Brooklyn, NY— Yesterday afternoon, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) paid a visit to Maimonides Medical Center in Boro Park to speak with local residents and community leaders. The Senator was welcomed by Maimonides Medical Center CEO, Pam Brier, and was joined by other elected officials. Ms. Brier conveyed the hospitals’ honor at having the Senator visit, a sentiment that was shared by all in attendance.
The dialogue between the Senator and the assembled guests covered a wide range of legislative topics, including a discussion about Boro Park’s senior population which was initiated by Councilmember Brad Lander. Councilmember Lander reminded the audience that Boro Park has the largest concentration of Senior Holocaust survivors in New York State and Senator Gillibrand agreed that the elderly population is a group in great need.
Transportation safety was an area of particular concern for the Senator and the Councilman since while New York City pedestrian fatalities have decreased by more than half in the last two decades, current data shows that seniors, while only being 12% of the city’s population, now make up 39% of pedestrian fatalities. This is one reason why Councilman Lander worked to make sure that Borough Park was chosen by the Department of Transportation to institute several traffic calming measures as part of Safe Streets for Seniors, a new pedestrian initiative launched by the Office of the Mayor, Department for the Aging and Department of Transportation, in Boro Park.
Senator Gillibrand also pledged her support of the elderly in Boro Park. She emphasized the importance of keeping them mobile by offering access to transportation, stressed the importance to try to have them stay in their homes, especially since seniors remaining in their home guarantees an increased chance of recovery after hospitalization. In concluding her remarks to Councilman Lander’s question, the Senator encouraged the support of food pantries, stressing that many times these deliveries of kosher food, especially at holiday season, is the only friendly visit that some Seniors receive.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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2 Responses
Wowee! She is really schnorring for votes! Did anyone confront her about her voting to cut $500,000,000 from New York’s Medicaid and Medicare budget?
My sister, say it better. She should be ashamed for visiting a community hospital that got cuts equaling millions of dollars yearly because of her vote on Obamacare. According to Congressman Micheal McMahon, a demorat (the only NYC congressman that voted against the bill), Maimonides will receive less funding because it is a private hospital. Those cuts will eventually hit the community as the hospital will have to initiate cuts and raise costs. Gillibrand is just another Washington insider who serves as a rubber stamp for the Obama-Reid-Pelosi agenda. As many analysts and bi-partisan reports detailed, the Healthcare was bad for all New Yorkers. Even many Democrats called for our senators to vote against, however they cared more for their partisanship. As seen in Missouri (not a red state at all) and even in Massachusetts (a liberal state), the people voted against. However they’re not here for the people but for themselves.