Thousands protest Hahnemann closure, push Wolf to intervene
UPDATED: 4:20 p.m.
The hospital is set to close in September. Emergency room services are being drastically diminished, and maternity services are ending this week. Patty Eakin, political consultant for the Pennsylvania Association of School Nurses and Practitioners, said Gov. Tom Wolf needs to step in.
"This should not be allowed to happen, and this train is moving pretty rapidly," she said. "He and the mayor and the others need to get busy and fix this now."
City Councilmember Helen Gym agrees.
"We are not going to let the maternity ward shut down in the next 48 hours!" she said. "We need the governor to be on it. That's why we damn well elected him!"
Oncology patient Maria Garcia Bulkley was scheduled to have six rounds of chemotherapy here at Hahneman.
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"And I'm currently admitted for my fifth round, and I was told that I couldn't have my sixth one here, which is devestating to me," she said.
She said there seems to a lot of deception going on at the hospital.
"It's just heartbreaking. People are not getting the proper information. We're all getting information from the news. Nobody's telling us from administration."
Dr. Kevin D'Mello, a Hahnemann physician, said if the hospital closes, it would be devastating for Philadelphia.
"How many patients will die due to delays in care from already high emergency room wait times getting even higher?" he asked. "How many patients will die due to the unavoidable medical errors that result from adding more patient volume to already stressed hospital systems?"
Eakin said they're not going to take it lying down. "You can't shut down a Philadelphia institution that's set for the public good, just so that you can have some private commodity."
State Rep. Brian Sims added, "Hahnemann belongs to everybody. It does not belong to Joel Freedman. So, Joel Freedman, we have just one thing to say to you: Hell no!"
Following the protest, the governor and mayor released a joint statement, calling the situation an "absolute disgrace."
"The hospital has $300 million in debt that is growing daily. Now the owners want a bankruptcy proceeding to protect the profits they extracted from the hospital and community. This mounting debt means a short-term solution is simply not viable."
Wolf and Mayor Jim Kenney said they continue to stand in solidarity with those affected by the closure.
“While it is clear that the hospital’s current operation is no longer financially viable, we are both committed to working with potential investors to find support for the restructuring of Hahnemann and for protecting St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children."
