Downstate Chapter President
Rowena Blackman-Stroud
Nearly 100 members of United University Professions, one of NYSUT's higher education affiliates, recently protested a plan to shut down inpatient operations at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. They were joined by members of the Civil Service Employees Association and Public Employees Federation.
The proposal, recommended by Governor Cuomo's Medicaid redesign team headed by investment banker Stephen Berger, would leave thousands of Brooklyn residents without vital health services and put health care workers, including UUP members, out of work.
"It's important to realize that we provide quality health care to 2.5 million people in central Brooklyn and 5 million in the borough," said Downstate Chapter President Rowena Blackman-Stroud, who is UUP Treasurer and a member of the NYSUT Board.
"This is about preserving critical health care services for the people of Brooklyn, not about a Wall Street millionaire making decisions about our health care for us."