Editorial: Enough time for a miracle?

Today's Courier editorializes on the worthy but uphill battle by supporters to keep Muhlenberg a full-service hospital.

Read more here: "Muhlenberg: Enough time for a miracle?".

Muhlenberg Supporters: Healthcare, Not Warfare!

An email passed along by the 'Save Muhlenberg' network -- Rally is today, 11 AM.

The fight is far from over. Everyone of us succeeded the minute we chose to do anything rather than just sit there & let it happen. Now it is even more urgent to get those who said that they were interested in buying the hospital & running it to remain active. I am concerned about what Cathy had added about the license to the CN. I think that her condition might be helpful but perhaps I am wrong.

If I am understanding what she said at the hearing speciality hospitals do not have to treat everyone. They can turn people away. Her stipulation was that the license has to be keep as a full service acute care hospital specifically so that no one can come in and buy it at a discount to make a "medical mall".

It is also very important for everyone to see the connection this issue has to race & class. As we live with what is going to be our "Great Depression" elected officials (Jon Corzine) brag about the largest budget cut in the history of the state of NJ. They allow NJ's National Guard to be deployed again!!!!! Many of these men & women are serving their 3rd tour of duty!!!!!!

And as they do this our elected "representatives" are planing their attack on Iran. (If you think $4.00 a gallon is a lot to pay for gas just wait till they attack Iran!)

Don't put your hopes in elected officials. Put your hope in your selves and each other. Don't let your activism stop now.

The next step is to join us Saturday in front of the Military recruitment office in downtown Plainfield at 11 AM. It is on Front Street at Park Ave. Just 3 storefronts down from where we had our protest recently where we marched in the street.

HEALTHCARE NOT WARFARE!

Muhlenberg closure OK'ed

The State Health Planning Board unanimously recommended the closure of Muhlenberg yesterday.

Read the media coverage here:

• Courier: "Board votes to close hospital"
• Courier: "Emotions run high at meeting to determine hospital's fate"
• Courier photo gallery is HERE.
• Ledger: "Panel unanimously backs closing of Muhlenberg hospital"

Coverage of 'graveyard' press conference

Today is D-Day, when the State Health Advisory Board meets to vote its recommendation to Commissioner Howard regarding the proposed Muhlenberg closure.

Both papers have stories on yesterday's 'graveyard' press conference.

Read more here:

Courier: "Activists stage 'graveyard' rally to protest closure"

Ledger: "Final protest of hospital closing"

Jim Colvin responds to Ledger editorial on Muhlenberg

The Star-Ledger editorialized on Muhlenberg's closing yesterday (6/24/08) and Muhlenberg supporter Rev. Jim Colvin, pastor of the United Church of Christ, responded with the letter below, submitted to the Ledger and also circulated by email. The complete editorial and a link to the original online version appear after Jim's letter.

-- Dan Damon

_________________________

LETTER

Star Ledger Exhibits Ignorance
and Arrogance on Muhlenberg

The Star Ledger printed an astonishingly ignorant and arrogant editorial on the proposed closing of Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield. The editors steadfastly ignored research we sent to them refuting the Certificate of Need by Solaris Systems and illustrating ten years of transferring money making assets out of Muhlenberg to the advantage of Solaris' main concern, JFK Hospital in Edison.

The proposal that a puny satellite emergency room should suffice for an urban area with no nearby accessible hospital is the height of upper middle class arrogance. The Ledger's attitude toward, just as an example, the 1200 mothers who deliver babies yearly in Plainfield is virtually, "Let them take helicopters" ala Gov.. Corzine, whose attitude is the same. The Ledger, Corzine and Solaris all have this in common: they practice an ethic of the survival of the fittest and the richest. Unfortunately for them, some of their wealthier friends will be rudely awakened to find JFK and Overlook hospitals even more over-crowded and inaccessible to them.

Shame on the Star Ledger for failing to do its homework on Muhlenberg, for ignoring our repeated pleas to cover the story in depth, and then writing its nasty editorial two days before The State Planning Board's final hearing.

The Ledger is obviously in bed with the State and Solaris, in spirit if not in fact.

This is the shoddiest form of journalism that I have seen in this newspaper.

They will probably not print my title and office, as they refused to do so a few weeks ago in a letter by Rev. Sarah Colvin (my wife) and myself.


Rev. James Colvin
Pastor
United Church of Christ
Plainfield, NJ

_________________________

Full text of the Star-Ledger editorial, Tuesday, June 24, 2008. Original can be found here.

OPINION

A satellite-hospital solution

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Keeping the emergency room open when a hospital closes is a logical solution for those needing quick help. That is what the state Department of Health and Senior Services recommends for Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center in Plainfield, and it's a suggestion that should be accepted.

Muhlenberg -- which is expected to run an $18 million deficit this year -- is among the latest in a string of New Jersey hospitals seeking state permission to close.

Some community groups are fighting to maintain a full-service hospital in Plainfield, citing the long distances to the nearest hospitals. Unfortunately, history teaches that once a hospital's owners throw in the towel, resuscitation is not realistic. The satellite emergency department option -- with proper arrangements for transferring patients to full-service hospitals when necessary -- could be the best option for many of the communities destined to lose their hospitals.

In October, for example, Overlook Hospital in Summit took over the Union Hospital emergency department when Union closed. The Union emergency department sees about 60 patients a day, close to what Union had been averaging when it was a fully operating hospital. The emergency room typically sends four patients a day to Overlook for admission.

There's some irony in that the emergency room, traditionally a financial loser, is paying for itself under this arrangement. The unit has delivered babies and stabilized patients suffering cardiac emergencies and strokes and transferred these people to full- service hospitals. It also has treated patients who walked in and out on their own.

Patients at Union's satellite department usually see a doctor within 15 minutes of arrival. That kind of timing, compared with the long waits often associated with emergency rooms, could be the key to whether these programs succeed. They get the job done more quickly because they do not have to wait to share key equipment or personnel with inpatient operations.

Elsewhere, the Adventis HealthCare group built a free-standing emergency room in Germantown, Md., to serve a rapidly growing, traffic-congested area. It quickly attracted 5,000 more patients a year than expected. Adventis officials say short waits and the 24-hour, no-appointment convenience attracted many patients, including those with the insurance and cash to see private doctors if they chose.

It remains to be seen whether the same will happen in urban communities with large indigent populations and chronic health care needs, such as Newark, where two hospitals have closed.

This is not the solution for every dying hospital. All communities will benefit from accepting the inevitable, instead of fighting it, and allowing their hospitals to become what the communities need them to be.

Thursday vote on Muhlenberg: Buses available

xxx

Muhlenberg supporters from Plainfield and surrounding communities who wish to attend Thursday's Health Planning Board meeting in East Windsor can take a bus.

Round-trip bus transportation is available from Randolph Road and Park Ave., Plainfield at 8 AM on Thursday morning The bus fee is $15 round-trip.

Those wishing to testify on Thursday must phone the Department of Health and Senior Services beforehand. Call: (800) 367-6593 or (609) 292-7837.

For those who are driving down, more information and map/directions are HERE.

Meeting of the State Health Advisory Commission
Thursday June 26, 2008
9:30 AM - 2 PM
Topic: The Proposed Closing of Muhlenberg Hospital in Plainfield,New Jersey
Location: The Holiday Inn, 399 Monmouth St., East Windsor, NJ

Trinitas pinches pennies

Just when you were trying to get your arms around the notion of having to deal with using Trinitas hospital in Elizabeth, comes a front-page story in today's Ledger about trimming costs -- including limiting ketchup packets with patient meals.

Exhibit No. 1? Trinitas.

Read more here: "As costs spiral, hospitals watching their pennies".