This letter appears in Sunday's Courier News (see here) --
Muhlenberg closing will only cost more in the long run
The closing of Muhlenberg Hospital is a serious problem not only for the Plainfield community but for healthcare in New Jersey in general.
While not all local hospitals can afford to maintain the latest in high-tech medical care, taking a hospital facility out of a major city like Plainfield is a disservice to all of us. Not only does it remove basic health care further from a major population center, it does so for many who can not likely afford transportation costs to other central New Jersey facilities. The closing also shifts another load of uninsured and charity care onto facilities that are already struggling with the burden they already shoulder.
The purpose of having community-local hospitals is to put basic care in the population centers where people who need care can access it readily. I am pleased to see that ER services will continue. But what about basic obstetrics for healthy term births (sick and seriously preterm babies are already transported to Level II and III facilities)? What about reproductive health care and screening for both men and women? What about well-child care and immunizations for those who are uninsured? What about hospice care, so that dying elderly and sick can remain closer to their families?
While Solaris is entitled to be concerned about its bottom line, closing Muhlenberg is only creating additional burden on those least prepared to deal with it and is costing all of us more in the long run. I call on our state and local officials and community leaders to broker a better solution for Plainfield and for Muhlenberg.
MARGARET W. SULLIVAN
Somerville
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1 comment:
The most important thing now is for Plainfield to have a plan B.
This would entail learning from past mistakes. Do we want an emergency room with a Muhlenberg name on it? That would be a disgrace to the service of that institution’s history. It would be a tragedy to leave a fragment of a former institution on that land?? Does anyone remember Tepper’s and what it did to the community psyche?
Solaris says that location didn’t work. Plainfield would need to get the highest and best use out of that land/campus. Lleaving an emergency room there is like putting a pair of brown shoes in a tuxedo shop.
There can be a future for that sight if it is not burdened with what Solaris and Assemblyman Green are pushing. Why can’t we use the resources they are willing to provide and build the emergency room somewhere else in the district? Plainfield Health Center comes to mind or South Plainfield ??
This would leave Plainfield with a Campus in one of the best neighborhoods in the City to market to Rutgers or possibly a medical teaching facility to go along with the nursing school that will be left there. How about the New School? Anything but what they are talking about, wake up everyone!
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