Letter to NYSDOH

Letter to NYSDOH (PDF)

                                                                                    April 7, 2008

Richard F. Daines, M.D.

Commissioner,

New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)

Corning Tower

Empire State Plaza,

Albany, NY 12237                   By Mail and Fax  518-474-5450

                        Re:       Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation and Care Center (KHRCC)

                                    ability to provide quality care to patients during a strike

Dear Commissioner Daines,

            We are writing this letter to request your intervention concerning a matter of public health in our community.  This is about people’s lives — their quality of life and quality health care.

            It is about the health care of the patients at the Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation and Care Center.  It is about these patients’ rights to be treated with care, decency and professionalism so that they can become healthier and/or stabilize their illness.  These patients and their families have a right to be assured the workers are certified free from communicable diseases if they work in the kitchen.  These patients and families have a right to be assured that workers are certified reformed and/or free from certain criminal behavior.

            Most importantly, it is about our neighborhood and community.  As this 400 bed institution is a large facility by New York State standards, it should raise monitoring issues for governmental regulators.  The question of homeland security for our community is significant.  The 200 or so fill-in workers hired at KHRCC may not be trained, investigated, fingerprinted, or have the required immigrant work permit (“green card”), putting our streets and homes in jeopardy.  The 200 or so replacement workers potentially jeopardize our families and homes as they pass by daily on their way to work. Our families and homes are exposed to workers who may not be certified reformed and/or free from certain criminal behaviors and or not be certified free from communicable diseases. 

As we write this letter, we are approaching almost 48 days that these actions have been allowed to continue in a facility that receives public funding for most if not all of its mission.  Our community needs to know how your agency is handling this situation.  In particular, please provide us with a report and/or hearing on:

1.      Increased inspections during this period of apparently untrained personnel working in the KHRCC;

2.      Medical and Criminal Investigation Policy and Procedures for hiring personnel to work in the health care facility, and whether or not each replacement worker has been properly vetted with written records for each one;

3.      Number of Deaths by month for the past six months and the same for the year prior.

4.      Actual census count of beds used for the past six months and the same for the year prior.

Thank you for your time and consideration.  We will be contacting your office in a few days.

                                                                        Sincerely,

                                    Karen Argenti               Lynn Schwarz               Philip McDonnell

                                    FIPNA VP                   FIPNA VP                   FIPNA President                     

C: 

Hon. David A. Patterson, New York State Governor

Hon. Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State Attorney General

Hon. Thomas P. DiNapoli, New York State Comptroller

Hon. Jeffrey Dinowitz, Member of Assembly, 81 AD, Chair, Aging Committee

Hon. Richard N. Gottfried, Member of Assembly, 75 AD, Chair, Health Committee

Hon. M. Patricia Smith, NYS Department of Labor Commissioner

Hon. James G. Sheehan, NYS Medicaid Inspector General