The fight to save the financially strapped Community Hospital at Dobbs Ferry received some political fuel Saturday.

Holding signs and chanting a plea to keep the hospital open, more than 100 people met a group of visiting local and state politicians led by State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers). Newly appointed Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) also joined in the fight. The hospital was placed on a list of hospitals slated for closure last month by the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, which was formed in an attempt to trim state medical costs.

Hospital officials say closing Dobbs Ferry will hurt their finances and level of care in other facilities also in the Riverside Healthcare System that serve the region. They have filed a lawsuit against the state to prevent the shutdown. Hospital officials say the state has not responded to the lawsuit, but they expect a trial in State Supreme Court to begin sometime in February.

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