Broadlands Hospital

Greg:

Enough! You are personally attacking someone just because they don't share your opinion. It is fine to put information out there to help people form an opinion, but stop acting childish. A lot of your neighbors have valid concerns about a hospital being in their backyard and it WILL be in my backyard because I live along Broadlands Boulevard. I've lived in Broadlands for five years. First in a townhouse and now a single-family. If I had known about the hospital, I would not have purchased a home along Broadlands Boulevard. So, you can be sure that I worry about property values. Some of my other concerns include the increased traffic and noise; the odor and toxins that will be in the air from the incinerator; the introduction of strangers into our neighborhoods, some with psychiatric problems; and it just doesn't fit with the character of Broadlands. Broadlands won't be known as the community with trees and walking paths. It will be known as the community with the "nut house." Also, I think it is very telling that one of HCA's lawyers referred to HCA's recent problems with the government as "billing issues" and "billing nuances" rather than fraud. Two of their executives were sentenced to jail terms and they have agreed to a settlement of approximately $1 billion. The largest settlement that I'm aware of in the health care industry. We worry about what kind of neighbors they will be. Broadlands and Loudoun County should not put their trust in, let alone partner with a company that has such a record of corporate irresponsibility.

 

coopstar,

I didn't realize I was attacking anyone, but if you (or anyone else, especially Donna) took it that way, I apologize.

Just as many residents have valid conerns about a hospital being built here, I have concerns that some of those concerns are not substantiated by facts. The hospital will be in my backyard also, as will anything else that gets built in its place, so I'm also concerned about what that alternative might be. Something will be built in that area, we can't stop that, so right now we have a known versus an unknown.

Let's not turn neighbor against neighbor just because we don't agree on the proposed new hospital. Instead, let's all work together to gather the factual information, make it available to everyone, and let each person make their own decision. Not everyone will reach the same decision or we wouldn't be having this problem in our community. But, at least we will have all used the same information to base our decision on -- right or wrong, as perceived by the opposing point of view. We certainly won't all reach the same decision, but can we accept that and continue to live as neighbors within the community when this issue is over? I hope so.

 

All,

Check out the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) web site at:

http://www.pnhp.org/news_updates.html

for reports such as:

"For-Profit Health Care: Expensive, Inefficient and Inequitable" (2002)

"Competition is bad for your health" (2001)

"New England Journal of Medicine Editorial Says Evidence Against For-Profit Hospitals Now Conclusive" (1999)

There are other similar reports available on the web site.

 

I'm reading through all these posts and see that there are some strong opinions with many questions and answers, but the one question that I have which has not been answered is this. Is there a good reason why this "hospital" must be located in our neighborhood?

Let's see, a N-E-I-G-H-B-O-R-H-O-O-D...... a place where people's homes are, a place where children play in their yards with their dogs under the shade trees, a place where you can ride your bike to a "supporting facility" (i.e. food lion, local gas station....) and get an ice cold drink in the summertime, a place where you can walk along the paved path to enjoy the scenery of ......OOOPS! a hospital.
Yes, its melo-dramatic, but case in point....there is absolutely not a single good reason to put a hospital in a neighborhood....Loudoun is not running out of land so that won't suffice. A neighborhood is just that, a neigh-bor-hood. Its not a complex concept folks. If you want to live next to a hospital, buy yourself a friggin condo downtown. You want to live away from that, buy a home in the suburbs and commute.....hence, here we are.

DwArFlOrD

 

That sounds all nice and good; however, the reality is that land has been zoned commercial from day one for 3 million square feet of office space - that's twice as big as AOL! Eventually something will get built there - I personally hope it is NOT a hospital. I don't think the intent of the land was ever to be related to a neighborhood amenity - it is designed to be a MAJOR commercial site. That should not be a surprise to anyone.

 

I think most people understand that the land along Broadlands Blvd. is going to be developed for commercial use. The big unknown is what that might be. I'm hoping *FOR* office buildings. It seems to me that offices would be the least intrusive to our community. At least offices would mainly involve 9-5 activity/traffic and that would likely taper considerably on weekends. Offices won't routinely involve emergency vehicles and helicopters. Offices will draw essentially the same people every day. A hospital will draw a large group of different people every day, 365 days a year. I think this is a major point that people are not focusing on. I'm concerned about the perpetual flow of strangers coming into and cutting thru our neighborhood. Major hospitals draw a lot of people. You've got in-patients, out-patients, visitors, staff, and people going to the neighboring doctor's offices for appts.

I've become discouraged because my impression is that the only people who seem strongly opposed to the hospital are the ones close to the site. People farther away are either ambivalent or in favor of it. I don't think those people have considered that traffic heading to the hospital from Waxpool/Truro Parish, Claiborne, or Belmont Ridge may well use roads other than Broadlands Blvd to get there. Vestals Gap, Glebe View and Chicacoan are obvious cut-throughs. Certainly, this observation is true for anything built on the site, but again, a hospital by nature will involve different people 24-7, 365 days a year.

There are certainly worse things that could be built on the site. But in my mind, a hospital is definitely towards the bottom of the list. I can't see it as anything but a negative for Broadlands. It's something we don't need inside our community.

 

I dont have a problem with zoning, I have a problem with a hospital in a neighborhood. You can throw up office buildings all day long----I dont care, a hospital is a different ball of wax.
I live about 1.5 miles from broadlands blvd so Im not going to be impacted w/traffic on my street (im on a dead end rd also). In a planned community you should expect commercial zoning, but you would expect that the buildings to be placed there are to support the community, in this situation it is not the case. Its a business (maybe non-profit, but that has no bearing) w/no connection to our community at all (other than "maybe" some jobs---but still can be located somewhere else and provide the same jobs). Its the principal of the thing for me, not the traffic, not the potential depreciation of home values....... It just does not belong. Im still waiting for a reason a hospital should be put in our community...........................
Im agree w/CTGC as well.

DwArFlOrD

 

I guess this will ultimately be decided by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors (and its Planning Commission). Somehow we need to find a way to convince the nine Members of the Board that the negative impacts on our community outweigh the needs of the rest of Loudoun County for a second hospital. I don't know how we do that. The other hope for defeating it is with the State Board of Health. But, based on HCA's presentation, it appears they are going to slam-dunk that one, barring any unforeseen legal challenges. I'm actually feeling pretty pessimistic about our chances of defeating it. According to our own Board of Directors, they say that they're hearing that the majority of Broadlands residents are either ambivalent about it or are in favor of it. <img src=icon_smile_sad.gif border=0 align=middle>

 

Wouldn't a hosptial be better than the dump that has started at that location?

I've lived 400 feet from a fire rescue station and 3 blocks from a hosptial. Yes, the first couple of nights we were awaken. But, after that, we never heard the sirens again. I heard the kids turn in bed, or the dog go to the door, but not the sirens. Everyone is different, so unless you alrady experience the situation, you can only guess.

Traffic is not a problem, they're doing the traffic study now and based upon the current traffic, they could have a single lane road.

I firmly believe to beat the hospital, buy the land; otherwise do not burn your bridge with the Hospital, work with them to make it the best it can be. I'm over the average age I read earlier, so my opinion is based upon the outcome of many similar situations.

 

I'd like to support Greg on his comment about Donna's website.

The preamble of the website states a wish to by unbiased and a source for real information.

I have made four attempts to post a suggestion on this "unbiased" website. My attempted post stated, "the website logo appears to be very biased and uncharacteristic to the stated mission." A fairly innocuous statement, but apparently one that was taken negatively, and therefore, censored.

Additionally, the material being posted is now becoming very one sided and "Heraldo Rivera-esk". Effectively, eliminating a true discussion on this important issue. This is probably why website traffic has been very low and traffic has been of a low frequency. Frequency tends to show people are interested in the content and see value in revisiting the site.

Point is don't be hypocritical. If you don't want the hospital, be upfront, but don't make it sound like you're trying to be objective.

I am undecided on the hospital, but must say, this is a serious credibility issue for the no hospital crowd.

 

In response to AfGM, I am very sorry to hear that your comments where not posted, they were not received by this website. Make sure you have used the correct address...ORG not com. As you can readily tell, comments made to the forum are displayed immediatly. There is obviously no sensorshiop on the forum. We are all interested in reading everyones comments...pro and con. You can see for yourself that there are varying views for and against. To date there have been close to 500 visits to our website. We are all looking forward to reading reasons why the hospital is a good idea for our neighborhood (and to date the majority of comments have been against this plan). I have also asked HCA to provide info if they would like. It is not factual to state that I ignored you, I never received your information. If you have information you would like posted please forward it. I have also made several suggestions that if you want a topic researched to let me know. To date noone has submitted such a request. If you refer back to past posts you will be able to answer some of your concerns about my standing and affiliation with LCH. Thank You, Donna Fortier

Donna Fortier

 

I forgot to mention that the one submission you did submit concerning the website was posted as soon as I read it. Donna

Donna Fortier

 

I am not interested in starting a posting war here. Please take this as a suggestion. If the forum on your site is suppose to work like Broadlands it is not working. Two of my attempts were to that forum, the same way as done here. My other two attempts were sent directly to the webmaster, therefore, I am somewhat surprised you did not receive them, but I'll take your word it was not received.

Also, your viewer counter on the website must be wrong as it shows no where near the 500 number you have. You might want to look into that as the information on the website references lower numbers.

I notice you did not respond to my main point. Any comments on being unbiased? Any comments on the logo?

 

Oh, I forgot to mention. If you are now saying you do have a copy of my requested post, I do not see it anywhere on the .org site.

 

I as well do not want to get into a posting war. For your own info, someone else came up with that logo. For the most part everyone enjoys it. As for your comment about being unbiased...I think that we have been very fair in our postings. If you go to any search engine and put in HCA, I think you will agree that we are posting what we find. I suggested to you to forward suggestions about topics. Also if you would like to do your own research on a topic, and it is verifiable it will be posted, as is everything else. As far as the count on the site, I don't know where you are looking. I have an admin window that shows me all the visits (anonymous visits and member visits) so my statistics are correct. Your post is on the results page forum. Maybe you are having computer problems but it is there. If you have a problem you would like to discuss you can always email me at Dmfortier@erols.com.

Donna Fortier

 

Donna,

Regarding your web site, I sent you several studies quite a while back via email attachments that basically reported there were no differences between for-profit and none-profit hospitals -- none of these showed up on your web site (or at least not the last time I checked). I later posted the links to that information here, along with other links to studies that slammed for-profit hospitals so everyone could read the studies and reach their own conclusions. To insure people have access to whatever information I find (pro or con), I'll post the links here so people have access to them.

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but once again I heard that you, and/or the company you work for, have a business relationship with Loudoun Hospital Center. This may or may not affect your view of the proposed hospital, but we should know if there's a business relationship and what it is so we can reach our own conclusions. A apologize if this information is incorrect, but I do feel this issue needs to be resolved.

Greg

 

From my reading of these comments, as well as the web page, I didn't get the impression that Donna is the only interested party, or that it is her web page. Perhaps the comments seem one-sided because there just isn't anything positve to say about a company such as HCA. Maybe someone can enlighten me with some positive information.