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Allies of Maimonides hospital accuse ex-Brooklyn councilman David Greenfield, who now heads a local anti-poverty organization, of spearheading a vicious effort to damage the beleaguered medical facility.
Save Maimonides supporters addressed a letter to Greenfield, executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, on November 17, naming him as one of the group’s leaders.
The organization has been extremely critical of Maimonides’ administration and has received concerns about deteriorating patient care at the Borough Park private hospital.
The letter was also written to Mendy Reiner, co-founder of Save Maimonides, and Eliezer Scheiner, a major operator of nursing homes.
The letter added, “We are writing now because this false, hateful, and divisive campaign is harming our communities.”
The letter asserts that the group’s campaign against Maimonides “reads like a laundry list of strategies one would employ to destroy a political opponent, rather than enhance a hospital.”
Allies of Maimonides hospital have criticized the leadership of the medical facility.
Paul Martinka
“These activities have extremely negative outcomes. According to a statement signed by 30 religious, civic, and commercial groups, “the campaign asserts that its hate is directed exclusively at the Maimonides leadership, but we hear from physicians, nurses, and other frontline personnel how damaging the assaults have been.”
Monsignor David Cassato of the Brooklyn Diocese, Rabbi Leib Kelman, dean of Bnos Leah Prospect Park Yeshiva, Habib Joudeh of the Arab American Association, Dr. Mohammad Elba, imam of the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, Rabbi Eli Greenblatt, and Javid Khan, chairman of the Pakistani-American Merchants Association, are among those who have signed the letter.
The criticism, according to hospital supporters, is preventing patients from getting treatment at Maimonides, which is “without a doubt the site statistically most likely to save their lives.”
“The campaign claims it wants to enhance access to treatment, but the daily hate it spews can only discourage medical professionals from working in our community,” the letter said.
A letter asserts that the organization’s campaign against Maimonides “reads like a laundry list of strategies one would employ to eliminate a political opponent, not to improve a hospital.”
Paul Martinka
In addition, it condemned the avalanche of criticism as a “grossly twisted evaluation intended to denigrate and weaken” Maimonides.
“Please put an end to this stupid endeavor once and for all before it causes irreparable damage to the hospital and our community,” urged the letter.
However, Greenfield defended his critique of Maimonides’ leadership in the context of the continuing power struggle.
Greenfield told The Post on Sunday, “I’ve literally raised millions of dollars for Maimonides, and the fact that their incompetent management is paying people who live nowhere near the hospital to criticize me for privately stating that the hospital needs better management explains why Maimonides is the lowest-ranked hospital in New York.”
Greenfield remarked that several of the organizations mentioned in the letter had received financial assistance from Maimonides. Few have done so.
Scheiner also justified his part in urging Maimonides to undergo transformation.
His spokesman stated, “Mr. Scheiner shares the overwhelming majority of the community’s worries about the deteriorating status of Maimonides and feels that a leadership change is necessary for the hospital to survive.”
However, as we have often stated, he is not sponsoring the Save Maimonides campaign, and these George Soros-like conspiracy claims are disrespectful.
Scheiner was recognized by Crain’s New York in July as a member of the Save Maimonides group and the hospital’s power struggle.
Reiner responded, “Save Maimonides is a genuine grass-roots effort with over 20,000 signatures demanding new management and thousands of complaints about terrible service, and if they think paying off organizations and pitting communities against each other will prevent us from demanding accountability from the worst-rated hospital in New York, they are as out of touch as they appear.”
Within the context of the continuing power struggle, Greenfield defended his critique of Maimonides’ leadership.
Paul Martinka
The Post has previously reported on the hospital’s troubles, notably its $145 million loss last year.
CEO Kenneth Gibbs’ remuneration nearly doubled in just one year, from $1.8 million to $3.2 million in 2020, as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, despite the fact that the hospital had a $16 million deficit for the year, according to a financial report acquired by The Post.
In July, five state legislators signed a letter demanding for hearings into the hospital’s management, citing high wait times and overworked personnel as reasons for the increase in care complaints.
In August, one of these legislators, state Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), characterized the Save Maimonides group’s push to restructure the hospital’s management as “not kosher.”
Felder, whose district contains Maimonides, stated categorically, “It’s a smear campaign.”
The largest private hospital in Brooklyn, Maimonides, is one of the few surviving hospitals not associated with a bigger hospital network. Maimonides is called a “safety net hospital” since it serves a high number of Medicaid patients. It has been questioned whether it can continue on its own or whether it must integrate with a bigger health care network.