Click HERE to download a recording of the news conference.
Click HERE to download the architectural renderings.
BROOKLYN, NY – Members of the Brooklyn for Downstate (BFD) nonprofit community coalition hosted a virtual press conference today where they shared the architectural renderings of what the Brooklyn community envisions for a stronger future of SUNY Downstate University Hospital.
The initial artwork, created by architecture firm NBBJ, features outside images of a reimagined and revitalized, modern hospital that would complement student academic facilities at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University on Clarkson Avenue. The design incorporates elements of that building to provide a continuity of lines and materials in keeping with the existing streetscape.
Additional images show the improved inpatient facilities the community would like to see in a modernized hospital, including:
- A state-of-the-art Emergency Department
- Maternal and OB/GYN labor and delivery rooms
- Cardiothoracic services including surgical space
- Oncology services
- Kidney transplant services area
The architects relied heavily on the report commissioned by Brooklyn for Downstate, which was shared with the public at a rally in December 2024. That report included a series of recommendations to ensure and sustain the hospital’s future viability.
The Brooklyn for Downstate report focuses on the healthcare landscape in Brooklyn, the vital services provided by Downstate hospital, and how Downstate compares to other hospitals, including Kings County. It details how those facilities are at or near full capacity and would be unable to respond to Downstate’s closure without serious negative consequences for Brooklyn residents.
The report also listed a series of recommendations that will lead to a “stronger fiscal position for the hospital and better health outcomes” for patients. The recommendations include:
- Keeping inpatient services intact while reducing the number of inpatient beds from 342 to 250;
- Renovating Downstate’s Emergency Department to include an observation unit and Adult and Pediatric trauma centers;
- Renovating the maternal and OB/GYN service area to include single-occupancy labor and delivery and postpartum inpatient rooms with bathrooms; a reduction of NICU inpatient beds and supporting outpatient units for primary and preventative care; and
- Maintaining a Regional Perinatal Center, reestablishing cardiothoracic and cardiac surgery clinical programs and oncology services.
This is the latest in a series of fact-based, detailed updates provided by Brooklyn for Downstate since it formed last fall. The purpose of the group is to create a forum for Brooklynites to have a say about the future of SUNY Downstate University Hospital. In April 2024, the enacted state budget provided for the creation of a state-appointed advisory board to make recommendations for the hospital’s future, which are due April first of this year. That board was announced Nov. 25 and met for the first time in December. The first public hearing (one of three required) didn’t take place until the end of January.
“We are releasing these architectural renderings following the report in December because the state-appointed advisory board is not doing their job,” said Redetha Abraham-Nichols, DNP, MRA, RN. “It has become abundantly clear to us, the members of Brooklyn for Downstate community coalition, as well as the hundreds of people who attended the State-appointed advisory board public hearing last month, that the SUNY Chancellor’s intent is to severely reduce SUNY Downstate hospital’s inpatient services and move them to Kings County Hospital and other hospitals. That is why they’ve dragged out the process so long with an artificial deadline. But we’re not going to stand for that, and that is why we’re doing the work they refuse to do. We’re representing the people of Brooklyn and their needs. These drawings imagine a new hospital that the residents of Brooklyn so desperately need and deserve. SUNY Downstate University Hospital has gone decades without appropriate investment from the State, so now is the opportunity to make up for all of those years.”
Bishop Orlando Findlayter said, “I am excited to stand with Brooklyn for Downstate to offer an alternative plan to save SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Downstate is an essential part of our community that provides much needed medical service that we cannot afford to lose. I urge The State of New York and SUNY to partner with us to keep Downstate both an in-patient and out-patient hospital.”
Joan Rosegreen, RN said, “To maintain the long-term sustainability of healthcare at Downstate, we need to get adequate funding from the governor, so that we can build a hospital that is safe for the patients and ensure that quality healthcare remains accessible to those who need it most.”
More information about Brooklyn for Downstate and the full report can be found here.
Brooklyn for Downstate: Brooklyn for Downstate is a nonprofit organization dedicated to uniting the voices of the Brooklyn community in pursuit of a high-quality, thriving, and modern SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University Hospital. Led by a steering committee of community activists and health care leaders, Brooklyn for Downstate stands committed to ensuring that SUNY Downstate remains open as a freestanding, state-operated public teaching hospital and continues to serve the significant numbers of uninsured, underserved, and historically marginalized populations of Brooklyn. Learn more at: www.brooklynfordownstate.com.