Patients, hospital staff, community groups rally to save Hahnemann
The protest came one day before Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) is expected to hold his own rally Monday afternoon at Hahnemann railing against its closure.
On Sunday afternoon, members of the Poor Peoples’ Campaign — a grassroots campaign uniting the working class — hosted a protest against the closing of Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Former patients, hospital staff and medical students, as well as organizations throughout the city, including Put People First! PA, Act Up!, and the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration, shared their experiences of the closing outside the hospital at 230 N. Broad St.
Protesters held signs that read “Health care is a human right” and “Patients over profit.”
The protest came one day before presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) is expected to hold his own rally Monday afternoon at Hahnemann railing against its closure. Sanders has cited the hospital as an example of why the country needs his “Medicare for All” plan.
As of Sunday, the Hahnemann emergency department remains open for noncritical patients, but patients who come to the ED with more serious medical needs will be stabilized and transferred to another hospital. Admissions to the hospital from the ED are slated to end on July 17, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
In late June, Philadelphia Academic Health System, which owns the hospital, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and said it planned to close Hahnemann in early September.