Ringing Opening Bell at NYC Hospitals

After Hurricane Sandy, the only operating hospital below 57th Street in Manhattan was Beth Israel Medical Center, which was partially-functioning on back-up generators.

North Shore-LIJ CEO Michael Dowling said that Hurricane Sandy showed that there was still an excess of hospitals in Manhattan. Is Michael Dowling advocating for the Berger Commission to close more hospitals in Manhattan, such as NYU Langone or Bellevue Hospital ?

In two short days after Hurricane Sandy, Mayor Michael Bloomberg raced to ring the "Opening Bell" at the New York Stock Exchange.

The taboo question that the media are too afraid to ask Mayor Bloomberg is : would St. Vincent's Hospital have helped New York City with accepting patients from the emergency evacuations from Bellevue Hospital, NYU Langone, the VA Hospital, and New York Downtown Hospital ? When will Mayor Bloomberg or Mr. Dowling race to ring an "opening bell" of a new hospital for the Lower West Side of Manhattan ?

Beth Israel Hospital Ambulance Stuck In Traffic

After St. Vincent's Hospital was closed so that it could become a billion-dollar luxury condominium and townhouse complex for the wealthy Rudin Family, many of the remaining hospitals in Manhattan are having to travel longer distances to respond to medical emergencies. In this video, there is a Beth Israel Hospital ambulance stuck in traffic right in front of the closed St. Vincent's Hospital. These ambulances then have the make the same long distance back to their originating hospital, to transport medical patients back to an emergency room or a trauma center. At stake are the life and well-being of medical patients, who have to risk their lives in order to wait until they receive critical medical treatment. There can be no "moving on" until a full-service hospital and trauma center replaces St. Vincent's Hospital.

Sept. 11 Hero Richard Sheirer Dies

"Mr. Sheirer was driving to work from his home on Staten Island when he began having chest pains, pulled over at 14th Street and 10th Avenue and called 911. He was taken to Beth Israel Hospital, where he died," reported The New York Times.

Richard J. Sheirer, the former director of New York City's Office of Emergency Management during the September 11th attacks, fell ill a few blocks away from St. Vincent's. Video by Suzannah B. Troy.