"My first job…was a part time gig at Long Island Jewish Medical Center…  When I began working for the hospital, I really started to understand what it meant…. I had benefits for my kids—something I never had before…. This was significant for me, because when I didn’t have benefits for my children, I was forced to decide whether to pay rent on time or go to the hospital.  That is a decision no parent should have to make….

"Looking back at it all, it really is something.  My first job [in the hospital] was as a painter. Soon after that, the union provided training for me to become a maintenance mechanic, which meant better pay. I had a high school diploma and some college credits….  I now own two homes and have sent all my kids to college."
– Florence William Johnson, Long Island Jewish Medical Center

"There were nearly 1,400 people who worked in that hospital (Mary Immaculate Hospital) that was 1,400 people who used to eat in the community; 1,400 decent paying jobs in the community; 1,400 people who used to shop for clothes in the community. Losing this hospital has had a great impact on the community, and the effects go beyond healthcare."
–    Lynn Mushinsky, Queens Resident and long time employee at Mary Immaculate

Hospitals and nursing homes do more than care for the sick and injured. They are a source of economic opportunity and stability to some of New York’s neediest communities. Our city’s hospitals have a long history of offering social mobility to low-income and working class New Yorkers. In these difficult economic times it is essential that the state provide critical funding to hospitals and nursing homes so that they can continue to provide good-paying, middle class jobs to New Yorkers who need them more than ever. Or, putting it another way, continued cuts to the health care industry will only increase layoffs of health care workers—layoffs that will disproportionally affect minorities and exacerbate disparities in New York’s unemployment rates.