Philadelphia Health Care Crisis
Today members of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union joined the Coalition
to Save Episcopal Hospital in an effort to prevent the area's only Hospital
from closing. Episcopal Hospital is a full service acute-care hospital in
one of the poorest neighborhoods in Pennsylvania. Because few people in
the area have access to medical insurance, the Emergency Room at Epsicopal
is often their only access to health care. Indeed, more than 50% of Epsicopal's
admissions come through the Emergency Room.
The hospital has been taken over by Temple University Health Systems. Since then, staffing has been cut and departments have been closed. There have been numerous reports of dangerous staff shortages. Community Leaders fear that Temple seeks to close the hospital for their financial gain.
Losing Epsicopal Hospital would be devastating to Kensington. Not only is it a source of health care, it is one of the few remaining major employers left in the area. The fact that we must fight to keep a hospital in our community is testimony to the tragic state of health care in our country; another reason we are campaigning for Just Health Care in the United States. Stay tuned for more details.