Brooklyn, N.Y. – Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke today urged administrators at SUNY-Downstate Medical Center to protect access to both emergency services and primary care services at the site of Long Island College Hospital in its negotiations with other hospitals that have offered to buy the facility.

Both Brooklyn Hospital Center and NYU Langone Medical Center have submitted proposals that would replace the hospital with apartments, but each proposal would continue some medical services there.

“These are thousands of families in Brooklyn that depend on access to the medical services that now exist at Long Island College Hospital. We have a responsibility to maintain access to this facility, without which many people would not have the ability to reach the emergency room in a reasonable amount of time or to visit a primary care physician without substantial difficulty,” said Congresswoman Clarke, who has worked to prevent the closure of either Long Island College Hospital and Interfaith Medical Center.

“As a community, we must protect our resources.  Long Island College Hospital remains an institution of critical importance to the people of Brooklyn, an institution that has in part defined the identities of the people who work there or who come to the hospital for medical services.  This institution has been their hospital, and should remain their hospital in the future.”

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke is a member of the House Committee on Small Business, Ethics, and Homeland Security, where she is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies. She represents many neighborhoods in central and southern Brooklyn, NY which include Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Gerritsen Beach, Madison, Midwood, parts of Park Slope and Flatlands, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay, and Windsor Terrace.