LICH Activists Release Commercial Calling Upon Governor For Help

A new commercial, "LICH—Two Minutes to Live," will begin airing this week on NY1, according to a release by The Cobble Hill Association.

The video depicts Bed-Stuy Volunteer Ambulance Corps. workers driving a patient in need of emergency care—and who no longer has the local resource of Long Island College Hospital's ER to race to—with fatal results. Creators hope it will compel Gov. Andrew Cuomo to keep the LICH doors open.

“Doctors, emergency room nurses, and EMS workers all tell us that adding 4-6 minutes to an ambulance ride will mean people who don’t have to die, will die on the way to another hospital,” said Roy Sloane, President of the CHA, in the release. “Nearly 1 million people who live, work, shop, and play in Downtown Brooklyn are in grave danger. We depend on Long Island College Hospital for critical emergency care."

Dr. Toomas Sorra, lead physician for the Concerned Doctors of Long Island College Hospital also provided a statement.

“It is unconscionable that the Governor would close LICH given the incredible increase in population in the greater Cobble Hill area," he said. "And for what? Because the State wants to build even more high-rise housing for even more people to live in the area? It makes no sense.”

The production of the commercial was accomplished entirely by volunteers with donations of time and money, said Sloane.