OFFICE OF VINCENT C.

GRAY
CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Takiyah “T.N.” Tate

July 9, 2020 ttate@dccouncil.us | (202) 724.8068

New Hospital Bill Unanimously Approved on its First Vote!

Washington, D.C. – The Council of the District of Columbia unanimously approved the “New
Hospital at St. Elizabeths Amendment Act of 2020.”

The bill and its accompanying agreements approve a partnership with Universal Health Services
to establish a new GW Health Hospital and ambulatory pavilion at St. Elizabeths East Campus.

This legislation will transform our health care system through the establishment of a new, state
of the art, community hospital and ambulatory pavilion. The new hospital will be integrated
with the existing George Washington University Hospital with physicians, medical students, and
research provided by the George Washington Medical Faculty Associates and George
Washington University School of Medicine.

Upon the Council’s approval of the New Hospital bill, Ward 7 Councilmember and Committee
on Health Chair Vincent C. Gray released the following statement:

“At the Committee of the Whole on Tuesday, I spoke about how this new hospital legislation
will improve health outcomes for residents on the East End of the District.

“Residents in Wards 7 and 8 do not have equal access to quality health care providers like other
Wards enjoy. We must travel across the Anacostia River to give birth, to receive care for chronic
diseases and to deal with serious incidents of gun violence. There is no ambulatory care center.
There is no urgent care center. There is no neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). There is no
certified trauma center.

“’Black Lives Matter’ isn’t simply a slogan. We must actually fund the projects and services that
address hundreds of years of disparity in education, economic wherewithal, and health. We must
end the racial divide in access to quality health care in this city once and for all. We cannot
earnestly say “Black lives matter” until we truly support achieving health equity across the
District, especially in Wards 7 and 8 where large numbers of black and brown people live.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best with his famous quote that “of all the forms of
inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”

###