Broadlands Hospital

Another hospital is going to be built sooner or probably later. Can Loudoun (i.e. us tax payers) AFFORD to have another hospital that WILL NOT pay taxes?

HCA would bring in much needed revenue for the county and support Broadlands and our immediate surrounding communities. The influx of several hundred working people alone would help the local housing market and surrounding businesses that ARE ALREADY HERE and currently sufferring.

SELFISH ON
Build it here and it is a win-win situation. HCA gets their revenue base and we get the much needed associated benefits of a large work force.

Build it off Rt 50 and what do you get? A hospital in a somewhat remote part of the county in a corridor that won't be able to support it for years. As for the local infrastructure, it would be South Riding and the other smallish communities that would get the local business unless the workers eat in the hospital cafeteria (for you Lee )
SELFISH OFF

 

What a completely ignorant statement... so the over 46.6 Million uninsured americans (per the 2005 census) dont count and none of them have a mental illness.

 

Lord knows I am mental for being involved with this thread!

 

Perhaps I should have said, "ACUTE mental illness"

I think that I am done with this thread.

 

It is appropropriate that the Hospital thread be located in "Broadlands Community Issues". With that said, it is also important to point out that BRMC effects a much larger community than Broadlands, or Ashburn for that matter.

Other blogs are exploring the topic. I found this one very intriguing and recommend it. I think the blogger is right on the money. Also, read the comments.

http://hoodathunk.wordpress.com/2008/02/02/hospitals-in-loudoun-isnt-it-time-we-had-more/#comments

Hoodathunk is a prolific poster. For convenience, I am posting his comments below.

Hospitals in Loudoun - isn’t it time we had more?

Posted on 2 February, 2008 by Ric James


I was having a passing conversation with a friend living well south of me in Loudoun County and medical needs came up. (A recent issue in his household required a few trips to the hospital.) I related a similar experience I’d had last year and he asked me where I had gone. I had gone to Loudoun Hospital, of course. It’s right up Route 7 from me, maybe 5 or 6 miles and a straight shot, at that. He told me he’d had to go to Fair Oaks Hospital, a distance of 12 or 13 miles, and a good bit of it on Route 50 with all of those lights to stop at. Even with all of that, he said, it was faster and easier to go there than Loudoun Hospital (which is physically closer - I checked) because to go that way required travel through the sometimes byzantine street structure of Ashburn. Why wasn’t there another hospital in Loudoun, he asked?


Excellent question. I remember a few years ago there was a debate ongoing about this matter where a proposed hospital was being actively fought in the political ring. I didn’t write about it at the time because, frankly, I had nothing really to add to the debate. That might have been a mistake. In spite of being granted a Certificate of Public Need (COPN) by the Virginia Health Department, the hospital was denied permission to build by the Board of Supervisors. Perhaps if more citizens had taken a greater interest that might not have been the outcome. The sad part of it, especially for my friend, is that the new hospital would have been operational in 2007 had the permission been granted. The distance between his house and the proposed site would have been maybe 5 miles and in far less traffic than Route 50 presented.


The proposed hospital was the Broadlands Regional Medical Center and, I’ve found, it’s not completely out of the picture. The proposed location is the southeastern corner of the intersection between the Dulles Greenway and Belmont Ridge Road. (Pretty much right next door to the Loudoun County Public Schools administration building.) The facility is being proposed by HCA Virginia, the same people who run Reston Hospital (in Reston, fancy that) and Dominion Hospital (in Falls Church). While I’ve never been to Dominion, I’ve been to Reston and their facility and staff are top notch so I’ve got no concern that Broadlands would be subpar, somehow.

The real kick in the teeth over this comes as you learn more about the overall situation. Remember I said they had been granted a COPN by Virginia? That means the Virginia Health Department thinks Loudoun County needs another hospital. Not in 10 years, not in 5 years, but right now. And that was in 2003. By my watch it’s 2008 and our population hasn’t done anything but grow like a weed in the past 5 years. In that time, how many new hospitals have been built to handle that growth?
None. As in zero.


The situation now is, frankly, dire. In searching further you’ll find that the ratio between hospital beds and residents in Fairfax County - where they have 4 hospitals - is 1 per 675 residents. Loudoun’s is 1 per 1500 residents, almost 3 times worse. By any measure and under any scenario, that’s bad and it’s getting worse as our population continues to grow. There is no doubt at all that our need supports another hospital. So why was it denied?
I recall at the time that one of the reasons given was the distance between Loudoun Hospital and the proposed site was too close. Now, as the Google Map flies, it’s about 6 miles between the 2 sites and that’s closer than the rule-of-thumb 10 miles between hospitals. If Loudoun’s street structure - and particularly Ashburn’s - were a grid pattern with well-timed lights, I’d agree with that. As anyone who’s tried to navigate Ashburn will tell you, it is most definitely not a grid and getting anywhere within Ashburn takes significant time. The population density out here could very easily support a hospital right where it’s being proposed and never interfere with the coverage area of a neighboring hospital.


Another one I recall was one I scoffed at when I heard it that first time; that the presence of the new hospital would dilute the pool of available doctors and nurses and make the existing Loudoun Hospital less competitive. First, I don’t believe it’s the job of County governance to guarantee competitiveness of a business, even a non-profit one. As for a pool of available staff I have the same answer to that as I do for any other industry. If you make the job attractive, you’ll attract the right candidates. But again, that’s a concern for the hospital management, not the Board of Supervisors.


The last one I heard was that there was no community support for the project and/or there was active opposition in the community. While that’s obviously a factor that should be taken into consideration the fact is that virtually anything proposed for and in a community will generate opposition of some kind. One of the more troubling bits I heard was that there was - and remains, if my sources are accurate - someone on the local homeowners’ board who shouldn’t be involved in the discussion in their role as a board member. I am told that there’s a person on that board who stands in firm opposition to the new hospital who is also an employee of Inova Healthcare. Inova is the outfit who runs Loudoun Hospital - a direct competitor to HCA. That, my friends, is the very definition of “conflict of interest” and should be quite enough to require this person to recuse themselves from the discussion or resign their position. My sources do have a name for me, yes, but I haven’t confirmed anything about it and will, therefore, keep it to myself for the moment. Opposition is all well and good but it should be a fair situation. Opposing the project from a position of local authority while being employed by a competing firm isn’t fair in the least and should concern everyone involved greatly.


The fact of the matter is that Loudoun needs a second hospital east of Leesburg. (The argument can be made for a third, too, but let’s get this one added and see how it goes.) None of the arguments raised in opposition to this project are compelling in the face of our experiences over the last 5 years in terms of how easy it is to get to existing facilities and the competitiveness of those facilities in the market. This is development that is not residential in nature so I’m sure folks like my fellow Loudouners Dean Settle and Loudoun Insider would get behind it. When this issue comes up before the new Board (and it will) it’s my hope that both we the citizens of Loudoun and they the Supervisors will take a fresh look at this proposal and not let another 5 years go by without seeing to Loudoun’s needs.

 

SIDE BAR

FLYINBUS, what's the score, have we broken any records yet with this thread?

 

No chance. Do you have anything constructive to add?

 

Do you?

 

Isn't the thread itself a broken record? I keep seeing the same stuff over and over.

 

Anyone not interested in reading this thread is free to ignore it.

 

Mr. Singleton, a representative of Inova spoke at the BOS public hearing tonight. He spoke very convincingly that Loudoun's current county wide hospital structure did not have the health care capacity to handle major brain trauma or life threatening heart issues. He reiterated the need for Loudoun County to develop this capability. He lamented the fact that most of these serious cases need to go outside the county. He highlighted Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax as areas we should look to for examples of how to build out health care in this County.

Mr. Singleton ran out of time during his presentation, but said he would be back in front of the Board to further address the issues. The issue that the current hospital structure in Loudoun isn't meeting the needs of citizens when related to serious head trauma or serious heart emergencies. I am encouraged to hear Inova is realizing they need to act. (can anyone say "see what competition, or the threat of completion will do?)

Obviously, Mr. Singleton was tauting Inova as being the organization that should solve this problem. I took it as an admittance by Inova that Loudoun had a serious health care void and Inova was figuring out what to do about it.

Inova or HCA? Someone needs to fix this deficiency in Loudoun County. I couldn't agree more with the views of Mr. Singleton and Inova. I look forward to follow-up insights by Mr. Singleton.

 

Here you go again with the hypocrisy....the way you carry on about other people's motives. At least you're consistant. Take a good look at yourself before making judgements. Can't you debate amicably without flying off the handle?

 

I watched this hearing on the Internet (perhaps I need to use my spare time better), but I heard Mr. Singleton say:
-- "[Health care should be] as close to home" as can be
-- one should "...travel as little as possible..." to get health care
-- people "...don't want to go to Baltimore, Fairfax or DC..." to get advanced health care

I was struck that he just made the entire argument for BRMC.

 

Right on PK! That's exactly what I thought.

 

Thanks for your sensitive post, KTdid, always much appreciated. Rather than attacking me, did you have anything substantive to actually add to the debate? This is flying off the handle for you? Wow, okay.

Read the original claim made my Mr. Rogers: "...if you look at the proliferation of churches in the last 7 years in our neck of Loudoun County, it appears that there is little difference between churches and businesses. Churches also seem to follow the scent of money."

I did not make any assumptions about Mr. Roger's motives: his disparaging of companies and churches is very clear and "consistent." His cynical view of companies and churches, to me, is a pathetic way to view our neighbors. Why not assume the best about these people in our neighborhoods?

 

I meant to add this to my post: Do you agree with Mr. Rogers that churches in this area are only here, like the businesses springing up, for money? Do you believe as Mr. Rogers does that businesses should exist without regard to the ability to make a profit?

I so look forward to your kind reply. Have a great day

 

Health care needs to be for everyone. Not just the ones that have great insurance plans. Look how many people don't have health insurance especially the self employed.

It is my understanding and correct me if I am wrong, but the non profits INOVA will take care of you and not try to destroy you financially as the hospital for profit HCA will.

 

Um, this has nothing to do with our post, but very illustrative. Spoken like a true Marxist, Lee! You, Hillary and others who apparently despise companies (you know, those big bad companies that employ people, provide needed services, pay taxes and provide health insurance for employees) will create a wonderfully socialist utopia for all of us

 

Personally, since churches bring in "income" I believe they should be taxed accordingly - on a scale. After all they're offering "spiritual enlightenment" and "fellowship"