Brooklyn Heights Blog

Today Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham kicked off the eighth year of the ‘Take Your Man To The Doctor” health care campaign. There are 400,ooo Brooklynites without health insurance, men being twice as likely as women to be uninsured.

Markowitz asked Brooklynites to take the men in their life, whether straight, gay, or multiple partners, to have an annual check- up and develop a relationship with their health care providers.

Brooklyn reality TV stars Alex McCord and Simon van Kempen (“The Real Housewives of New York City”) revealed Mr. van Kempen had a heart scare a few months ago and has since quit smoking. Read more »

Last week, Brownstoner brought attention to a new pharmacy opening up at 79 Atlantic Avenue. Readers commented on the actual pharmaceutical aspects to the pharmacy, claiming that it wasn’t a true pharmacy since it didn’t list such characteristics on its sign, a sign which another reader suggested was in violation of landmark rules. We just spoke to an employee of the new pharmacy - which is still “in the process of opening,” but officially opened for business yesterday - and verified that it is, in fact, a full-line pharmacy that carries prescription medicines, but has an emphasis on natural health (vitamins, herbs, natural supplements). As far as the landmark rules go, the employee said they are well aware of area regulations and is confident that the owner chose signage that is not in violation of any regulations.

“Health emergency” or not, the landlord at 132 Montague evidently reacted quickly to our post about the messy condition in front of the downstairs space at that address. While there are still a few cigarette butts and other scraps of trash in the space, the bottles and decayed rags are gone.

Earlier today we received an anonymous tip from a reader: “Will someone please take a look at the mess in front of 132 Montague St. and report on it? It’s an absolute health emergency.” Your correspondent grabbed his camera and hoofed it two blocks eastward, until he came to the ground floor space formerly occupied by a laundry that suffered a fire on February 1, and is now a vacant storefront with a “for rent” sign:

There was some trash strewn in the area below the stairs, and a sign hung from the fence at sidewalk level:
Another photo and more text after the jump. Read more »

We previously reported the planned closure by Long Island College Hospital of four in-school clinics that serve students in six schools located in the downtown Brooklyn area. Today, Governor Paterson announced a state grant that will enable LICH to keep these clinics open during the coming school year.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle These clinics — at the School of Global Studies, P.S. 38, the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies and M.S. 51 — provide healthcare services for thousands of Brooklyn students. Although the state Department of Health (DOH) disallowed the closure of Obstetrics and Pediatrics, DOH this past July approved the closure of the school-based clinics.

Tuesday in Albany, Gov. David Paterson, the State Senate and the Assembly announced $300,000 in grants to LICH to keep these clinics open. And all parties involved were happy with the situation.

While waiting to have his tongue stitched back together, Urban Sketcher Jason Das jotted down these impressions of the LICH emergency room.

According to IT News Online, Consumer Reports magazine has polled health care consumers and, as a result, produced patient satisfaction ratings for hospitals nationwide. Long Island College Hospital was one of those that “fell to the bottom” in the ratings. The poll revealed a negative correlation between patient satisfaction and the “intensity” or aggressiveness of care provided, with patients preferring institutions that provide care on a more “conservative” basis. Read more »

Borough President Marty Markowitz today said he is “deeply disappointed” by Long Island College Hospital’s closure of four school-based clinics that serve students from six schools in the downtown Brooklyn area. “It’s unfortunate,” he said, “that innovative ideas and funding mechanisms that would have kept the doors of these vital clinics open could not be found.”

The importance of these school-based clinics cannot be underestimated. They serve as the first line of defense when we face health threats such as MRSA and the H1N1 flu. In addition, research and evaluations have demonstrated that school-based health centers represent cost-effective investments of public resources by reducing inappropriate emergency use, reducing hospitalization and increasing school attendance. Also, students who have access to these services can better manage their personal health and are more informed about health issues overall.

As was pointed out last year when my office and other advocates fought to save LICH, it would be one thing if neighborhoods served by LICH and these school-based clinics were facing significant population declines, but let’s face it, all you have to do is walk down Court Street, Smith Street or Atlantic Avenue and count the strollers, or see the small children crowding area parks, or check out the number of students overfilling neighborhood schools to know that there is an exploding population of young families in great need of school-based medical services. Not only that, this community is expected to grow by 15 to 20 thousand residents in the years ahead.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, Continuum Health Partners, the Manhattan-based hospital consortium that now controls Long Island College Hospital, and which last year unsuccessfully sought to close LICH’s obstetrics and pediatrics practices, has entered into a “memorandum of understanding” with SUNY Downstate Medical Center, located in Brooklyn, under which control of LICH’s operations would be transferred from Continuum to Downstate. We will keep you informed of developments on this story.

As reported by The Brooklyn Paper:

Long Island College Hospital is in the midst of a precipitous drop in births this year, months after threatening to shut its maternity ward, a decline that is resulting in large increases in deliveries at other Brooklyn hospitals, including a record number of births in 48 hours at one medical center.

Read more in CHB.