Broadlands Hospital Approved!

By the way, someone asked if I'd rather live near a massive office complex. The answer is a resounding YES! That's what we were told was going to be there and we deemed it acceptable. We're not here during the day and from personal experience these places tend to clear out in the evening and weekends and holidays. As white collar professionals we could have possibly gotten new jobs there. I can't fathom the fervent desire to attract this circus to our little community. Helicopters, ambulances and people with various and sundry psychoses dropping by to pick up their medications. I'm not against health care for loudoun or the mentally ill or what have you. I just don't think this particular tract of land is an appropriate spot for this hospital.

 

Broadlands will be the next "Ashburn Village" when we all eventually move out and/or put our properties up for rent. Another 5 years this area will be a zoo.
We are outie in 2006.

 

THANK YOU, coopstar, for the most succinct and rationale statement made on this topic in a L-O-N-G time. Thanks for bringing back some sense after having to wade through the rantings and the scare tactics (NON-VERBATIM QUOTE: "WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!? We must have hospitals placed throughout every sq. inch of the county in case something happens!) of the HCA/HOA.

 

You know COOP, I am more for than against the hospital and that will probably not change unless something earth shattering happens. But I will echo Chris's post and give you your props for an excellent post.

 

I was reading an article about the accident involving the 15 year old driver in the pickup truck. The part that struck me as strange was the fact that the driver was taken to Loudoun Hospital then transferred to Inova Fairfax. I am curious as to why? Was Loudoun too crowded or do they not have the facilities to handle critical care patients? This is not meant as a shot at Loudoun hospital I am just concerned about the amount and type of care that is available locally.

 

Loudoun is not equipped to handle severe traumas.

 

The orthopaedic surgeon chosen by the family to repair his crush injuries does his surgeries out of Fairfax Hosp. Adam had to have several metal rods installed.

 

Additionally, they moved him to Fairfax to cut down on the visitors. Several kids went out to see him anyway. The hospital called Stone Bridge and asked them to tell the students not to visit anymore. It was too hard on the staff, the crowd of kids that went to see him. Because if the circumstances of the injuries, they transferred him to fairfax

 

Cliff,

I have provided you with the information via e-mail. Please post any reaction or movement relating to the subject. Thanks.

 

einstein-
I forwarded it on to folks at HCA. However, as your email noted, the parcels of land have "recently" come on the market. HCA has already purchased the property in Broadlands.
They also stated they wanted to locate as far west as they could (and still have public water and sewer) to serve western Loudoun residents.
coopstar-
Ashburn Village wanted to get a feel from their residents about whether they support the proposed hospital. Last I heard, the vast majority do. As far as the comment about "the nuthouse", not much can be done about ignorance. Except education.
Also, the cargo jets depart between 11pm-12am. This is every night. I hear them. I somehow doubt I'll notice 1-2 helicopters per week.

If anyone else wants to flee Broadlands and the upcoming hospital, now is the time. I've spoken to realtors and have had numerous people call me because they SPECIFICALLY want to live in Broadlands. I guess they think since I'm on the Board, I know about any houses coming up for sale! The folks I've spoken to are aware of the hospital and not a single one has expressed concern and one was actually thrilled it was going to be built here. Kinda goes against the theory of hurting house values.........

 

vacliff:

I noticed your recent post on the thread about Loudoun becoming number one, in which you said something like "good thing we're finally getting a second hospital." Did the Washington Post article mention anything about us having the fastest growing need for mental health services? Or that one fourth of the new population is in need of such services? And please no lectures about ignorance and education. It may be true that people are for "a hospital," but don't pretend that people are well aware of this one. The mental health services have never been promoted as a positive aspect of this facility, yet they represent a big (if not the biggest) chunk of the services. In the last proposal, they were even a larger percentage (one third I believe). In my view, these services have really been downplayed by the pro-hospital side.

This proposal (and its predecessors) smells fishy to me. Maybe if someone could show me how the breakdown of services correlates with the public's needs, I could be swayed otherwise, but frankly, I don't think there's been much effort to honestly "educate" anyone.

 

Brooks5: That's one highly intelligent post. Bravo! Unfortunately, I'm sure that I will not be able to say the same about the vitriolic response you are sure to get. (How dare you question the HCA/HOA!)

Also, did anyone notice that VaCliff made a big point out of Ashburn Village supporting HCA hospital plans? It's awfully nice to see our HOA is doing its best to represent the Village!

 

SK8R: Maybe we already are Ashburn Village? VaCliff must have moved to the Village already because he is already advocating for their views and concerns!

 

Cliff, A friend of mine attended the Ashburn HOA meeting when the discussion about HCA came up. My understanding as well as theirs was that Ashburn is not supporting HCA nor are they denying support for HCA. My understanding was that they were going to remain neutral on the subject. Also, there are many Ashburn Homeowners that I have personally talked with who DO NOT want this hospital. So I don't know where you are getting your data when you said "the vast majority" from Ashburn support it. As for the water and sewer issue that you mentioned, you might want to do a little bit more research on that.

 

Cliff, sorry those cargo planes keep you up at night, but honestly the last plane I hear is around 10 p.m. Nevertheless, I don't understand your rationale about the helicopter noise at night. How does compounding a problem alleviate or negate it?

Also I'd like clarification how you present Broadlands residents' support for this hospital. As the vice president of Broadlands HOA I believe you're supposed to represent the views of the residents express or implied. The majority of Broadlands residents are against the hospital. Those were the results of the survey. Please abide by the democratic process and honor the survey.

As far as hurting house values, the hospital hasn't been built yet so the effects have yet to be felt. I would imagine most new people looking for a home only concern themselves with the immediate vicinity of their prospective home, so people moving in to Southern Walk for instance would be more concerned about airport noise and that high density area that's going in down there. How would a prospective buyer know what they want to build there anyway? Where's HCA's sign for a future hospital? Why hasn't the site plan been updated? The sign for Clyde's restaraunt went up before they recieved their special exceptions. Regarding the hospital however, I do believe it'll have an impact on some homes in Broadlands. Home prices won't drop, but it'll be a little more challanging to sell. Saleability vice price.

 

Looks like another monkey wrench has been thrown in the way of HCA, the BoS has voted that the Zoning Board look at Loudoun Hospital's request that the county require any new hospital to be built along the underserved RT 50 corridor in the southern part of the county. The vote was 8 For to 1 against.

Source: Leesburg Today week of April 9th

Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

Your right, the BOS supports the amendment that LHC proposed for the comprehensive Plan. (remember ANY land owner could have proposed an amendment to the comprehensive plan). York...surprise, surprise was the ONLY BOS member that does not support smart planning for healthcare in Loudoun County. Loudoun County is one county that does not have a comprehensive plan that shows where hospitals and/or healthcare facilities should be located within its borders. (Almost all other counties do have a plan including healthcare facilities). This amendment is not only smart future planning and places hospitals/care centers where they can serve the most amount of people but it opens up any healthcare provider to provide those services.(For those of you that think competition in healthcare is a good thing, this should make you happy too). This is a GREAT opportunity for HCA,(or any other healthcare provider) if they want to build in Loudoun, this amendment lets them know exactly where healthcare is needed. You would think HCA and YORK would be extremely happy about this amendment, it takes all the guess work out of where facilities should be located. These proposed locations could also be proffered in to their HOA regulations and building guidelines so any new prospective home owner will know PRIOR TO PURCHASING a house what will/could be coming. This amendment should make everyone happy. But of course you can't please everyone.

 

Donna, nice spin on this amendment. Hmm.. let me see. No healthcare organization has even sniffed around either Western Loudoun or the South Riding area for opening a hospital. So the BOS waves it's magic wand and says "Gee, I think a hospital in the west and one in south riding would be a neato idea", then magically HCA, or INOVA, or whoever suddenly says "Why didn't we think of that?". No chance in hell that will happen. What this really will do is delay BRMC at most until the next BOS is seated.

What does the BOS creating a County Healthcare plan have to do with creating the actual necessary population density and demographics to support a hospital in either the west or south riding? It can't and it won't. As much as you wish they didn't, healthcare organizations still have a fiduciary component that requires them to at least be revenue neutral (unless you plan to introduce legislation to have the BOS fund a hospital in either of these areas). If the people in western loudoun want a hospital then they should change their zoning to support the population density required to support such a facility. Let them build a Broadlands and Bramblemton.

 

Some answers to questions:
Donna- The Ashburn Village HOA was initially neutral about the hospital. They wanted to poll their residents before establishing a position either for or against it. I spoke to The Ashburn Village HOA President a few weeks ago, and he said, at that time, all responses received were favorable, except one....that one was from an LHC employee. This info is a few weks old, maybe it's changed.

Coop...stop by at 11:15. we can watch the freighters fly overhead from my deck. My point is that, in my opinion, 1-2 helicopters PER WEEK will have no impact on "noise" levels.
The result of the poll, given that the responses were so close and that we did not receive a response from the majority of the community, it essentially was not a mandate either way. Donna, who helped count the ballots both days (thank you!) also agreed that the result did not give a clear indication of the overall opinion of the community.
The HOA Board unanimously supports the hospital proposal. When I return from my work travels, I will be posting a listing of all concerns heard, info we found about these concerns, and sources for the answers. I also ran for re-election to the HOA Board last May. My support for the hospital was well known at that time. Another person ran for the position who is well known to be against it. I was re-elected by an almost 3-1 margin. Following the democratic process, that could be considered a mandate to support it.

Brooks5- 40 out of 164 beds are for adolescent/juvenile mental health beds. Since Winchester Hospital recently closed these services, the only location between Winchester and DC would be BRMC. Seems that is a central location to serve the entire area.

Donna- You imply my facts/research is wrong about 60 contiguous acres zoned for a hospital are wrong. Since you seem to know, please share where this site is located further west or in the Ashburn area.

Chris- I think of myself as an advocate for the hospital, regardless of where people live. I am an advocate for the hospital when I speak to people in Ashburn Farm, Ashburn Village, Belmont Green, Cascades, etc. I don't represent any of their HOA's.

 

Cliff, I don't doubt that you hear planes. I'm just saying that I am not awakenend by any after 10. There is also a BIG difference in decibel levels between a cargo plane at several thousand feet and a helicopter at several hundred that's coming in for a landing. 1-2 flights a week? Where did you get that estimate? I heard 3-5 flights a week. With the population going up...the number of flights per week would also, logically, increase. Again, COMPOUNDING a problem doesn't alleviate it. For example, if you break someone's arm while they have a toothache, is it the same difference because they're already in pain? Faulty logic</u>. When we had a public meeting regarding the planned addition of two more runways at Dulles you said we'd be fine because we were north of the "notch" of the sets of runways and wouldn't hear the additional planes. You never then mentioned you get awakened by the current level of air traffic.

That's great news for Broadlands vis-a-vis Winchester hospital's decision to discontinue housing pychiatric patients. Now we've earned bragging rights of being considered a centralized location for psychiatric care in Northern Virginia! We should go all out and pray that these services get cut in neighboring states so we can become the Crazy Capital of the Eastern seaboard! We're number one! (just jokes people)

Regarding the survey, it doesn't matter what percentage of the community voted. What does matter is that of the number of surveys received, more people were against the hospital than for it. Period. I would imagine most residents are indifferent or on the fence. A real life example of this would be voter turnout at the polls on non-presidential election years. It's usually a very small percentage of possible voters, yet we don't question the results. You mention your three-to-one victory as a "mandate" for the hospital. What percentage of eligible voters in Broadlands participated in the HOA election? Could you please post the numbers so that we may contrast your "mandate" to the nullification of the hospital survey?

Finally I applaud the vision of the BoS. It stands to reason that our elected representatives should decide where critical pieces of county infrastructure should be placed, such as fire and police stations and hospitals. Private industry ultimately serves its shareholders</u> while our supervisors serve their constituents, the citizens</u> of Loudoun county.