
22 23
It's an absolute travesty. You can sit up there, you can look like see no evil, hear no
24 evil, and speak no evil. But what you're doing is 25
you're taking their lifeline away, my lifeline
49 1
away. My girlfriend, Katie's lifeline away. She
2
has asthma. God forbid this woman ever gets a
3
problem. You know her. I know you know her. She
4
knows you. She's one of the residents of the East
5
Ward that you are taking the hospital away from.
6
I'll stop you before your egg timer goes
7
off. I won't waste any more time. But let it be
8
known that we're being jerked around by the State
9
of New Jersey. We've got Spitzer, Spitzer and
10 Spitzer over here. And there's a whole other 11 12 13 14
crowd that hasn't shown up yet. Thank you. MR. CONROY: Thank you, Mr. Barros. Our next speaker is Aminifu Williams. MR. WILLIAMS: Good evening. Some of
15
you may know me, Aminifu Williams. I'm a resident
16
of Newark, been here since '71. I represent one
17
of the main community activist groups. We're
18
concerned about this hospital. That's the
19
People's Organization for Progress.
20
And I share the sentiment of everyone
21
that's been before me about the need to keep this
22
hospital open and the many other hospitals in New
23 Jersey, which you plan on closing. It's an 24 25
international disgrace. I'm not going to go into the
50 1
particulars, but it always amazes me how we can
2
plan billions of dollars for welfare, but no money
3
for hospitals. The infrastructure of this country
4
is falling apart as we speak, the schools are
5 falling apart, but you cannot find money to take 6 care of your citizens. 7 8
I'm a veteran myself. I was six years in the United States Navy. You got Veterans
9 coming home who cannot get proper treatment. You 10
got Veterans who are homeless, sleeping under
11
bridges. But you're too quick to send these young
12
men over to kill people who haven't done a damn
13 thing to them. 14
You go to a country like Iraq, that had
15 nothing to do with 9/11, but we're closing 16
hospitals. Think about 15 or 16 billion dollars a
17 month is going into Iraq, for what? What's 18 19
happening to the American people? I'm very touched by the senior citizens
20 and what they have to say because I'm also a 21
senior citizen. I've been around since Pearl
22 Harbor was bombed. And seeing what you have to go 23
through. This is the pay back that you get. We
24 can do better than that. You can be a prisoner, 25
but you spend more money for prisons than you do
51 1 hospitals. You spend more money on prisons than 2 3
you do for education. There is something wrong with the whole
4 philosophy and this country and your attitude 5
towards health care. Those of you might have
6 money and be wealthy, it's not be a problem for 7
you. But it's the wealthy who sends our sons and
8 daughters to war, but when they come back home and 9
need health care, where do they go? I'm sure some
10
of the rest of you are Veterans, World War 2,
11
Korea, Vietnam.
12
But we have to ponder and think about
13
that. Health care should be a right for every
14
citizen and not a privilege. It amazes me there
15 are some countries that y'all don't like, like 16
Cuba, has universal health care. Canada, right
17
next door, has it, and England has it, France has
18
it. There, you give a mother a nanny after she
19 delivers her baby. But the rich and powerful 20
United States can find all this money for welfare,
21
but none for your own citizens.
22 23 24 25
MR. CONROY: Next speaker is Janet Santos. MS. SANTOS: My name is Janet Santos, S-A-N-T-O-S. I'm 14 years old. I'm here to speak
52 1 for my community and speaking for my parents and 2
for the people who can't speak English.
3
Before I move on with my speech, there
4
is one question in my mind and in the minds of
5
other people in our community. Why are they
6 holding St. James public hearing one day before 7
it's supposed to close?
8
Moving on with my speech, I'm going to
9
start with some history of St. James. There are
10
20,848 visits to the emergency department, also
11
867 births per year. It will break many hearts in
12
our community to see St. James close.
13 14
The maternity ward in this hospital is important. Why close it? There are, again, 867
15 births in this hospital a year. There are lots of 16 babies born to our community. And these children 17
could be doctors or nurses and some day work in
18
St. James. Who knows?
19
Unanswered question. Do they have
20
enough of rooms? Do they have enough of doctors
21
and nurse? How would you feel if you didn't have
22
a car? Thank God for transportation, right?
23
Transportation in our community is very important.
24
My community has heard about your thinking for
25
pregnant woman, that they would have a pass for a
53 1 taxi. How about the taxi comes late, the baby 2 mother waits? I don't think that the mother would 3 want their children being born in a taxi. Taxis 4
are just like any other driver. There are so --
5
every other person who drives has to stop at red
6
lights and stop signs.
7
Other issue that taxis is traffic. Look
8 at it today. How about if there's a big 9 emergency, like for example heart attacks or 10 labor? Who is responsible for the lives that are 11 being lost? What do you want to increase 12 that's -- I can imagine Newark without St. James. 13
St. James be there way before my parents moved
14
here.
15 16
As you can see St. James was always good. Why is St. James closing? Some of my
17 personal experience with St. James, my two cousins 18
were born there. I have friends that were born
19 there. And they have nothing bad to say about St. 20
James Hospital.
21
My sister and I had surgery on hammer
22
toes not too long ago. My mom had surgery on her
23
foot twice. My dad has been in bed for a month.
24
And he also has surgery, all of -- most people in
25
my community has surgery. And they don't have
54 1 nothing bad to say. 2
So I ask you again why are you closing
3 St. James? So our community asks you one more 4 time why they're holding St. James public hearing 5
one day before it closes? Just think of your
6
decision. Think of the people that don't have
7 cars or the people who have a lot of health 8 problems. This hospital may help that person or 9
persons life. Don't you feel transportation is
10
important? Do you want to increase death? Think
11
about your community once again.
12
MR. CONROY: Thank you, Miss Santos.
13 Our next speaker is Josephine Punla. 14 15
MS. PUNLA: My name is Josephine Punla, P-U-N-L-A. I'm a registered nurse in St. James
16 Hospital for more than 33 years. 17
Tonight, for all -- I know it's hard for
18 me to talk because of this sadness that I felt, 19
that's now going on to the community. And the
20 time is here. But I just want to let you know, I 21
don't want to enumerate all what was said tonight.
22
But you're here now, you heard all the
23
cries of the community. Before we go to you and
24
plead for the need. But now, in firsthand,
25
they're here to tell you about the facts, the
55 1
recommendations that they want. And they're here
2
to tell you about the crisis and what's going on
3
in the community.
4
I know that for the nurse, it's how it
5
should be, for our patients, to advocate for them,
6
for their voices to be heard. And you have to
7 have it loud and feeling in order to feel their 8 pain. In order that they would keep their 9
medicine appropriately. And that there's no added
10
material thing that you could give or care of them
11
without feeling their pain, without you putting
12 yourself in their place. 13
I know that most of you here, you're
14
also in health care, you're in the state. Someone
15 up there, a higher authority, have given you this 16 position and have given you the authority to take 17
care of the people. And there's a reason for him
18
to put you there. I hope that you will feel their
19 pain, that you will feel their concern. And in 20 the end, in judging them in all, because only then 21
could you feel the pain. And you could give that
22 fair judgment. And to consider to reopen St. 23 24
James for these people. Once again, I said, you know, we have
25 care to have it. There's God for the material
56 1
thing and there's God for the people. I hope that
2
you will consider the God for the people and not
3
God for the material thing. And, hopefully, you
4
will feel what's in their shoes, the pain. And
5
you will have the compassion in you, otherwise
6
you're dead. Without any feeling that you would
7
feel for these people, you are there walking dead
8
and doing your things dead.
9
So put it in your heart and give
10
consideration for all the people here tonight
11 asking you and begging you because this is the 12 last time you could see them on this public 13
hearing. But we will be there, I'll be there
14 advocating for the patients' needs. And all those 15 voiceless people in the near future. We will 16 still continue our fight because if your rights 17
costs, your costs are right, your fight will
18 always be right. Thank you. 19 20 21
MR. CONROY: Next speaker is Christine Hilo. MS. HILO: Good evening, my name is
22 Christine Hilo, H-I-L-O. I just have a question. 23 Is it all right for people to speak Portuguese at 24 25
these hearings? MR. CONROY: We have a court reporter --
57 1 2
THE COURT REPORTER: If somebody translates, not a problem. But I cannot take down
3 Portuguese. Sorry. 4
MS. HILO: Can somebody translate? I'm
5 asking right now, the people here that speak 6 Portuguese, that are scared of speaking, please 7 speak out. You can speak Portuguese. There are 8 people here that can translate for you. Because 9
it is more important to hear the voices of you
10 guys, more than me or some employee at the 11
hospital.
12
I've been hanging out at the Senior
13
Citizen Center with Alice this past week. And I
14
have a letter to read from somebody who couldn't
15
come because of a leg condition.
16
I have gall bladder surgery, my son had
17
appendix surgery. I went every year for mammogram
18
and ultrasound and CAT scan. My husband had
19
surgery and he stayed four days in that hospital.
20 Myself, I was there for four days in that 21
hospital. And my husband and me have blood work
22 because we are diabetic. Plus, my husband was on 23
Coumadin for the past years. Idia Soto Luongo
24
(phonetic), 92 Warwick Street, Newark, New Jersey
25
07105.
58 1
This is just a letter, plus several
2
stories that I've heard from several seniors that
3
are going to be losing these services. And just
4
in the newspaper, it looks great, what the St.
5
Michael's Medical Center has with pictures of
6 people getting checked and everything. But none 7 of that is promised in legal writing. And that 8 needs to be promised for the community. Because 9
several of those people need that hospital for
10
those services.
11
Also, the fact that in your C of N that
12
the Cathedral put together, they said that the
13 doctors for Newark Beth Israel for the pre-natal 14 clinic, they said that oh, the licenses for them 15
to practice there are still pending. That needs
16 to be confirmed because as long as there are 17 doctors there, they need to be sure that they can 18
actually see their patients there. So make sure
19
that's confirmed. And if that's not confirmed,
20
then you won't have the doctors that are usually
21 with the patients. They won't be able to treat 22
those patients.
23
That's just hands-on. Because I was
24
talking to a nurse and I was like, so what's going
25
to happen with these doctors, those doctors are
59 1
going to stand there and give orders to those
2
nurses. These doctors need to be able to be aware
3 of what their patients are going through. 4
Another thing, the transportation
5 problem to St. Michael's. They say they give 6
transportation to St. Michael's. But as you can
7
see, the doctors are actually telling them to go
8
to St. Barnabas, Clara Maass. Is transportation
9
given there? No.
10 11
And I've been talking to several employees also. And also members of the
12 community. And they're way too depressed and way 13
too demoralized to come here today because people
14
have already said it's a done deal.
15
Even though these pictures in the
16
newspaper, they look happy faced, people with
17
services, it does not show how sad people are.
18
How many times people cried every day because they
19
lost their job.
20
If you went to the party on Wednesday,
21
you would have seen those nurses that worked there
22
for 30 years, 20 years, employees that have been
23
there over 20 years, crying. But you don't see it
24 here because they can't even make it out, they're 25
too depressed.
60 1 2 3 4
So, I'm going to give you this and hopefully you just go over it. MR. CONROY: Thank you. Our next speaker is Judy Miller? Is Judy Miller here?
5 Okay. Our final speaker is Cheryl Munoz. 6
MS. MUNOZ: Good evening. My name is
7 Cheryl Munoz, M-U-N-O-Z. 8
Why didn't we have a public hearing a
9
long time ago? Again, why do we have it a day
10
before the closing? Why didn't you let the public
11 speak out? The day before it closes, of course, 12
the community is discouraged. There are few of us
13 here today to represent the community. 14
I'm a staff nurse at St. James. When I
15
left, today only 13 patients came. At the ER,
16
those 13 patients didn't even know that the ER
17
services were still open.
18
This whole process has led the public,
19
especially the Ironbound community, to think that
20 St. James is closed. Certainly, it's on the 21 newspaper that St. James is now St. Michael's at 22
St. James and certain services are open. One
23
emergency, two pre-natal clinic; and restorative
24
information. Why didn't we let the public speak
25 out so they were made aware of what's happening
61 1 now? Soon it will close because no one will be 2
using the services. Is that the plan? If there
3
is a point to this public hearing, consider,
4
community needs assessment.
5
Also, a good number of the Ironbound
6 community are over the age of 70. It's not fair 7
for them. Most of my patients were senior
8
citizens. They were greatly appreciative of our
9
service. Where will they go, St. Michael's, Clara
10
Maass, Newark Beth, UMDNJ? It's very convenient
11 for them at -- 4:40, I left St. James, I got here 12 6:30. I was very annoyed at the traffic. 13
The people of Ironbound and the
14 surrounding community need St. James. The 15
hospitals that are left will not be able to handle
16
a disaster if it were to happen. It's too over
17
crowded, millions of people commute here every
18 single day. You see them outside, everybody is 19
here, millions of people. What will happen if a
20 disaster were to occur? What will the City of 21 22 23
Newark do? And St. James, before I end this, you walk around in St. James and there's a mission
24 statement all over -- you can see it in the 25
elevator -- that the mission of the Cathedral
62 1 Health Care System is to aid the poor, the sick, 2 and the homeless. Where are they now? Thank you. 3
MR. CONROY: We have a few more people
4 who signed up to speak. Our next speaker, I 5 6
believe the name is George Tillman. PASTOR FREIBERG: She mentioned
7 something about translation. Can we say it in 8 9
Portuguese for someone to speak up? MR. CONROY: Yes, but we have a second
10 hearing after this hearing on the community as a 11
protection act with the Attorney General's office
12
on this issue. So I'm not sure whether you want
13
to utilize this hearing or the next, but I'd like
14 to also -15
PASTOR FREIBERG: Speaking in
16 Portuguese. 17
MR. CONROY: Thank you.
18
MR. TILLMAN: Good evening. My name is
19
George Tillman, I'm a Newark resident. I'm with
20 the People's Organization for Progress. 21
My mother, she worked for St. Michael's
22
for almost 35 years. And I thank God that she was
23
able to retire five years ago, without having to
24
go through some of the things these families are
25
having to go through today.
63 1
I think it's really wrong that these
2
urban cities are continuing to be targeted for the
3
closing of these hospitals.
4
My fiancee, just a week ago, we had to
5
go to Beth Israel, she's four months pregnant.
6 And we had to wait almost three and a half hours 7 just to get in the back, just to have her see a 8
doctor because it's so overcrowded over there in
9
Beth Israel.
10
I don't know what sort of plan was put
11
together to kind of go over this transition with
12
especially, particularly, with these women that
13 are pregnant. Because I don't understand how 14
you're going to have an overflow of a hospital to
15 try to serve these women when they're in labor. 16
There's situations right now in
17
University Hospital where people are sleeping in
18
the emergency room because there's no beds to get
19
upstairs. I don't know what direction our
20
Governor or our leadership or these churches or
21 these bishops or these monsignors, I don't know 22
what direction are they going in or what are they
23 thinking when they started taking away services 24 from the community and the people that they're 25 entrusted to serve.
64 1
I mean, you can't come in and take tabs
2
and offering for a community, then come and take
3
away the services from the community. That's
4 wrong. The church should be doing more things for 5
the community. In the position that this church
6
is in, there's no way you can say they can make
7
this decision to cause this much oppression on the
8 people in the community. It's wrong. 9
We can have these public hearings. I
10
mean, this is a handful of people. We're going
11
down -- my organization that I'm with, we're going
12
down to Plainfield, to Muhlenberg Hospital, where
13
they're closing that. Last week, we had over 500
14
people come out to support the -- stop the closing
15
of the hospital. It's wrong. It's going on all
16 over urban communities. It's wrong. 17
At some point, we have to just, as
18 citizens, take our own stance and take back 19 everything that these people started to do. We 20
have to come up with our own investment groups to
21
save our own communities, our own hospitals, and
22 just do away with them altogether. Because that's 23
what it's coming down to. It's coming down to the
24
rich and the have-nots. When it gets to that
25 point where there's no longer a class, only the
65 1 rich, we're really in trouble. 2
We talk about all the problems that
3
we're having. We talk about these wars and all
4 this money, things that's going on all over the 5 world. And right here, in our own communities, 6 we're closing hospitals. And we're doing things 7
to our own citizens that they don't even do in
8
third world countries. And we're supposed to be
9
one of the richest countries in the world?
10
So I don't know what it's going to take
11
to stop the closing of this hospital, but at some
12
point the citizens will -- they will take back
13 this city. They will take back the communities. 14
They will take back all this power that we've
15
given to you. We gave you the power. We gave the
16
power to the government. We gave the power to the
17 church and we can take it back. Thank you. 18 19
MR. CONROY: The next speaker Marcia McGowan? We've gone throughout sign-in sheet.
20 Now, before we close, I want to give everyone 21
here, anyone who hasn't spoken, an opportunity to
22
speak, if they would like to come up. If you
23
could please say and spell your last name.
24 25
MR. WILLIAMS: I just wanted -- I'm Aminifu Williams. My brother just mentioned it.
66 1 We're going to have an important mass rally in 2
Plainfield tomorrow to try to save another sister
3
hospital.
4
Every hospital closing is a loss to the
5 state. It's a loss to the public. It's a loss to 6 the people who live in these cities. As we speak, 7
they're deciding the fate of Columbus and other
8
hospitals. But this is tomorrow, March 15th, on
9
the corner of Randolph Road and Park Avenue in
10 Plainfield at noon. 11
For further information, you can call
12
(908) 731-1518, for all who may be interested and
13 all who can come. But all of this is 14 interconnected. So we have to stick together on 15 the closing of these hospitals. So we welcome 16 anyone who can come to Plainfield tomorrow. 17 18
MS. PIWOWAR: My name is Nancy Piwowar, P-I-W-O-W-A-R. I happen to live in Plainfield,
19 New Jersey. And I appreciate everything that 20 everybody has said here tonight. I wasn't going 21
to speak, I don't have a prepared statement. But
22 a couple thoughts occurred to me as I heard the 23 impassioned pleas of the people about St. James. 24
Number one is New Jersey is the home of
25 Molly Pitcher. Molly Pitcher served the soldiers
67 1
in the Revolutionary War. She picked up the water
2
and she brought it to the sick soldiers. And
3
we're facing this crisis here today.
4 5
Health care is now a business instead of being a service business. We need to take it back
6 to service. I happen to be a product of the care 7
given at a community hospital, such as St. James.
8
If it wasn't for the care that I received at
9
Muhlenberg Hospital in 1974 -- I wasn't a number,
10 I wasn't warehoused, as people are trying to be 11 warehoused today. I was in a community-based 12 13
hospital. Those people saved my life. I am off the charts of every cancer
14 survey in this country. I'm not supposed to be 15
here. But because I got served at a community
16
hospital, I am here.
17 18
I am certain that I'm not even on the National Institutes of Health recent study that
19 they put out. I'm beyond that, okay. If it 20 wasn't for community service hospital, I would not 21 22 23
have been here. I do want to offer you a solution. You're in a position of power, you have a voice to
24 leadership and the Department of Health and the 25
Governor's office. A couple years ago, there was
68 1
a tax put on bandages and certain items for the
2 sick, seven percent sales tax on those items when 3 I go to the store. It's reprehensible to me that 4
that money that I have to spend on Johnson and
5 Johnson Band-Aids or whatever is not put in an 6 earmarked fund to save the hospitals. It doesn't 7 8 9
make sense. Thank you. MS. KHAS: Renata Khas, I live in the community of Newark for 17 years.
10
MR. CONROY: Please spell your name.
11
MS. KHAS: K-H-A-S. My first name is
12
Renata. I'm an ex-employee also. I keep working
13
at St. James and I also work at Trinitas.
14
I had my daughter at St. James. And
15 most of her friends was born at St. James. And 16
when they found out through the school that St.
17
James was getting closed, they got very upset.
18
She was crying, they were making signs. They want
19 to speak out because they think it's not fair, you 20 know. 21
And they want to know where are they
22 supposed to go from here? They have to go to 23 another community, to another hospital. I have a 24
friend who works in the ER at Newark Beth. And
25 she told me the waiting for bed in the floor is
69 1
three days. And more than ten patients waiting
2 for a bed. Where we gonna go? If they need to be 3
admitted in the hospital or I have to be admitted
4 in the hospital, we're going to have to be waiting 5
for beds. Why are we closing a hospital if we
6
need hospitals open? That's my point.
7
And I go from this, you know, the
8 hospital's a ghost town. You walk through, I was 9
there today, everybody was crying. Because most
10
of the people in there, they work for more than 20
11 years. They gave themselves to the community. 12 13
They used to be the community. When you go to another community, it's
14
different. Like Elizabeth, we're not used to,
15
like Newark Beth. We're not familiar with the
16
community. Then that's the point, the calling out
17
is wake up. So what are we going to do for them?
18
Thank you.
19
MS. GIVENS: My name is Dorothy Givens,
20
G-I-V-E-N-S. I represent the NAACP. The oldest
21
civil rights organization in this country. And we
22
feel health care is a civil right. We're very
23
concerned about the closing of this hospital and
24 all the hospitals. 25
Just to let you know, these Ironbound
70 1
community that we are with you. We'll do
2
everything that we can to support you. We're
3
going tomorrow to do whatever's necessary. Thank
4
you.
5
MR. CONROY: Thank you.
6
MR. HUNGERFORD: My name is David
7 Hungerford. I'm a retired teacher, I live in 8
Newark. I'm a member of the People's Organization
9
for Progress.
10 11
I thought I'd come up and just offer the group a little bit of arithmetic. Last time I
12 looked, health care, of course, as you know is the 13
largest sector of the United States economy. It's
14
around 16 percent of the total economy. The U.S.
15 GDP, gross domestic product, is around 13 trillion 16 dollars per week. A trillion dollars is a million 17
millions. That's a lot. So you take 16 percent
18
of 13 trillion, you get 2 trillion, 80 billion
19
dollars in the health care economy, every year in
20
the United States.
21
Now, I'm told that 30 percent of the
22 health care expenditure, goes not for health care 23
delivery, but for overhead. That means the cost
24 of health care insurance, administrative costs, 25
and the costs of the profits of health care
71 1
corporations. So 30 percent of 2 trillion
2
dollars, it comes out to about 600 billion. Six
3
hundred billion dollars a year to administer and
4
financially handle the costs of health care, not
5
to deliver it, but to handle the costs, while
6
hospital closing are at an epidemic level.
7
Now, Medicare, the figure instead of 30
8
percent is around 3 percent for administrative
9
costs of every Medicare dollar. So anyway you
10
slice it, there's around half a trillion dollars
11
of the U.S. economy every year, half a trillion
12
dollars, 500 billion dollars, 500,000 million.
13
How could I get it across to you how much money
14
that is? And hospitals are closing. 47 million
15
people uninsured. It's just the craziest thing in
16
the world. Don't tell me capitalism makes sense.
17 It's all capitalist economics. 18
And basically what has to happen in this
19 country is that the money for the people's needs 20
has got to come out of those profits. It's got to
21
come out of the insurance profits. A lot of
22
billionaires and zillionaires are going to cry
23 that they've got to give up their -- that's too 24 bad. People are more important than profits, 25
they're more important than corporations, they're
72 1 more important than insurance companies. Thank 2 3
you. MS. CULVER: Good evening, my name is
4
Ellen Culver, C-U-L-V-E-R, co-chair of the Newark
5
branch of the People's Organization for Progress.
6
University instructor and ESL instructor here at
7
Van Buren Library. What I wanted to talk about is
8
ethics. I thought Dave's -- what he said about
9
the amounts of money involved was just eye
10
opening.
11 12
And I find that now the medical industrial corporation is now becoming ruthless.
13 You know, there was a time you took the 14
Hippocratic oath. I remember my mom's dying, I
15
jumped up, I got the news. In minutes, went and
16
had a doctor come to our home, okay, not long ago,
17
not long ago. I remember them caring.
18
Now HMO's came in and, wow, you get your
19
three minutes, that' it, fifteen prescriptions,
20
bye-bye, come back next time.
21
Now, it seems like the government can
22
know who these community residents, fellow
23
community residents are saying, hey, we put our
24
love, trust into our hospital, we built it. And
25 it's like the government says, well, we don't want
73 1 it anymore, so let's -- in this case, the Catholic 2 Church, as best I understand -- let's sell it. 3
And all these lives get interrupted, uprooted is
4 the word I want to use. And the care takers, the 5 gate keepers, whose in charge of this? Because we 6
have issues and we want our hospitals open.
7
Because for every action, there is an equal and
8 opposite reaction. What are you trying to do? 9
Are we -- I'm going to do research study, what
10
happens when you close the Essex County hospitals?
11
What changes occur? At what rate? Who now comes
12
in? Where do the disabled go? Where do the
13
homeless go? Do you now change the demographics
14
of the city? And then, okay, what about the
15
people coming home from Iraq?
16
Tomorrow, I'll be at the Veterans
17 celebration. They need help. Thank you. 18
MR. CONROY: We heard from --
19
MS. MARTINEZ: Hello, my name is Janet
20
Martinez and I am from Oliver Street School. It's
21 kind of weird. It's that I was born in St. James 22
Hospital. And most of my school was born from St.
23
James Hospital. And if that many is born from St.
24 James Hospital, if we add up all the schools, 25
that's only from the past. What about the future?
74 1
There's going to be so much more. And if we shut
2
down now, what happens to everybody?
3
What's going to happen if there's like a
4
disaster, an earthquake? What if something
5
happens? What if a mother, she dies, and where is
6
she going to go? This is the nearest hospital in
7 my city. What's going to happen? What's going to 8 happen to her? 9
You know what they say, life is flashing
10 through your eyes? When you look past, in your 11 long years, you see happiness. But everybody 12 knows that we're going to die sometime, right? So 13 what's going to happen then? If we shut down this 14
hospital, what's going to happen to those lives?
15 What's going to happen to us? We are the future, 16 the kids are the future. What is going to happen 17 to us? Thank you. 18
MR. CONROY: I was merely announcing
19 that this closes the meeting of the State Health 20
Planning Board. We will follow with a second
21
meeting. It is a meeting sponsored by the
22
Attorney General's office to hear the application
23
under the community assets protection act. Thank
24
you.
25
(Whereupon the hearing was concluded.)
75 1
CERTIFICATE
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I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a
7
true and accurate transcript of the testimony and
8
proceedings as taken stenographically by me at the
9
time, place, and on the date hereinbefore set
10
forth.
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____________________________ SUSAN BISCHOFF
