FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARCH 4, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Queens assemblyman leads rally blasting Cuomo over nursing home scandal
BY DEAN MOSES
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim and
colleagues in government from around
New York City demanded that Governor
Andrew Cuomo to take accountability for
the nursing home scandal during a City
Hall rally on Feb. 24.
Amidst the very public feud between
Kim and Cuomo that seems to be drawing
more politicians into its polarizing
vortex by the day, the Queens Democrat
called uponthe governor to return the $2
million in donations that were sent by the
Greater New York Hospital Association;
fully repeal the corporate immunity
which allows nursing homes to not be
held accountable for deaths of 15,000 people
during the COVID-19 pandemic; and
provide full disclosure all communication
and correspondence between the hospitals
and nursing home lobbyists to be
shown to the public and media.
Kim is also calling for a congressional
oversight hearing on this matter.
“On March 25, 2020, Cuomo issued a
mandate that said 9,000 COVID patients
to unprepared nursing homes,” Kim said,
referring to a now-infamous memo from
the state Health Department. “Th ey told
the Department of Health over and over
that they could not handle them. Th ey
didn’t have PPE, their staff was sick with
COVID already and they were not working.
Nursing home workers told the governor
that if they sent COVID patients
back to nursing homes they would die.
What was Cuomo’s answer to them? He
gave them a license to kill. Th at is what
criminal and legal immunity is. It is the
license to kill older adults through substandard
care knowing that they can’t go
to jail or be sued by families,” Kim said.
Kim commenced the rally by calling
out Cuomo for abusing his power and
trying to bully others to bend to his will,
chanting with the crowd, “Cuomo is
an abuser. Cuomo abuses his powers.
Abusers are cowards!”
Th e assemblyman continued
that there must be
accountability for the
families and even
employees who
were caught in the
crossfi re of what
some politicians
have described
as a coverup
by the Cuomo
administration.
“Th is about getting justice
for our families here in New
York, who are grieving their loved
ones, who deserve answers and to
know why it is that their loved ones
were moved without their consent.
Why some of them were given nearlethal
cocktails as supposed medicine
and didn’t necessarily receive
the appropriate medical care that
we expect to receive?” Queens
state Senator Jessica Ramos said.
Ramos, who is chair of the State Senate
Labor Committee, charged that Cuomo is
shift ing much of the blame on the nursing
home workers
for the 15,000
patient deaths.
“Th ere is a lot of reckoning that is going
to take place here in New York. We are
going to get to the bottom of this and we
are going to need your help,” Ramos told
the crowd.
Family members of those who perished
in a variety of nursing homes also joined
the rally, many of whom arrived gripping
photographs of their loved ones.
Haydee Pabey hugged a framed picture
of her mother, Elba, throughout the
event, who passed away at aged 72 on
April 6 from COVID-19. Pabey blames
Cuomo for the restrictions he put in
place, which prevented her from seeing
her mother before her death.
An advocate from Voices for
Seniors also brought a
small urn containing
her mother’s ashes,
a symbol of one
of the many
elderly indiv
i d u a l s
who have
died during
the
pandemic.
Photo by Dean Moses
Queens Assemblyman
Ron Kim and fellow
elected officials called
out the governor for bullying
tactics during a Feb.
24 rally.
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