Gillibrand joins Queens electeds in push for federal
funding of Elmhurst Hospital’s maternity ward
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand speaks during the press conference at Elmhurst
Hospital. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
TIMESLEDGER | Q 10 NS.COM | JUNE 11-JUNE 17, 2021
not before sharing that the junior senator
from New York messaged him throughout
the worst weeks of the pandemic to
assure him that Elmhurst would receive
the help it needed.
Gillibrand emphasized that health
care is a human right and that every
New Yorker should have access to quality
of care regardless of locality. She explained
that the $3 million in funding for
the renovation of the OBGYN unit would
fight another crisis: maternal mortality.
Maternal mortality disproportionately
impacts women of color, namely Black
women, who are three to four times more
likely to die during childbirth or within
one year of giving birth because of biases
within the healthcare system.
“This is a crisis of largely preventable
deaths,” Gillibrand said. “Those
deaths can be prevented with more
resources and more training, and
more supplies. We need to make investments
in hospitals like this one, and we
need to standardize the care across all
communities.”
Gillibrand also shared that she introduced
two pieces of legislation in April
to address the Black maternal health
crisis: the Modernizing Obstetric Medicine
Standards (MOMS) Act and the
Maternal CARE Act.
“I believe that every mother has a
right to a healthy and safe pregnancy,”
Gillibrand said, promising to continue
working with my colleagues to invest
in Elmhurst and build more support for
women of color.
Meng said the $3 million renovation
proposal would help new mothers and
parents, and emphasized that she’ll work
alongside Ocasio-Cortez to bring in the
funds.
“You are Elmhurst strong,” Meng
said. “You deserve more than just the
hashtag. You deserve more than just applause
at 7 p.m. And we will do all that
we can to show you our gratitude, not
just in words but in action and money.”
Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez said
that she was thrilled that for the first
time in 10 years that the House authorized
community funding projects, also
known as “earmarks,” with new rules in
place to ensure strict transparency and
accountability.
“We’re going to solve this maternal
health crisis in this country, right here
at Elmhurst Hospital,” Ocasio-Cortez
said. “So we’re going back to Washington,
we’re going to ask for $3 million for
the OBGYN unit because Elmhurst is a
place of strong women and because the
strength of this community deserves the
dignity of a world-class OBGYN.”
Richards emphasized that a person’s
socioeconomic status shouldn’t determine
the quality of health care they
receive.
The borough president said he had no
doubt the three congressional representatives
would “bring home the bacon.”
Ramos shared a very personal story.
Ramos’ mother went into cardiac
arrest after giving birth to Ramos’
sister, Chelsea, at Elmhurst Hospital.
Her mother was clinically dead for two
minutes, but because of the expertise
of the medical staff, her mom and sister
survived.
The doctor who saved her mother’s
and sister’s lives was none other than
Dr. Jasmin Moshirpur, who’s been with
Elmhurst Hospital for more than 50
years and currently serves as the chief
medical officer at Elmhurst.
“For that, I am forever indebted to all
of you,” Ramos said.
She thanked Gillibrand, Meng and
Ocasio-Cortez for their fight to secure
funding for Elmhurst’s OBGYN unit,
“to make sure that my mom’s story and
so many worst stories are never, ever
repeated.”
“We want every single child that is
born in our community to live to their
full potential, and we want every mother
to be able to enjoy as much of their child’s
life as possible,” Ramos said.
Cruz asked for a moment of silence
for the Elmhurst Hospital staff, their
family members and friends who died of
COVID-19.
“The best way to honor them is doing
exactly what these amazing leaders are
doing — it’s investing so that tomorrow
when you have to deliver that baby, you
have to bring that mother in, you have
everything within your reach to be able
to do something. You have every piece of
equipment, a beautiful space, and you’re
able to continue to do exactly what you’ve
been doing, just in an easier way,” Cruz
said.
BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
and Queens Congresswomen Grace
Meng and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
were joined by several elected officials
and healthcare advocates at Elmhurst
Hospital on June 4 to advocate for the
“much-needed” renovation of Elmhurst
Hospital’s obstetrical inpatient facilities.
Ocasio-Cortez and Meng, who’s a
member of the House Appropriations
Committee, recently submitted a joint
community funding request of $3 million
for Elmhurst Hospital in the House’s next
fiscal year budget. If the funding request
is fulfilled and renovation is completed,
the obstetrical facility at Elmhurst Hospital
will provide a more modern and
safer maternal health care experience
for Elmhurst’s mostly working-class and
immigrant community.
The facilities would have a familycentered
environment that would also
improve upon privacy standards for
women in labor by providing a quieter
environment, which will promote postlabor
recovery, and facilitates bonding
between a mother and her child.
The representatives were joined by
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards, President and Chief Executive
Officer of NYC Health + Hospitals Mitchell
Katz, Elmhurst Hospital CEO Helen
Arteaga Landaverde and state Senator
Jessica Ramos, as well as Assemblywomen
Jessica González-Rojas and Catalina
Cruz.
Landaverde opened the press conference
describing the three female congressional
leaders as “amazing women, who
are not only passionate and touching,
beautiful and committed to their communities”
but also, “more importantly,
strong women of New York.”
She took the occasion to acknowledge
the entire Elmhurst Hospital staff, saying
they are the real heroes of Elmhurst
who helped over 100,000 patients during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Landaverde
then introduced Katz as a “true
leader” in the face of an unprecedented
health crisis.
“For me, you were always the quiet,
calm voice that left me thinking that we
can beat this thing,” Landaverde said.
Dr. Katz recalled the phone call he
received from former Elmhurst Hospital
CEO Israel Rocha at the beginning of
the pandemic last year. Rocha told him
that they just intubated 16 patients in the
last two hours and that “something very
different was happening.”
Elmhurst Hospital — which serves a
majority immigrant population across
Jackson Heights, Elmhurst and Corona
— became the “epicenter of the epicenter”
of the COVID-19 pandemic and
showed the way forward, dealing with
an unprecedented crisis, never turning
anyone away, Dr. Katz said.
Katz then introduced Gillibrand, but
/NS.COM
