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HlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIllllllilllllllllllimillllllKHIIIIIHIIIUIIIIUIIIIIUIIUmillllllllllillllilllllllllilllilillllllligillllllUSIIIUUllllHIlllllllll U1I4111 Ut 11IU1UI llllUtHHIIUlEiilUlflUUtUIUlimailHUUaefKiUIlU tH I! iLocai Mars Dies in Park:Official Says Hospital Erredby John Blackmore/Last week the unfortunatedeath of Heights resident Sidney Simkovsky was reportedafter he collapsed, apparentlyof a heart attack, in theColumbia Street Playground,just south of Atlantic Ave.According to witnesses whotried to solicit help for Simkovsky, the emergency roomstaff at Long Island CollegeHospital refused to dispatch anambulance or medical help forthe ailing man only two blocksaway. Instead the dispatcherr notified the police.To compound the problem,%u2019 when the police radio cararrived, the officers refused to%u25a0%u25a0 administer artificial respiration.0 They, in turn, dispatched anoxygen unit and an ambulance.By the time the oxygen unitarrived, it was apparently toolate. The LICH ambulancearrived still later.While it is difficult to ascertain who, if anyone, is at fault inSimkovsky%u2019s death, it becameclear this week that there werecertain procedures available tothe emergency room personnelat LICH which could have beenused to expedite the immediatedispatch of an ambulance without first contacting 911, thecity%u2019s emergency service number.An LICH administrator, JohnWingate, contacted last weeksaid that the hospital does nothave the authority to dispatchits own ambulances in suchcases. %u201cW e don%u2019t have controlon releasing ambulances,%u2019%u2019 theofficial claimed, %u201c One has tocall 911, they do the dispatching. They call the nearesthospital.%u2019%u2019According to a spokesmanfrom the Emergency MedicalService Division of the City%u2019sHealth and Hospital Corporation, however, a hospital candispatch an ambulance in sucha case. %u201c If the hospital iscontacted in such an emergencycase, they certainly can dispatched an ambulance,%u2019%u2019 thespokesman reported, %u201c Theyclearly followed the wrongprocedure in this case. There%u2019sa special directive for suchemergency cases, and the hospital should know it. They candispatch an ambulance withoutgoing through us. The oniyrequirement is that the hospitalnotify us sometime afterwards.%u2019%u2019 The City Health andHospital Corporation regulatesemergency procedures for thedispatch of ambulances. Thespokesman added that in situations not requiring immediateattention, the emergency roomdispatcher would direct thecase via 911.Concerning the police officers action, the procedure isless clear. Officers at the 76thPrecinct say that what an officerdoes in such a case is more orless up to the judgment of theofficer. In addition, precinctofficials were not clear on whatthe right medical procedure isfor the emergency treatment ofheart atacks.Inspector Adam Butcher,Chief Inspector of the BrooklynSouth Division, backed up thestatement given by the 76th.%u201c Officers are given first aidinstruction at the Police Academy,%u201d Butcher said, %u201c But theofficer on patrol has to play it byear. The first thing an officershould do is call for emergencyservice (which the officers inthis case did), then they maydecide to give him first aid ortake him to the hospital.%u201dButcher emphasized that apolice officer is not a doctor,%u2018 %u2018What if someone has a bone inhis throat? Artificial respiration may exacerbate the situation.%u201dMeanwhile two of the witnesses have contacted Councilman Fred Richmond's office.Richmond has forwarded theircomplaints to both police andhospital officials, and has promised that a full investigation ofthe actions would be made.'iHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiimiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiiiigiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,Slope CoalitionPresents AlternateExpansion PlanTo MethodistBY JOHN BLACKMORETwo plans and a list of demand: will be the subject of a community meeting to be held Friday, May 3, at the Ethical Culture Society Meeting House at 50 Prospect Park West at 8 p.m. The Park Slope Health Coalition, the sponsor of the meeting, unveiled an alternative plan last week which meets their objections to the plan submitted by Methodist Hospital for its proposed $90 million expansion.The plan the Coalition favors was prepared by architect Ron Schiffman of Pratt Institute%u2019s Center for Community and Environmental Development, a Slope resident. The key aspects of the plan are that Sixth Street would remain open to vehicular traffic, no further destruction of sound housing would , be necessary, and that the construction of facilities would be - %u201c integrated with a comprehensive health care plan for the community.%u201d In addition, the plan includes: i; the establishm ent of day-care facilities for the staff and community, a different elaboration of clinic %u00ab and emergency-room care, the building of housing to replace that which was demolished (open to both community and hospital staff), and the establishment of off-site clinics for areas not contiguous with the hospital%u2019s main facility.The Pratt Center%u2019s plan was designed in response to community objections to the hospital%u2019s original plan presented at various forums during the past year. This plan called for the closing of Sixth Street, the demolition of more whitestones in the area, and the building of an acute care facility over Sixth street Un the eve ot the community meeting, Methodist Hospital officials released the rudiments of a new plan, designed to meet some of the community%u2019s objections. The new plan, radically different from the one earlier , proposed, is termed by hospital officials as %u201c the preferred plan%u201d . Unlike the earlier plan, it followsthe thrpp oniHplinec cuoap%u00abtf>rt la%u00abt------------- O %u2014 - - \- \June by Community Planning Board 6, which tentatively approved the Sixth Street closing on theconditions that: the line of sight of the street remain open, the grade of the street not be changed, and that the area be kept open to pedestrian traffic from the community. Many of the aspects of the new plan are similar to those proposed by the Coalition. The new acute care tower is shown on the south side of Sixth Street, not overlapping it. The street is kept open to pedestrians with a traffic rotary about mid-block and a terraced garden shown at the east end. The plan also indicates the building of new row houses to surround the acute care tower.Also shown in the plan, however, is the demolition of the last row houses on Sixth Street. These houses have been a sore point between the hospital and the community for the past two years as the hospital, commitments to the community notwithstanding, commenced demolishing one after the other in preparation of the site. The hospital claims that the most recent demolitions were required by city housing officials who determined them unsafe.Concerning other community demands, the hospital%u2019s response was not conciliatory. Hospitals Planning Administrator George Wright said that the hospital had had %u2018%u2018tentative conversations%u201d with community groups about a joint housing venture, but that these plans had to be abandoned since the funding situation requires that any housing built be used solely for hospital staff. Of the remaining houses on*Sixth Street, Wright said that the hospital had made no promises about saving these. %u201c It is certainly part of the plan that they would go,%u201d his architectural consultant asserted.To the demand for staff-community day care facilities, Wright said, %u201c It is our position that other institutions in the community should carry this function. Our function is health care.%u201d Concerning the community demand forn f f . c i f o o lin i/ ^ c f h p h n c n t t a l c n c x lrA c -men, claimed that this possibility had been fully investigated. %u201c We5 th Street6th Street7th StreetDiagram above details suggested plan revisions presented to Methodist Hospital recently by thePark Slope Health Coalition. Solid lines show the revisions sought by the Coalition, while the dottedlines Indicate the expansion plan as proposed by the hospital officials. [Diagram courtesy of the PrattInstitute Center for Community Development]Tenant Groups Meet withOfficials on Rent IncreasesWhat has been described as the current housing crisis in Park Slope has triggered announcements by leaders of six major Park Slope neighborhood and political organizations of an emergency public forum Sunday, May 5 at 2 p.m. in the Park Slope Methodist Church on 6th Ave. & 8th Street.Democratic Assemblyman Michael Pesce and State Senator Carol Bellamy are expected to attend the public session. Organizers are uncertain, however, whether local City Councilman Thomas Cuite will attend. %u201c Mr. Cuite%u2019s position vis a vis housing and related matters is regarded as a crucial one by both local and city wide housing organizations,%u201d organizers said.A spokesman for the coalition responsible for the coming May 5 event charged that %u201c Cuite%u2019s office has been evasive on the question of whether the Councilman will attend tkn ~ . . u i ; %u201e _%u00bb* p u u n v l u v v t i i i g ,The coalition includes the Neighborhood Tenants Council; Park Slope Senior Citizens; Frank Torres, Director of Fifth Ave. Coalition; Ambulatory Care Services Advisory Committee, Methodist Hospital; Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and the Prospect Towers Tenants Association.%u201c We want to talk to Mr. Cuite,%u201d Michael Shulman, Co-Chairman of the Neighborhood Tenants Council, declared, %u201c because repeal of the 4% pass-along rent increase is now in the hands of the City Council. Furthermore,%u201d Shulman added, %u201c it will be up to the City Council to resist future pressure from landlord lobbies for more n a s s -a lo n e increases.%u201d%u2019These increases,%uwmiiiiiHtiiimiiiiMHiutmiiMimmtiUiiHiiHiuimmiHiuiimmiiiiiiimJohn Wojcik, President of Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, %u201c are over and above the profits already guaranteed by law to the landlords.%u201dOther housing demands around which the Coalition is organized include Repeal of Vacany Decontrol and the Maximum Base Rent; Lower Rents for Senior Citizens; No More Mitchell-Lama Rent Gouging; Safe and Livable ApartmcntsStrict Code Enforcements; Ending of Racist Renta! Policies- Decent Housing for All; Safe Sound Housing and Keen 6th Street Open- Support Community Alternate Plan for Methodist Hospital.ititimtimtimiuiiiiimmimiiimiiiiiiiiURtwMHiiMiuimiiiiiitiiiiituiuumtiii.m m m 155 Atlantic Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11201 Tel 643-1032A com m u nity new spaper published weekly, except the first w eek of July and %u2019he last w e ek of August ******* * * * **** fserving the neighborhoods surrounding Downtown Brooklyn, including Boer urn H ill. Brooklyn Heights. Carroll Gardens. Cobble H ill. Fort Groene and Park SlopeSubscription rate is $5 00 per yearThe entire contents of THE PHOENIX are copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any torm without express permissionA pplication to M ail at Second Class Postage Rates is Pending at Brooklyn, New %u2022 * * * *1 * *%u25a0* ' %u25a0 '* '* * 3 -fUnaWW.%u2019 V r. mottmMay 2, 1974, PHOENIX, Page 3