Maimonides rallies
Locals shore up embattled hospital
Scores of community leaders in southern Brooklyn are rallying around beleaguered Maimonides hospital as it bats back complaints of declining patient care, plummeting finances, fat executive compensation and mismanagement.
The 25 leaders co-signed a letter supporting Maimonides’ embattled leadership and accusing critics — who’ve argued dramatic changes are needed to save Brooklyn’s largest privately run hospital — of waging an attack campaign that’s undermining the facility.
“Maimonides is not perfect — no hospital is — but its leadership is eager to listen and addresses issues when raised,” the letter obtained by The Post read.
‘Misleading’ attacks
The letter noted the COVID-19 pandemic has had “a devastating impact on our communities and created major challenges throughout society. All hospitals have faced enormous pressure on staffing and resources.”
The Maimonides supporters also lamented what’s become a bitter feud over the hospital’s future. “It is disheartening to see these global challenges used as a pretext for a divisive, misleading, harmful series of attacks on the hospital and its workforce — especially when the hospital has gone above and beyond to get us through the pandemic, visiting community centers and places of worship to provide vaccinations, support, and information,” the letter stated.
“As community leaders, we stand with Maimonides and its hardworking team of clinicians, staff, and administrators. We would encourage everyone to learn the facts about Maimonides and to make their voices heard in support of the hospital. Maimonides is a pillar of Brooklyn life which we can all feel proud to have in our backyard.”
The letter is co-signed by leaders of diverse groups, including Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello of the Brooklyn Catholic Diocese, the Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Brooklyn, United Senior Citizens of Sunset Park, the Bangladeshi-American Society, Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, the Chinese American Planning Council, the Arab American Association of NY, and the Arthur Ashe Institution for Urban Health.
It’s the hospital’s latest counteroffensive aimed at critics. But conspicuously missing are signatories representing Borough Park’s Orthodox Jewish community. Much of the criticism has been lodged by Borough Park activists and patients.
The Post recently revealed Maimonides reported a $145 million loss last year and defaulted on some debt obligations. But the hospital maintained that a pot of $1.8 billion in Medicaid reimbursement in this year’s state budget will help stabilize its finances.
Complaints about care emerged in July when five state lawmakers signed a letter calling for hearings into the hospital’s operations, citing long wait times for care and overwhelmed staff.
The battle took a turn in August when one of the lawmakers, state Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), labeled one of the groups pushing for an overhaul — Save Maimonides — as “not kosher.”