At a March forum regarding proposals for LICH, Cobble Hill Association member/Homer’s cousin Jeff Strabone declared, “If we lose this hospital, people will die.”
Not even a week since LICH ceased functioning as a full hospital that prediction has sadly come true. While it remains to be seen how direct the connection between the LICH closure and the death yesterday of Red Hook resident Danny Cruz Jr. is, the Red Hook Star Revue is already connecting the dots:
RHSR: “The three drivers were arguing about who would take him,” James said. Cruz finally arrived at Methodist Hospital, but it was too late. A doctor told James that he had been without proper oxygen to his brain for almost 45 minutes, and was probably brain dead. They did manage to get his heart beating again, and he was kept alive by machines. Today, at 5:00, with his family around him, the machines were turned off. Danny was a registered organ donor, and parts of him will go to save others.
But this is small consolation to his family. Khadijah recalled that two years ago Cruz’s eldest daughter Tea had a critical asthma attack, and a LICH ambulance was on the scene within two minutes and she was properly taken care of. LICH used to keep an ambulance at Richards Street, by Coffey Park, covering Red Hook emergencies. The drivers knew their way around the Houses. For someone unfamiliar with the streets and buildings of the Red Hook Houses, it could take a while to find an address like 16 Mill.
I just published a very sad story about someone who lived in Red Hook public housing. I met the whole family, one… http://t.co/zk1tZEP2dy
— Red Hook Star-Revue (@RedHookStar) June 1, 2014