BLOSCHAK: I WILL WORK TO RE-OPEN COLUMBUS HOSPITAL

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Daniel Beckelman
(201)-446-9889

August 31, 2009
 
BLOSCHAK: I WILL WORK TO RE-OPEN COLUMBUS HOSPITAL

Caputo Kisses Up to Out-of-State Hospital Conglomerate Rather Than Fight For Healthcare Access In the North Ward
 

North Newark, NJ- After talking extensively to voters in Newark’s North Ward over the past two weeks, Urban Republican Assembly candidate Andrew Bloschak believes that re-opening Columbus Hospital is critical to the health and well-being of the neighborhood. If elected, Bloschak plans to immediately work toward a change in ownership from out-of-state hospital conglomerate Catholic Health East that would finally allow the Medical Center to re-open.
            “For too long, our neighborhoods have been neglected, our jobs have been lost, and our healthcare concerns ignored by those currently in power. The closing of Columbus not only diminished the quality of healthcare in the North Ward of Newark but was a major blow to the neighborhood. Everyone I talk to in the part of the North Ward I will be representing is dismayed that an out-of-state hospital consortium that does not care about Newarkers closed this hospital. In fact, some of the constituents I was talking to had had relatives lose their good-paying jobs at the facility,” Bloschak said.
            Bloschak also blasted incumbent quadruple-dipping Democrat Assemblyman Ralph Caputo for his lack of concern for district residents on this issue. In April, 2008, Caputo was quoted in a press release from Catholic Health East as supporting the closure, stating, “I’m optimistic that continued collaboration among the City, the city’s legislative delegation, and Saint Michael’s Medical Center, Inc. will help ensure that Newark residents continue to have access to top-quality care.” Yet North Ward residents overwhelmingly want Columbus to re-open as full-fledged hospital.
            “Ralph’s ‘optimism’ was driven more by his characteristic desire to do nothing than true belief. I will never kiss up to a corporate entity that is cutting jobs and healthcare for lower-income people as Ralph Caputo did in letting Columbus Hospital’s acute-care facilities close. I will fight for my constituents every day in Trenton, not throw up my hands in defeat and kiss up to a company that is destroying the fabric of our community,” Bloschak concluded.
 
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