Stony Brook Med cuts would be too painful

I read with interest your article regarding the potential cuts and layoffs at Stony Brook University Medical Center ["Med center: 700 jobs at risk," News, March 2]. The burn center may be one of the units on the chopping block. I acknowledge that these are dire times, but some economies are false.

The burn center is the only one of its kind east of East Meadow. Scientists there are developing procedures such as the living skin bank, which would grow an individual's skin for grafting to other parts of the body. This would decrease the likelihood of rejection, speed healing and discourage infection, one of the greatest complications of burns.

Firefighters and other public safety professionals of Suffolk County have an obvious interest in keeping the burn center open. Recently, a fire in Hampton Bays caused five firefighters to tumble into a burning basement. Two required treatment at the burn center.

We teach the axiom, "time is tissue," meaning that the amount of time spent obtaining the proper treatment is directly proportional to the recovery of the patient. The longer it takes the patient to get to proper care, the less positive the outcome.

Should the burn center at Stony Brook close, the next unit would be almost 80 miles away. You can see how unacceptable that is to the public safety providers of Suffolk County.

Thomas Cronogue

Wheatley Heights

Editor's note: The writer is president of the Suffolk County Firefighters Burn Center Fund, a charity of emergency service providers.
 

The proposed draconian state budget cuts may force Stony Brook University to close its children's psychiatric inpatient unit. This is a 10-bed facility serving severely mentally ill children ages 4 to 12, children whose explosive or suicidal behavior has been unmanageable in an outpatient setting. Ours is the only comprehensive university and hospital-based children's inpatient unit in Suffolk County, and it serves Nassau County residents as well. More than 1,000 children have been evaluated, educated and treated in this unit in the past decade.

If Stony Brook is forced to close this unit, the most seriously psychiatrically ill children will receive either no treatment or will be forced farther away from their homes and communities and more certainly into the revolving door of inadequate mental health care.

Dr. Gabrielle A. Carlson

Deborah M. Weisbrot

Editor's note: The writers are from Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Carlson is a professor and director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Weisbrot is an associate professor and director of child and adolescent outpatient psychiatry.