Several board members of Maimonides Medical Center felt like they were the victims of an anti-semitic attack by other board members who demanded that Jewish board members “pledge allegiance” to the hospital after Maimonides CEO Ken Gibbs spoke out at a recent “closed door” board meeting against the ‘Save Maimonides’ campaign that started in the Jewish community, but has since spread to Asian and Africa-American communities.
The ‘Save Maimonides’ campaign, which is a few weeks old, has according to its organizers already uncovered over a thousand serious complaints against the hospital and the fact that CEO Ken Gibbs compensation jumped from $1.8 million to $3.2 million during the height of the pandemic while Maimonides was losing tens of millions of dollars according to reporting by acclaimed journalist Yoav Gonen in The City.
According to two confidential sources, who don’t want to be named to avoid incurring the wrath of the hospital, one board member even offered to take off his yarmulke at board meetings so as not to offend the non-Jewish board members who were ‘blaming the Jews’ for seeking to fix the hospital. According to these sources, when board members complained to CEO Ken Gibbs he did nothing.
Sources point out that several frum board members have served on the Maimonides board for decades and that the alleged attacks by the hospital’s leadership on Jewish board members are unwarranted. “Maimonides shouldn’t blame the Jews for the hospital’s problems. When CEO Ken Gibbs and Chair Gene Keilin took over Maimonides it was making money and had a good reputation and positive relationships in the communities it served. It’s only under their leadership that the hospital is now losing tens of millions of dollars, has thousands of complaints and even the community’s elected officials are publicly criticizing Maimonides for their poor patient care and understaffing,” said one long-time community leader. “If Ken and Gene want to know who is to blame for Maimonides recent failures, they should simply look in the mirror.”
This revelation of alleged anti-semitism on the board comes on the heels of a possibly anti-semitic caricature being used by the hospital in their ads as seeming proof of their close-relationship with the Chasidic community. Those ads were widely condemned by Jewish community leaders and were later removed by Maimonides.
I thought it was only government whcih caricatures Orthodox Jews. It's now a very local hospital too. They should know better. pic.twitter.com/zrsHBClzVV
— Yochonon Donn (@Yochidonn) July 28, 2022
“Thousands of Maimonides patients have made serious complaints about the hospital, with more coming in every day. Maimonides answer to everything is to either attack us or insult the people who are helping everyone speak up,” said Mendy Reiner, Co-Chair of ‘Save Maimonides.’ “People launch attacks like these when they are afraid. We won’t back down and will continue to give a voice to those who have been hurt by Maimonides failure of leadership.”
YWN reached out to Ken Gibbs for comment. The following was sent back to YWN:
“This report is inaccurate and completely misrepresents how the Maimonides Board of Trustees operates. There are two things everyone should know about our Board: First, as evidenced by the open letter it released today, the Board is overwhelmingly united in the face of the divisive, personalized attacks leveled at it and the institution. Second, it is independent in the best sense of the word: every trustee has a fiduciary obligation to advance the hospital’s mission and act in its best interests.” – Eugene Keilin, Chair, Board of Truste
The only thing missing are bugs crawling down his side locks. Disgusting! @MaimoHealth should take this down! https://t.co/9Uq1LYLCbM
— 𝙔𝙤𝙨𝙚𝙛 𝙍𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩 (@YosefRapaport) July 29, 2022
If only @MaimoHealth was able to find a real Chasidic Jew for an ad. pic.twitter.com/h32YTdrjMN
— Yaakov (Jack) Kaplan (@JackKaplanNY) July 28, 2022
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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14 Responses
Ken Gibbs should be fired and lose all his pension. We live in a cancel culture environment. If it’s any other religion, race, or gender, the CEO is immediately fired but if it involves those pesky Jews, everything is okay and you can abuse and intimidate all you want.
No investigation into how many patients they starved to death during Covid? Not a single employee was fired? I guess our self proclaimed askanim have an agenda, a deadly one.
Has there been Investagation on how hospital staff allegedly murdered Jews by inaction during COVID pandemic?
When I had my first baby in Maimonides 35 years ago the nursing care was OK. Every subsequent experience was worse. When my eldest (not born there) had her first child in Maimonides 22 years ago it was pretty bad. But if it has come to the point of mocking the Jewish community (without Jewish patients & staff you may as well close!) then there’s a really bad problem.
But this headline was so shocking I had to read the article, thinking it must be a sarcastic “offer.” But no. And I read it twice. How can a frum Jew offer to remove his yarmulke? Didn’t you learn anything in Yeshiva? 50+ years ago my father told the principal of my public school (no Jewish school at that time) that being frum was so important there was no way I would take a nationwide exam on Shavuous. And I didn’t.
In 2022, a frum Yid is so desperate to “fit in” he’d betray Yiddishkeit like that? That’s worse than anything these goyim can throw at us. Whoever you are, you should resign. And apologize to the rest of the Jewish members of the Board for your weakness and cowardice in the face of antisemitism.
I don’t know anything about the other complaints, but, umm, what in heaven’s name is wrong with that Maimo advertisment picturing a Chasidish, Jew?
isn’t Maimonides a jewish hospital?
can anyone explain why does hatzolah send patients to Maimonides Hospital? rachmastrivka rabbi of boro pork was in Maimonides Hospital last month, in williamsburg hatzolah will naver sent to woodhull Hospital
To be fair , article full of shtusim..if the hospital is going thru a rough pr battle board members n
If Maimonidies is the death trap the campaign makes it out to be, why does Hatzalah take everyone to Maimonidies?
This goes way beyond MMC. After the travesties and neglect exposed during the covid era, practically every single hospital management needs a shake up.
Republicans would be wise to introduce a “patient bill of rights” that must include “right to try” and “visitation rights” that cannot be superseded.
Really curious about what financial deal/takeover is in the works that suddenly we’re being fed all this negativity about this hospital which has been run the same way for the past decades.
And there is literally nothing offensive about the add–maybe funny, silly, careless even, but not offensive. No stereotype was perpetuated and clearly no insult was implied. We don’t need to cry victim at every opportunity or it cheapens the real occurrences.
Predictably
Why do I smell an underlying motive in the campaign?
desecration of our blessed Maimo…..taking off a head covering to satisfy gentiles is a mistake, removing gentiles to wear a head covering now that is something…regarding picture……I think I may sue
@flatbushaskan Because BH you clearly actually have a sense of smell unlike most people in these comments.
I dont think anyone will argue Maimonides is perfect but this magical campaign popping up overnight complete with some clear major financial backing (ads everywhere) definitely suggests ulterior motives by someone with some money. I wonder if someone wanted to get on the board or buy it out, was told no, and this is their next attempt.
Hatzolah has a great relationship with Maimo. Maimo probably bleeds money for every birth in Boro Park on Medicaid. Instead of vilifying the whole hospital maybe the community should be asking how they could help it. We’re Zoche to have a fantastic decent hospital in the heart of our community. Let’s not throw this gift away.