Saving "the best building in town"

Braddock's Fights for its Hospital

by Kay Tillow

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/77085

Braddock, the home of many a working class battle, now fights to save its
hospital, the best building in town, from the wrecker's ball.  Braddock,
Pennsylvania, the site of the US Steel's Edgar Thompson Works, lies along
the north bank of the Monongahela just up the river from Pittsburgh.

Braddock's story is repeated across the country as mills close and once
thriving working class communities are deserted by the hospitals they
built.  The people of Braddock are saying "no" to the gigantic University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) as it builds in wealthy areas while
closing the hospitals where they are needed most--Braddock, Aliquippa,
Southside.

The people of Braddock are fighting back.  With the help of the Western
Pennsylvania Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare they organized "Save
Our Community Hospitals" (SOCH).  In an effort to stop the demolition they
are maintaining a vigil at the hospital and seeking legal proceedings to
block it.  They won a victory when the demolition was halted by an invalid
permit.

UPMC, an $8 billion corporation, now occupies the former US Steel building
that dominates the Pittsburgh Skyline.  In recent years UPMC has
established itself as a global enterprise with overseas ventures in Sicily
and Ireland.  UPMC just announced a $16 million advertising and branding
campaign with a new warm and fuzzy purple logo.  It has plenty of money to
keep the Braddock Hospital open.

SOCH urges supporters to call UPMC CEO, Jeffrey Romoff to demand that the
hospital be saved and emergency service be restored to Braddock.

Romoff's number is: 412-647-3555

The passage of HR 676, national single payer health care, would end the
flight of hospitals and health care away from urban centers and hard hit
areas that have lost manufacturing jobs.  HR 676 would be publicly funded
making everyone an "equally valuable" patient stopping the economic
incentives that now close hospitals and physicians offices.

After you call Jeff Romoff, call your congressperson and urge
co-sponsorship for HR 676.

Further info on the fight in Braddock:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10281/1093358-109.stm
http://www.savebraddock.com/
http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/
http://bit.ly/b7w7zk


10/17/2010