A 12 months and a half in the past, SUNY Downstate’s future was deeply unsure. Its hospital was in bodily disrepair, dealing with a $100 million annual deficit, and projected to expire of money to proceed to function by the summer time of 2024. For an establishment so vital to the neighborhood—and the place most sufferers are low-income and other people of shade—the stakes couldn’t have been larger.
At present, because of a historic $1 billion-plus funding secured by Governor Kathy Hochul and the devoted efforts of the Downstate Neighborhood Advisory Board, we now have a path ahead: A daring, community-driven proposal that may ship a contemporary, state-of-the-art hospital and guarantee continued entry to high quality, inexpensive healthcare in Central Brooklyn for generations to return.
Before everything, the plan ensures that Downstate will retain all of its present inpatient and outpatient providers. Each facet of care, from the emergency division to affected person rooms, can be upgraded. The ER can be modernized and expanded, rising capability to serve sufferers in pressing want. Affected person rooms can be utterly redone, with double-occupancy rooms transformed into single-occupancy to advertise dignity, cut back an infection dangers, and enhance well being outcomes. In a borough the place most cancers and coronary heart illness are main causes of dying, a brand new ambulatory surgical procedure heart will even develop Downstate’s potential to ship life-saving oncology and cardiology care.
General, these modifications will end in an expanded vary of providers, extra accessible look after the neighborhood, and a rise within the variety of sufferers we look after day-after-day.
Past the medical upgrades, the plan requires important bodily enhancements to the constructing. This contains important infrastructure investments like upgrading {the electrical}, mechanical, and plumbing programs to deliver the constructing – which as not too long ago as final week skilled flooding – into good restore and guarantee affected person and employees security.
The advisory board believes that these investments will collectively yield larger affected person quantity, together with new industrial payors. Nonetheless, to attain these objectives, the advisory board additionally made clear that Downstate should concurrently and dramatically intensify its efforts to advance effectivity with a view to cut back unsustainable annual deficits. This contains enhancements to management and operations, in addition to the adoption of a brand new digital well being data system which may enhance billing, productiveness, and – most significantly – affected person outcomes.
As New York and the nation face deep well being inequities, Downstate Hospital and the Downstate Well being Sciences College are extra important than ever. The hospital’s affected person inhabitants is disproportionately impacted by systemic gaps in care, from maternal mortality to persistent situations that go untreated. However these challenges additionally draw a few of the world’s most devoted, community-oriented medical professionals and potential professionals to its halls. Throughout my visits to Downstate, I’ve heard issues in regards to the getting old infrastructure, however I’ve additionally seen firsthand the dedication and expertise of the docs, nurses, and employees. Each dialog leaves me extra hopeful and deepens my perception within the significance of this inspirational plan.
This new imaginative and prescient for Downstate is the results of unprecedented neighborhood collaboration. The Downstate Neighborhood Advisory Board has led months of inclusive conversations, participating religion leaders, sufferers, healthcare professionals, elected officers, and different key voices. Their enter formed a plan that facilities the wants of Brooklynites and displays the neighborhood’s dedication to constructing a more healthy future.
And naturally, none of this might be attainable with out Governor Hochul’s management. At a time when many doubtlessly devastating cuts to healthcare dominate the nationwide discourse, New York is taking a special path. We’re selecting to spend money on healthcare, in infrastructure, and within the individuals who make care attainable. Saving Downstate is a strong instance of that dedication.
What was as soon as an emblem of pressure and uncertainty is now poised to grow to be a mannequin for inclusive, community-centered care. With the assist of state management and the voices of Brooklyn behind it, SUNY Downstate is constructing one thing extraordinary for in the present day’s sufferers and for the generations of New Yorkers who will depend on it sooner or later.
Dr. John B. King Jr. is the Chancellor of the State College of New York (SUNY).
