New York State investing $1B plus in Downstate hospital

Joined by SUNY and government officials as well as community and labor leaders, Gov. Kathy Hochul gave some details about a more than $1 billion investment in SUNY Downstate Hospital in Brooklyn.

The governor in a press conference, at the education building of University Hospital at Downstate, SUNY Downstate Hospital’s teaching hospital, said the investment came after years of insufficient funding.

Gov Hochul on what she called both a beautiful and a “historic” day detailed how this “transformative $1 billion (plus) investment” would help the hospital.

This financial infusion from the state followed some earlier talk of a possible closure amid a deficit and need for renovations and the mobilization of the community to save SUNY Downstate.

“We got it done and we’re doing this to secure a brighter future for the doctors and nurses, the dedicated medical students and all the people of Central Brooklyn,” Hochul said at a podium with the words “investing in Central Brooklyn.”

She said “the legacy of this institution runs so deep,” citing President Dwight Eisenhower who helped lay the cornerstone in 1954 for what became a “vital safety net facility.”

“Quality healthcare is a human right,” Hochul said of the need to support staff at the facility that she said serves over 300,000 Brooklyn residents annually. “If you don’t invest, things deteriorate.”

The funding includes $750 million in capital allocated for SUNY Downstate Hospital in the 2024-’25 and 2025-’26 state budgets combined, and directed SUNY to set aside $50 million in capital in each of the next seven years, totaling $1.1 billion.

Funds would be used to convert all double-occupancy rooms to private rooms with showers and add rooms, resulting in 225 beds, as well as to modernize and expand the emergency department.

The hospital would build a new annex including an ambulatory surgery center, invest in inpatient specialty units for cardiology, oncology, and orthopedics and address mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure issues.

SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. said the funding would help the facility provide “state-of-the-art, modern care,” after noting it was known that “the building was struggling.”

He cited floods, temperature issues, a $100 million deficit and risk of running out of cash as having plagued the institution.

“Where other people ignored the problem, Gov. Hochul and the legislature stepped up,” he added. “That’s why we have over $1 billion to invest.”

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University President Wayne Riley called this a “great day at Downstate” thanks to this “historic commitment that the great state of New York and she (Gov. Hochul) is making” to this facility in Central Brooklyn.

Hochul said the institution’s community advisory board provided a “road map of revitalization…to provide high-quality healthcare for generations.”

“They’re working with financial experts to assess the way to a long-term, stable financial future,” Hochul continued.

King said the advisory committee helped chart a course for the future to not only maintain existing and outpatient services, such as kidney transplant and neonatal.

He added that, in a borough where cancer and heart disease are leading causes of death, increasing oncology and cardiology care are crucial.

“I think this is going to give them an emergency room worthy of the people who live in this neighborhood,” Hochul said.

The funds also would improve the resources to teach future healthcare providers, who would benefit as well.

“Not only is it important that there’s this investment in the hospital, this investment strengthens the health science university,” King, who called himself a “son of Central Brooklyn,” added. “SUNY Downstate not only serves this community, but trains the next generation of medical professionals.”

Hochul said the funding would help “revolutionize the patient experience here,” as well as help “students to get great education (in a )state-of-the art learning facility and restore this institution to its rightful place as the very best.”

“Everyone does have a right to first-class, high-quality healthcare, especially in historically underserved communities in amazingly diverse Central Brooklyn,” Hochul said. “Our nurses, doctors, administrators are nothing but the best, but they need the resources.”

New York State Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie gave a shout out to “the community” for helping advocate and fight to not only save, but improve, the hospital.

“Thank you for not investing in a budget line, for not investing in a dollar sign,” Assemblymember Brian Cunningham said. “But thank you for investing in our community.”

Bishop Orlando Findlayter, founder and sr. pastor at the New Hope Christian Fellowship Church, said he was grateful the government was “giving this institution the resources it desperately needs and deserves.”

President of the Public Employees Federation Wayne Spence described this as a long-awaited effort to cater to the health of a crucial hospital and Central Brooklyn residents.

“We never gave up on Downstate’s future and today we celebrate the future. Downstate has endured decades of disinvestment and neglect. That ends today,” Spence said. “We started with Brooklyn needs Downstate. Now Brooklyn has Downstate.”

Hochul described the day as the beginning of the future for an institution that would have the funds it and the region’s residents deserve.

“Let’s get started,” she said. “I want to make sure that anyone who walks in the door here knows they’re going to be taken care of. That there are people across this community even in Albany who care.”