Eight protesters arrested after sit-in at shuttered Crozer-Chester Medical Center
Put People First PA!, an organization that advocates for Medicaid and hospital access, organized a rally at Crozer’s Upland campus to raise awareness about the need for hospital services in Delco.
Eight people were arrested after staging a sit-in at Crozer-Chester Medical Center on Monday morning to protest the Delaware County health system’s closure earlier this year.
Put People First PA!, an organization that advocates for Medicaid and hospital access, organized a rally and sit-in at Crozer’s Upland campus to raise awareness about the local need for hospital services.
Crozer-Chester Medical Center was the busiest hospital in the area, with a level II trauma center and 24/7 mental health crisis center before it was closed this spring by its bankrupt for-profit owner, California-based Prospect Medical Holdings.
Upland Police said eight people were ordered out of a professional office building at Crozer that has remained opened for specific appointments. When they refused to leave, the eight people were arrested on charges of defiant trespassing.
The group said it wanted county and state lawmakers to use their eminent domain powers to take control of the hospital. They said they brought banners that read “Take back our hospitals!” and “People over profits!”
Other advocacy groups, including the National Union of the Homeless and the Crozer-Chester Nurses Association, joined the protesters.
The rally was part of a “national day of action for Medicaid” planned by the Nonviolent Medicaid Army, a national advocacy group, seeking to politically organize Americans who could benefit from the government-funded insurance for low-income people and those with disabilities. The organization held similar rallies in Western and Central Pennsylvania over the weekend.
The closure of Crozer Chester and a sister facility, Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park, followed the failure of a state-led effort to find a new operator that would return the Crozer health system to nonprofit ownership.
A group of local healthcare executives are now buying the Taylor facility for $1 million, according to filings last week in Prospect’s bankruptcy court proceedings.