Money for immigration but not LBMC?

Money for

immigration

but not LBMC?

To the Editor:

I want to respectfully respond to my good friend and the former U.S. senator from New York, Alphonse D’Amato  (“With legal immigration must come border security,” July 11-17), in reverse order to make my point.

I completely agree with Senator D’Amato about the importance of maintaining Long Beach Medical Center as a robust, full-scale hospital. From 1991 to 2006, I lived on the barrier island, first in Long Beach and then Point Lookout. In the summertime, the population can swell from 35,000 to more than 75,000, not including Atlantic Beach, Lido Beach and Point Lookout.

Without a full-scale hospital in operation, many patients on the barrier island will be taken by ambulance to South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, adding more than 15 minutes to any critical response time. Had LBMC not been closed by Tropical Storm Sandy last October, the NYS Department of Health would have been bound by law to hold a public referendum prior to closing it.

To former Senator D’Amato, to elected public officials such as Carolyn McCarthy, Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, and to institutions such as the Catholic Church — let me admonish all of you. Charity begins at home. The fact that the U.S. is proposing more than $40 billion for immigration reform, but cannot provide money to maintain LBMC as a full-service hospital is ridiculous. I am sure if we proposed an abortion facility in LBMC, Governor Cuomo would immediately discover funding to keep the hospital open. 

Michael P. Mulhall

Rockville Centre