Jersey City Mayor James Solomon stated “If these doors close in two days, we become a healthcare desert” while addressing the expected closure of Heights University Hospital on Saturday evening at a press conference in front of the facility yesterday.
By Dan Israel/Hudson County View
“Two days from now, Hudson Regional Health intends to close these doors, and we are here to say, not without a fight,” Solomon said, praising the City Council for unanimously approving a resolution decrying the situation and asking for state assistance.
Solomon noted the resolution demands that Gov. Mikie Sherrill and New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport act now to file an immediate court injunction.
This would halt the closure and Jersey City feel it’s possible since the hospital still lacks a New Jersey Department of Health approved community health needs assessment.
“To be clear, that is the law: You cannot close a hospital on your own whims. There is a law and a process and procedure that must be followed, and we must make the law mean something,” Solomon declared.
Jersey City has over 300,000 residents, according to Solomon, needing a minimum of 700 hospital beds for its size. Jersey City Medical Center has 350 and Christ Hospital accounts for the rest, the mayor added.
Solomon said that HRH previously affirmed to a bankruptcy court judge that they had funds and a plan to operate the hospital before taking over and they have since broken that commitment by shuttered services in the hospital without proper notice.
“Threatening to close needed healthcare illegally is wrong. The City of Jersey City does not accept … that a corporation can acquire a critical healthcare institution, run it into the ground, and then walk away in the middle of the night. Healthcare is not a luxury, it’s not a line item, it’s a human right. The people of Jersey City must have it,” he added.
The mayor continued that the city will pursue every legal avenue available to them, standing with the Healthcare Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) union who have sounded the alarm from the beginning.
HPAE President Debbie White stated she believes HRH’s goal was always to build luxury condominiums instead of operating a hospital, as Solomon said as candidate back in October, which is why the state must intervene to keep the hospital fully open.
“Coming off of CarePoint, frankly, we had high hopes. Those hopes were dashed pretty much four months later … And don’t believe them for a second when they tell you … ‘We didn’t realize how much money we were going to lose.’ They knew.”
“Newark probably rivals the population of Jersey City. If we close this hospital, we will have one third of what Newark has with the same population,” White declared.
Assemblywoman Katie Brennan (LD-32) called it unacceptable how HRH is flouting the state-mandated community health needs assessment required to shut down a desperately needed hospital that was not a guaranteed profitable endeavor.
“What we’re asking for is not unreasonable: It is to follow the basic law and what they promised when they attested that they would have the resources to do this,” she stated.
Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa also had a lot to say about what was perceived as gross mismanagement of the hospital by HRH.
“Healthcare is a human right, and it’s our role as elected and civic leaders to ensure that this hospital remains open,” said Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa.
“We encourage the city to take on every step under the law, every opportunity we have under the law, to keep this hospital open. Now if HRH has money for holiday parties while claiming poverty, if they have money for caviar at those parties, then they can pay these workers and they can keep this hospital open.”
Ward D Councilman Jake Ephros elaborated on ways the hospital can stay ope.
“In addition to making sure that we stop the closure of the hospital, having a receivership in place is the next step. We can use models that we’ve seen elsewhere in the state and elsewhere in the country for a public hospital authority to take this into public ownership,” he asserted.
“Because we know demonstrably that health outcomes for communities like ours are better when we have public responsibility for that healthcare instead of private corporations running hospitals.”
After the presser, 8th District congressional candidate Mussab Ali told HCV that he has joined voices seeking intervention from Sherrill as well as state and federal legislators, stating the U.S. should be spending money to keep hospitals open, not funding foreign wars.
“What’s really disheartening to me, especially at the federal level, is we’re asking for $20 million to keep this hospital open,” Ali said.
“At the same time, the Pentagon just released that we spent $11.5 billion in the last six days in Iran. I mean, we have the money. I think the problem I see over and over in our politics is we have the money to take care of our people, but we don’t have the political courage.”
While HRH will suspend services of the Emergency Department on March 14 at 7:30 p.m., it announced it will still provide various community health services in the Heights through local healthcare providers.
Alliance Community Healthcare has entered into a partnership with HRH to provide a range of healthcare services, utilizing space in HRH’s Heights Medical Office Building (MOB) at 142 Palisade Avenue in the near future.
Additionally, HRH will provide various medical services on the HRH Foundation Mobile Health Unit in partnership with various community groups in Jersey City over the coming months.
“HRH appreciates, and shares Mayor James Solomon’s vision for continued healthcare access in the Heights, and leadership remains committed to exploring ways to invest in a brand-new health care facility that can provide far improved, modern care in a way that is financially sustainable,” stated HRH spokesman Vijay Chaudhuri.
