Looks like Daily Gotham is up again. And this seems like a good test post.

I remember Yetta Kurland from the fight to keep St. Vincent's Hospital (which happens to be the hospital where Jacob was born) open. And let's remember that closing of St. Vincent's coupled with the closing of NYU's Tisch Hospital, Bellevue Hospital and the VA hospital meant that emergency room coverage was critically low in Manhattan for some time after Sandy. In fact the NYU Medical Center's emergency room remains down today, though I believe their Urgent Care center is now open.

Sadly few people have been championing keeping hospitals open. The dynamic is a complex one. Hospitals almost all run at a loss. This is not because of mismanagement usually but because the cost of care in emergency rooms and ICUs is so hugely expensive that it tends to lose money at a huge rate...in order to save lives. The more people who don't have health insurance, the more people who have to depend on emergency rooms for basic care...and the more money it costs the hospitals. Reduce the number of uninsured people and spread emergency visits over more hospitals and the burden on each hospital is reduced. But leave lots of uninsured and close hospitals and each remaining hospital gets an even higher burden on their emergency rooms...driving them deeper into a financial hole.

Closing St. Vincent's just increased the burden on every other hospital. Of course Healthcare reform is a key way to improve the financial strength of our hospitals, but closing hospitals really isn't. Yetta Kurland gets that.

Yetta is running for City Council again in Manhattan (for the seat Christine Quinn is vacating) and hospitals is one of her main issues. And this morning the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) has endorsed her. From their press release:

40 blocks. That's the distance from the lower tip of Manhattan to the nearest trauma-treating hospital. In a city like New York , that distance could mean the difference between life and death.

That's one of the top issues Yetta Kurland, proud progressive, has been leading the charge on. She fought the closure of St. Vincent's Hospital and has been working hard to ensure that Lower Manhattan has the medical facilities it needs, especially with so many hospitals closed due to Sandy damage.

Now, Yetta Kurland is campaigning for New York City Council in your area, as a next step in serving the community. We are proud to endorse Yetta, the bold progressive in the race.

Yetta doesn't just talk the talk. She organizes for progressive change. Recently, she's helped lead local efforts to coordinate volunteers and relief efforts for Sandy victims. This Saturday, she's asking her team to take a break from campaigning and instead join her in the National Day of Service in the Rockaways.

Can you join Yetta this Saturday(January 19, 9:00am - 5:00pm) while she helps Sandy victims clean up and rebuild their community? Click to see details and RSVP.

We were proud to work with Yetta as we organized a New York event for Elizabeth Warren. Yetta Kurland is from the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party, and we see Yetta as a rising progressive star who will do big things for New York .

Whether or not you can make it on Saturday, you should still take time to learn about Yetta's campaign.

Click here to volunteer for her campaign or join her email list and Like Yetta on Facebook for up-to-date campaign news!
Thanks for being a bold progressive.

-- Adam Green, Stephanie Taylor, Kayla Wingbermuehle, and the PCCC team

You can check out her website here.