Demonstrators called for an increase in hospital beds in Queens on Oct. 9, 2020. Photos by Dean Moses
DEMONSTRATORS CALL FOR MORE HOSPITAL BEDS
IN QUEENS DURING JACKSON HEIGHTS RALLY
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | OCT. 16-OCT. 22, 2020 23
BY DEAN MOSES
Demonstrators gathered
at Diversity Plaza in Jackson
Heights last week to advocate
for more hospital beds
in Queens, as the number of
COVID-19 cases continues to
rise in New York City.
For an hour on Friday,
Oct. 9, activists held a vigil
and called for “beds, not
body bags” in Queens.
The dozen protestors laid
out several makeshift body
bags stuffed with newspapers
and water bottles,
signifying those who died
as a result of the COVID-19
crisis.
Activists hoped to call attention
to the fact that, per
capita, Queens has the lowest
rate of hospital beds in
the United States.
Leon Kirschner, a Jackson
Heights resident and
member of Rise and Resist
Group, the group that organized
the demonstration, explained
that the low number
of hospital beds is directly
related to the borough’s
mortality rate.
“The hospital beds are directly
linked to the mortality
rate,” Kirshner said.
According to the organizer,
the reason for the disparity
related to Medicaid
funding.
“The reason that that happened
is because of medicaid
funding. Medicaid funding
is very low,” Kirshner said.
“Hospitals that don’t depend
on Medicaid like those in
the east side of Manhattan,
that have gotten richer from
insurance, while the hospitals
that depend on Medicaid
haven’t been able to pick
up so they’ve closed or been
taken over.”
He said that the Rise and
Resist Group, formed in 2016
right after the President
Donald Trump was elected,
helped to organize the event
and that the idea for the
body bags was to create a
visual that people can conceptualize.
/QNS.COM
