AURELIUS -- Ice and sleet blew into their faces Monday morning as they walked east on Route 5 toward Auburn, but winter weather conditions won't keep Pat Sullivan and Dawn Mele from walking 320 miles to Albany.

Since Jan. 2, five days a week, about eight hours a day, the women walk.

The "Walk to Rescue NYS Hospitals" began at DeGraff Memorial Hospital in Tonawanda, Jan. 2. Participants plan to walk to Albany by Jan. 26 in an effort to save state hospitals. Communication Workers of America created the walk idea, opening it up to volunteers.

On Monday morning, three walkers and a driver left Seneca Falls with plans to walk to Skaneateles by Monday evening.

"We are walking to Albany for all of New York," said Dawn Mele, an employee of Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital, in Buffalo.

Mele's hospital was one of nine hospitals recommended to close in December by the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, also known as the Berger Commission. Locally, the commission recommends that Auburn Memorial Hospital reduce its certified beds by 91 and eliminate its 15 obstetrical beds because of the fewer number of babies being delivered.

Mele and Pat Sullivan, an employee of Degraff Memorial Hospital, another hospital facing possible closure, volunteered to walk. The two women participated the entire 11 days but said there have been up to 20 walkers at different times throughout the trip.

"The idea was an effort between CWA and workers in different buildings. We're trying to do something to let others know what's happening," Mele said.

Health care employees hoped last month that both houses of the state Legislature would vote down the commission's suggestions in December. The houses failed to act on the report -- which includes the closure of nine hospitals, seven nursing homes and the downsizing of 48 hospitals which eliminates 4,200 hospital beds -- so it became law Jan. 1. The changes don't need to be made until June 2008.

The two women of Nurses United CWA Local 1168 along with Paul Leoney, of Buffalo General Hospital, a walker who joined the group Monday morning, and van driver Scott Chapman, traveled through Auburn Monday afternoon.

Chapman follows along behind the walkers driving a minivan that carries rain gear, food, snacks and medical equipment.

"In light of what has happened there has been no voice, no community," Mele said. "This isn't just nurses, it affects all people in health care."

Five days a week protesters begin walking at 9:30 a.m. and walk to about 5 p.m. stopping at some hospitals along the way. They break for lunch and a coffee break during the day, otherwise they keep walking. They rest at hotels at night and travel home on weekends to visit family. But Sunday nights the group reconvenes at the hotel they left and prepares for another five days of walking.

"We're out in the cold walking so our patients don't have to," Sullivan said.

Along the way, participants are working to plan a meeting with Gov. Eliot Spitzer when they arrive in Albany Jan. 26.

"We haven't firmed it up yet but we want him to hear our concerns. This will be devastating for the community," Mele said.

Mele and Sullivan are content with the trip's experiences so far. In some towns and cities people volunteer to walk for a few hours or for the day.

"We want people in Auburn to know they're part of this walk we're doing. It's for everyone, because everyone's affected," Mele said.