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Saving Greenville Hospital
Residents, politicians speak out on possible closing
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Ricardo Kaulessar
Reporter staff writer
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10/13/2007 |
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KEEP THIS HOSPITAL OPEN – Longtime resident
Minnie Torres holds up sign of support for
opening of Greenville Hospital at a public
hearing Thursday night. |
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If public support was all it took to save the 100-bed
Greenville Hospital in southern Jersey City, then the
facility would have a bright future.
Unfortunately, it also needs money, and a change in
objective from the company that owns it.
Over 350 people packed a public hearing at New Jersey
City University Thursday night, three days after more
than 100 attended a "town hall" meeting at the Mary
McLeod Bethune Center on Martin Luther King Drive to
talk about the hospital's future.
Monday's meeting was part informational session, part
pep talk to make people aware of the upcoming Thursday
meeting (which many claim was under-publicized).
Thursday's hearing was for the commissioners of the NJ
Health Planning Board to gather public input on
LibertyHealth's application to the state to close the
hospital.
LibertyHealth Systems, the health care organization that
operates the hospital, filed in June with the state for
"a certificate of need" to eventually close Greenville
as a regular hospital, claming they have lost $3 million
in recent years.
In April, the company said they would like to close the
hospital's emergency room in 12 to 18 months. The health
organization has discussed ending all regular care in
six to nine months.
Since then, a number of public officials, including City
Councilwoman Viola Richardson, State Sen.-elect Sandra
Cunningham, and Kabili Tayari, head of the Jersey City
branch of the NAACP, have scheduled meetings with
LibertyHealth officials and have worked with the
community to fight the closing.
There had been a rally in front of the hospital on June
30, in which over 200 people gathered.
The public sounds off
The public hearing at NJCU was packed, which is what
supporters of Greenville Hospital hoped for.
At one point, the large number of people prompted a NJCU
fire marshal to ask attendees to relocate from the
hearing's Hepburn Hall location to a cafeteria on the
other side of the campus, which they did.
Three members of the NJ Health Planning Board listened
to about two hours of public comments from about 30
speakers, made up of local, state, and federal officials
and local residents.
Mayor Jerramiah Healy opened up the comment session and
spoke beyond the three-minute limit for public speakers.
"I don't think you will hear from anyone who wants this
hospital to close," Healy said.
Healy went on to say the hospital serves upwards of
125,000 people, encompassing three of the city's wards
"This city deserves the care this hospital provides; it
needs it," Healy said.
Richardson, who received some of the loudest applause at
the hearing, said, "We can't figure out what is the
emergency to shut down Greenville Hospital."
She also pointed out that the hospital would need to
stay open to tend to future patients as a result of
development of the city's west side.
Why we need it
U.S. Congressman Albio Sires said small, community
hospitals such as Greenville have to exist rather than
having centralized "megahospitals," which will create a
burden for those having to travel for immediate care,
especially in Hudson County.
"Have you tried getting through this county?" Sires
said, "God forbid I had a heart attack or somebody had a
heart attack getting through this county."
City Councilman Michael Sottolano, who represents the
Greenville area of the city, called for the state to
hold off for one year before making a decision to close
the hospital.
Two of the hospital's doctors, Dr. Michael Wagner and
Dr. Mazzar El-Amir, refuted LibertyHealth's claims of a
$3 million deficit. They said that based on their
research, they found the deficit to be about half that
amount.
And then there were the patients who will be most
affected by closing of Greenville Hospital.
The patients
Maureen Maher, who has had two open-heart surgeries,
gave the most dramatic presentation. She laid out in
front of the commissioners the eight different
medications prescribed to her through her doctor at
Greenville Hospital.
"They are not closing that hospital; they are not taking
away my life," said Maher after the hearing, with her
6-year-old daughter Paige standing beside her.
Other uses for hospital
Hudson County Freeholders Jeff Dublin and Bill O'Dea
proposed at Monday's meeting and Thursday's hearing that
Greenville Hospital be utilized to provide health
services for military veterans in Hudson County who
currently have to travel to Lyons Hospital in East
Orange to receive care.
Sires said that he would work on a federal level to
secure funding to open a veterans care facility at
Greenville.
There were also suggestions of treating very ill Hudson
County prisoners in a tightly regulated "lockdown unit."
LibertyHealth has ideas for alternative uses itself. It
would like to offer in-patient behavioral and addiction
services, detoxification programs, and outpatient
dialysis. The company has gone to the state for $10
million to make the necessary renovations to provide
those services, but was turned down.
Their idea has also met with opposition from the
community, claiming their suggested services would be a
detriment to an area where there's a school, a library
and residential housing.
LibertyHealth responds
Stephen Kirby, LibertyHealth's president and CEO,
attended the hearing, along with other LibertyHealth
officials. He did not speak, but submitted written
comments to the board before the hearing.
"This is one of the hardest things the executives and
board members of LibertyHealth have ever done," he said.
"Nobody wants to close a hospital, and Greenville
Hospital has served the community for more than 100
years. We share the community's sadness over the
necessary closing of Greenville Hospital."
Kirby said after the hearing that he had met with Mayor
Healy, Richardson, and other officials to hear their
proposals, but he said the hospital would incur too many
expenses by having a lockdown unit and care for
veterans.
The NJ Health Planning Board will convene again Nov. 1
in Trenton, when more public comments on the closing
will accepted.
Judith Donlen, chairperson for the board, explained
Thursday that after all public comments, they will make
their recommendations to state Health Commissioner Fred
Jacobs, who can then rule that the hospital stay open
with conditions or can approve the closing.
For comments on the story, contact Ricardo Kaulessar
at hudsonreporter.com
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Hudson Reporter 2007
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