HEALTH CARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT

I believe that healthcare is a human right. The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest healthcare crisis of our lifetimes. Tragically, the Coronavirus exposed the deep vulnerability of our community. Over the past two decades, Queens has lost an alarming number of hospitals and other healthcare resources. The consequences have been devastating. We have lost loved ones, friends, and neighbors. The lives lost underscore that there is nothing more important than access to healthcare – which is why l have been fighting to ensure that Queens will be underserved no more.

Once reelected as your City Council Member, I will continue to push for legislation that will require all development projects under land use review to include a hospital impact assessment in addition to the required environmental assessment. This will ensure that communities like Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Richmond Hill, and Rego Park have enough hospital beds for emergency care when it is more critical. Not only are we in desperate need of additional hospital capacity, but we need a healthcare system that can provide affordable preventive and primary care, and also have the ability to react to acute issues such as COVID-19. 

As Chair of the City Council Health Committee and as someone who has had first-hand experience working in the healthcare field, I have moved these issues to the forefront to ensure our lives aren’t put in jeopardy because of the government’s inability to make smart decisions about our public health, and will continue to do so once reelected. 

• Save lives by building essential hospital capacity in Queens

• Force all land use decisions to have a health care impact assessment 

• Invest in preventive and primary care by making community health services more accessible for seniors and low income residents

• Increase the funding, and expand the mandate of, the Department of Health to better prevent disease outbreaks and improve public health