To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Charlena Davis has been going to North General Hospital since it opened little more than 30 years ago, but she may be forced to go elsewhere. The private heath care facility on 122nd Street and Madison Avenue is facing financial difficulties and is struggling to stay afloat.

Area residents say losing North General would be devastating.

"I have a lot of issues going on with my health and they know everything about it, so for me to go to another hospital and have to go through everything all over again, I don't think I'd make appointments like I make them here," said Davis.

"If I had an emergency, how far would we have to go? Right now, we could almost walk there. So that would be awful," said another local.

Assemblyman Keith Wright said it would be a tremendous loss for Harlem to see another one of its hospitals close. In the late 1970s, despite public outcry, Mayor Ed Koch's administration shut down the city-owned Sydenham Hospital.

"There were many many picket lines, many of which I was on," said Wright. "There were protests, a lot of anger going on in the community at the time. I since heard that Mayor Koch had regretted closing Sydneham Hospital."

Sydenham's building is now used as housing for seniors. Wright said the hospital closure would mean the loss of health care and jobs for his constituents, and he is working with others in the community to make sure North General does not suffer Sydenham's fate.

"North General is struggling to keep its doors open. It's our only private hospital uptown here, and it's probably our largest employer uptown in Harlem," said Wright. "We know what it's like in terms of losing a health care facility uptown. We don't want to go through it again."

In a statement, North General officials said, "Like many health care providers, North General has to find ways to cope with dramatic changes to health care, state funding, the economy and our local area. We are actively exploring sustainable solutions that will address these challenges and enable us to maintain the important role North General plays in delivering healthcare to the Harlem community."

Local residents told NY1 that they will make sure to do their part to help keep North General open.

"I would have my whole family out here. We'd be marching right along with the doctors and the nurses," said Davis.

They hoped such potential protests would not be in vain.