Public Employee Press: PEP Talk
Sen. Schumer & Local 420’s Charles:
FEMA pay H+H $860m for COVID now!
DC 37 leaders stood with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Congress member Ritchie Torres at Lincoln Hospital in July to demand $860 million in emergency reimbursements that FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, owes New York City’s public hospitals.
As New York City quickly became the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Schumer and a delegation of New York officials led the campaign for the reimbursement.
“This is an injustice that we are fighting to correct,” said Carmen Charles, President of Local 420. “It’s time FEMA cut the bureaucratic red tape and pay up! Our members, along with thousands of other essential workers, have worked tirelessly since March 2020 to get New York through this COVID-19 pandemic. We need that money NOW!”
“Listen to this FEMA,” Schumer said. “H+H expanded its system-wide medical surge capacity by more than 80%, expanded bed capacity by 120%, expanded ICU by 360%. You think this was free? You think this didn’t cost any money?”
In a letter to FEMA head Deanne Criswell, who was New York City’s emergency management commissioner during the pandemic’s peak months, Schumer and others said it is “unfair to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in reimbursement for NYC H+H, who was on the frontlines combatting the first epicenter of COVID-19 in the nation.”
At the event, Schumer, Ritchie, Charles, SSEU Local 371 President Anthony Wells, Lincoln Hospital CEO Christopher Roker, and other union leaders repeatedly chanted “$860 million!”
Some 8,700 Local 420 members work as essential employees at 11 public hospitals and clinics. Additionally, DC Locals 371, 436, 768, 924, 1407, 1549 and others represent another 9,300 employees who make NYC H+H run. NYC H+H is the largest public healthcare system in the nation; yet, its facilities are notoriously underfunded and short-staffed. Even as most New Yorkers sheltered in place in 2020, Local 420 members and other dedicated essential city employees reported to work throughout the pandemic.
“Local 420 lost 25 members to COVID and hundreds more public workers contracted the insidious virus,” Charles said. “We kept working and carried the brunt of sick and dying patients during this global health crisis. We treat the most vulnerable New Yorkers because that is the mission statement of Lincoln Hospital and the NYC Health+Hospitals system. We take our mission seriously.”
The Delta variant threatens to cause another COVID surge. “FEMA needs to release the $860 million. We need every dime, every dollar, for PPE for workers and to ensure that public hospitals are not forced to turn away anyone in this pandemic,” Charles said.
Rep. Torres said FEMA has paid NYC H+H $266 million to date.
“We know that COVID has cost the public hospital system $2 billion, so the $860 million we’re requesting is only the tip of the iceberg,” Torres said. “We’re coming back for more.”
On Aug. 12, the Senator had breakfast with Charles and local officers to update them on his efforts to get the emergency funds. He also urged them to make use of the child care tax credit advance payment that arrived on Aug. 13.
