News: 03/01/08 - Save Muhlenberg Rally - Courier

As reported in Sunday's Courier --

Cutbacks spur protest

By JARED KALTWASSER
STAFF WRITER

PLAINFIELD — Hundreds of protesters marched at the corner of Park Avenue and Randolph Road on Saturday afternoon, carrying signs saying "Save Muhlenberg Hospital" and chanting "Do not close" to the tune of car horn honks of support.

Police Chief Edward Santiago estimated that between 200 and 300 people turned out to protest Solaris Health System's decision last month to shut down most of the hospital, likely by the end of summer. The rally was organized by the Plainfield Chapter of the People's Organization for Progress.

The closure will leave the city without an acute care hospital, and leave most of the hospital's 1,100 employees out of work. Some hospital services will remain, such as a satellite emergency room and the hospital's school of nursing.

Solaris cited financial woes caused by the millions of dollars in charity care the hospital provides annually, as the reason behind their decision. But Dr. Henry Altszuler, a cardiologist at the hospital, said the closure will affect more than bank accounts.

"I just wanted to say that though the reason for the closing might be money, the cost is going to be human lives," said Altszuler.

Steven Hatcher, president of the Plainfield chapter of the People's Organization for Progress and an employee at Overlook Hospital in Summit, said the community needs to send a loud and clear message that it wants the hospital to stay.

"It might be cold outside, but we must be fired up on the inside," he said.

City resident Kevin Cunniff, who volunteers at the hospital a couple of days each week and whose wife is employed at the hospital, said Muhlenberg's closing was an indictment of the entire health-care system in America.

"People have said for a long time that a society is measured by how they take care of their infirmed and their young kids," Cunniff said. "This just violates that whole idea."

Resident Dottie Gutenkauf wondered aloud Saturday where area residents will go in an emergency situation, and how the area's remaining hospitals might adjust to Muhlenberg's closure.

"It will be devastating not just to the Plainfield community, but to the whole area," said Dottie Gutenkauf. "Where will people go if they have a heart attack or stroke? You've got to get somewhere fast — and that means (somewhere) close."

City Council President Harold Gibson lamented the influence of money in the health-care system.

"The reason the hospital has been talking about closing has nothing to do with anything but dollars and cents. Profit," Gibson said. "The money isn't there, it's just a matter of margin of profit. That's all it is."

Joyce Pollard of Plainfield put it more bluntly, blaming the closure on "greed."

"The greed is so bad today," she said. "People are so greedy, they don't care who they hurt."

But Carrie Faraone, a social worker who just returned to the hospital last week after a stint at another medical center, said the tragedy is that Muhlenberg is a caring hospital with a loyal, supportive staff eager to help anyone who walks through its doors.

"This community needs their help," she said. "This hospital provides excellent care."

Assemblyman Jerry Green said he's asking the City Council to have a financial adviser look over the hospital's finances, though he said the chances of the hospital staying open past the six-month timetable laid out by Solaris are "very slim" at this point.

The People's Organization for Progress will hold a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the duCret School of the Arts, 1030 Central Ave., to discuss how the community can continue on in its fight to keep its hospital. The organization will hold another protest at the hospital on March 15.

Faraone said she doesn't intend to look for another job, because she still has hope Muhlenberg will survive.

"Absolutely there's a chance," she said. "...Where there's a will, there's a way, but the community needs to mobilize."

Jared Kaltwasser can be reached at (908) 707-3137 or jkaltwasse@gannett.com.

Link to online story HERE.