INOVA in the mix

neilz-
Skins Fan is correct. A "by-right" office park would not even be brought before the Planning Commission, therefore they would have no say in how it is developed. No additional road improvements, no additional landscaping, no discussion with the community, no control over the set back from the road.

 

Cliff, Just curious about your thoughts on the announcement party with Inova Thursday. Did you enjoy it? Also how did Brian and Megan feel about it and who offered the invite?

 

As far as BRMC getting approved, there are some things about this Inova plan that may make it easier to get approved. LHC said we need to protect our little 'ol community hospital. Well, now that they're a cog in the Inova machine, this is no longer a concern.
LHC said they could not compete financially if BRMC is built. Now that the financial backing of Inova is behind them, this is not a concern.
Since Inova's plan shows the construction of medical facilities on Route 50, none of which require COPN approval, they can get started right away at providing services to this area. There would therefore be no need to deny BRMC on the argument that Dulles South does not have easier access to healthcare.

Donna-
It was very nice. As I said, having LHC become a part of Inova is a good thing.
As far as invitations, I read about it, called the hospital, and showed up. If you have questions about Megan and Don, ask them yourself.

Barbara-
As intelligent as you are, I am surprised you are duped by this "for profit vs not-for-profit" phony argument. So, I'll say it again......not for profits generate profits for their bond holders. I find this is a negative because there is much less accountability in how money is spent versus a for-profit which is accountable to its stockholders. How else could a hospital pay its CEO a salary about double what other comparable sized hospitals pay, as well as paying an in-house lawyer a fat salary when the hospital also pays a legal firm? (I'm referring to LHC)

The next mantra is that not-for-profits put the money back into the facility and community and for profits just keep the money. This is also bunk. Look at the expansion of Reston in the past few years. A new medical office building, expanded ER, parking structure, new surgical suites, a charity care program second to none. And as I mentioned numerous times, a pediatrician on duty in the ER. A need that LHC does not seem to think the 47,000 school age children in Loudoun county need.

Several interesting articles in USA Today recently pointed out that not-for-profit hospitals may not be meeting the requirements that give them tax-exempt status. This is the true difference between them....for-profits, like BRMC, would pay millions of dollars in property taxes to the county, relieving some of the tax burden on the citizens. Not-for-profits pay zero tax dollars.

An interesting article in the Washington Post a few weeks ago was proving this very point. Inova is being sued by an individual due to their unwillingness to work with him on hospital charges and using very agressive tactics to receive payment. It was also interesting to note that this same individual was able to reach an accomdation with Reston Hospital for services received there.

As far as Inova wanting a foot in the county and trying to keep other hospital entities out, this is not new. Inova explored building a hospital here a few years ago. They also were actively persuing a plan to keep HCA out of southern Fairfax county and now appear to be working, through LHC and LHC's CPAM, to keep HCA out of Loudoun county.

 

Interesting ... I would guess that also hold's true for anything that VM would build on the other side of Clydes, as well as on Demott, then.

Neil Z.
Resident since 1999

 

I think I may rethink my stance on being AGAINST the new proposed hospital here in Broadlands.

I cannot say enough (and I am sorry for those that WILL feel quite differently and are employed by INOVA) how much I am against INOVA being involved with Loudoun County Hospital. I had two parents both terminal both passed in the last two years that have been to Fairfax INOVA and the INOVA over off route one. I have such bone chilling nightmare stories about the way they were treated - the mistakes - life threatening mistakes at that, and problems that were encountered while in the care of INOVA facility and staff. I can also say I have been in Fair Oaks INOVA and had great treatment but just cannot shake the horrors of what I went through and the geniune lack of concern and shuffling around at the hands of their main hospital. I am very unimpressed and think this may not be a great idea at all.

 

hberg…sorry to hear about your bad experiences with INOVA. You might want to voice your concerns to the Board of Supervisors, especially our representative, Steve Snow.

Cliff, you make some very good points about the by-right office park and what this means to Broadlands residents. Is there anyway the HOA Board can use the e-mail list put together by Donna (for the purpose of communicating “community happenings”) to send out a note to residents and letting them know this? I’m assuming it is too late to put it in November’s newsletter.

I think it’s important that residents know that if the BOS declines BRMC’s request for a Special Exception…
- we don’t get a much needed hospital
- Broadlands residents give up 4 acres of land for us to use as we choose (Cliff…do you know the value of this property?)
- Broadlands residents will have no say in how this site may be developed in the future
- Loudoun County gives up $3-4 million in annual taxes and funding for much needed improvements to Belmont Ridge Road

Donna…one of your most recent notes to residents says “HCA Loses”…looks like it might be Loudoun County to me.

 

Jeanne, I will try to answer some of your questions. First the email list you refer to is my private email list which I have been adding to for 3 years. I will not share this list with anyone because that is not what the residents want. I would suggest you use the list Megan has. I have been asked by the BOD not to send out "community happenings" through that email list, so that list is exclusively for HCA updates. Also, those concerns mentioned are opinions, not fact, so I do not feel that HCA's opinions should appear in our newsletter.

To address some of your other concerns:

- We will still get a much needed hospital, it just won't be in our neighborhood. We will get several (5) much needed urgent care centers, and we will get an increased service line at LHC with the INova merger.
-You have no way of telling what is going to happen with the entire 57.7 acres, maybe we might get more, or even get a company that we ALL can agree on. That is assuming HCA decides not to build the MOB. (Medical Office Building) they have talked about.
-You again have no way of telling whether or not the residents will have any say in what may or may not be developed on that land. Again I would say that by now we have a reputation (as a community) of fighting to keep our community the way we want it.
- Loudoun County is not giving up annual taxes, etc. HCA still has the opportunity to build here if they really want to provide all that they have been speaking about: Jobs, taxes, services, healthcare, etc. Just not at this location.

I don't see how you can think that the County loses when this merger will provide: an 85 acre healthcare campus, significant and much needed services, substantial job opportunitys, pediactric care, trauma, cardiac care, oncology, teaching programs, etc, etc, etc. I think it is selfish to think that if/when HCA loses in front of the BOS that that is a loss for Loudoun County. HCA is not the only healthcare provider around.

 

Well, Donna, now I am really confused. According to an e-mail I received from you dated July 18, 2004, you were gathering e-mails to “get information out about the hospital issue and updates on community happenings that need attention: i.e. recent teenager pranks, etc.” You also mentioned in this same e-mail that it was being sent to over 800 people. I applaud you for your efforts to gather e-mail addresses of residents in order to get the word out about important events. But, now you claim this is a private e-mail list?

I might also add that I was promptly removed from your list in July after my comments re: “The Letter”.

Cliff, Neil, Stacey and other board members…while this list may have been started prior to Donna’s election to the board, it was expanded as a result of her becoming a board member and was to be used for the purposes mentioned in Donna’s e-mail of July 18 as referenced above. If, in fact, this is a private e-mail list for the purpose of spreading the anti-HCA message…didn’t Donna use her position on the board to gather these addresses? And this isn’t a conflict of interest?

Donna, when can the county expect to see a hospital on Rt 50 from INOVA? With an insufficient population in that area to support it at this time and no COPN, and with INOVA Fair Oaks currently serving this area, not to mention the lack of infrastructure, how long will it take to build another hospital?

 

Jeanne, Let me try to clear up your confusion. My email list started, as I said, 3 years ago for HCA issues. I had sent out a few email updates on other issues as well, thinking this would be helpful to our community. But,(I believe you were the one who asked for my recusal from the board for a conflict of interest), as I was mixing community issues with HCA issues through those very emails. The board felt that community issues should be handled through the newsletter or in separate BOD mailings, so my community updates were stopped. As far as my removing you from my list, you are correct. My list expanded based on "MY letter" against HCA being sent out to the community and many residents who were new to our neighborhoods wanted to be added to that email list. My stance against HCA was no surprise to those who voted for me. Thank you in applauding my efforts, however I would suggest that since my email list is so important you, that perhaps in the next issue of our newsletter you could ask residents to send you their email addresses if they are interested in hearing from you. Jeanne, I promised confidentialty to many on my list and as such that list will remain private.

 

"A company we can ALL agree on" - HAHAHA, that makes me laugh! Donna, how long have you lived in this community?

As far as our community rep, if I was an outsider reading these posts, I would think that we fight amongst ourselves as a community!

And on a personal level, your invoking of "we, us, our..." is a minor irritant! Please do not speak for me with your generalizations.

As for the merger, if it gets us the health care we need and deserve, GREAT! But I will be like most of us and be forced to wait an see.

 

Jeanne-
Donna is correct. The email list she used is one she compiled long before she was a Board member. It is her private list. She has been asked, and understands, that it is not to be used to mix personal business with HOA business.

I believe the points you asked me about were addressed when the Board issued it's support for the project in the Newsletter last spring.

The value of the parcel would probably be between $800,000 and $1,000,000

 

Donna, there is NO guarantee that Loudoun will get a much needed 2nd hospital if BRMC is denied. Even if INOVA ultimately decides to act on their stated intentions, it will be many years before a hospital could be approved and built on Rt. 50. With 90,000 plus new residents projected to move into Loudoun in the next 6 years LHC will not be able to handle the growth. Even though you agree about the much needed hospital, you are in denial of this fact.

If the land is sold by HCA to an office park developer, Broadlands residents and Loudoun BOS will have no say in what happens. This is a fact. Only time will tell if BRMC is ultimately stopped and what will happen but residents may well regret the final outcome.

 

Wow, go to one three-day Irish-Armenian wedding and look at all the posts! I saw my name once or twice while scanning, so give me a bit to read what I've missed and if there's anything to answer I will.

Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

Interesting editorial in the Loudoun Times Mirror about INOVA's takeover of LHI...

http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=13229846&BRD=2553&PAG=461&dept_id=506041&rfi=6

 

Jeanne, I don't imagine that has a thing to do with the fact that the editor is married to a former Leesburg mayor who is only very pro-HCA because she is still mad at LHI for moving, as well as other political bad blood that pollutes everything here--the same old things come up over and over and over, because (last I heard it is now)1500 new people per month move in, and it is all news to most of them. Maybe a statistically significant percentage of them can be fooled, and we'll grow our angry mob again! Which creates a vacuum for...angry mob leaders!

I've read the last two pages of this topic and don't know where to begin--why don't we all just wait and see what the BoS does, then wait and see if HCA files suit if denied, and see what the judge does? The fact remains that until HCA got its politically-greased/surprise second COPN approval, Stroube wasn't going to approve ANYTHING until existing approvals were functional. A second hospital NOW is not the state's position by any means, or they would have approved things the first time. Now or never isn't functioning well as a retread, either.

Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.

 

Jeanne,

Excellent article! They hit that one right on the head. Thanks for posting it.

 

Politically greased? Do you have any specific facts?

I did not say now or never. Only not too late.

 

Skins Fan, didn't you realize that Barbara is the authority on everything. If she said it, it must be true.

p.s. Go Sox, Go Sox, Go Sox!!!!

 

Barbara,

And, I can't imagine that you would believe the article no matter who said (wrote) it!

If I remember correctly, LHC basically told everyone that they were in a strong financial position and had all these grand plans for healthcare in Loudoun County. Now they tell us that didn't really have sufficient funds to do very much of what they said they were going to do. Sounds like their only alternative was to get taken over by a larger entity, like Inova.

Makes me wonder what else LHC lied about...[?]

 

Skins Fan, you first: I never said YOU said it. Some are doing a retread, though. As for politically greased, remember the Democratic luminary from Middleburg, tapped to help it through the process? Funny how that second COPN magically reversed.

Sox fan, sorry if I've made you feel that way. Would it make you feel better if I offered my honest wishes for the breaking of the curse?

GCyr, I'm sure there are any number of things you don't believe. And any number that you do believe, no matter what. I believe that they've been in talks for a while, and it's come through, and it will be a good thing. I also believe that the locations proposed in the CPAM better serve the actual growth patterns of the county, as opposed to the ones "smart" growth wishes were exclusive.

The Times-Mirror has improved a great deal since Mr. Twigg took over the editor's position, as far as news objectivity. They've hired some pretty good new reporters too. Their features have always been excellent, but rock bottom when the chips are down, they are still basically attractive light coffee table reading in hunt country. I am surprised they endorsed who they did for the election, given their usual allegiances in-county.



Barbara Munsey, from South Riding.