Lakewood Hospital Update

[Gary Rice]

Honestly everyone....

I fail to understand much of this thread.

Perhaps it would be easier to understand a major urban medical service as being an inter-related mega-hospital SYSTEM, rather than looking at the individual hospitals involved.

The day of the single "one stand-alone building does it all" hospital seems to be going away. After all, a duplication of services can be very costly for any business. If one hospital building specializes in strokes, and another in cardio-vascular care, there's still that care being offered, hopefully in the most cost and service-effective way possible.

My family has had wonderful care from the Cleveland Clinic system, both at Fairview and Lakewood Hospitals. We're very fortunate that they are parts of the overall Clinic system. Both continue to be great facilities, in our opinion.

Back to the banjo.

[marklingm]

Honestly everyone....

I fail to understand much of this thread.

Gary,

I think there is a concern that the Lakewood Hospital will not be here ... at all.

I think there is a concern that the property may be vacant ... until a non-medical facility moves in.

I think there is a concern that Lakewood folks didn't fight to keep Lakewood Hospital in Lakewood ... if it does leave ... regardless of who runs the hospital.

And, in keeping with the Deck's new "Facebook friendly" theme, here is a "Which General Hospital Character Are You?" quiz:


http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/979940/which-general-hospital-character-are-you


I'm Sonny.

Matt

[marklingm]

Honestly everyone....

I fail to understand much of this thread.

Gary,

I think there is a concern that the Lakewood Hospital will not be here ... at all.

I think there is a concern that the property may be vacant ... until a non-medical facility moves in.

I think there is a concern that Lakewood folks didn't fight to keep Lakewood Hospital in Lakewood ... if it does leave ... regardless of who runs the hospital.

And, in keeping with the Deck's new "Facebook friendly" theme, here is a "Which General Hospital Character Are You?" quiz:


http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/979940/which-general-hospital-character-are-you


My quiz result:

Sonny- Woah. You're rich and powerful, (or you want to be) and oh so sexy. You keep your family first, but will fight for whatever you want.

Matt

[Bill Trentel]

Bill

When the lens is turned to me, as it has been since starting this, I answer the questions
when someone with ZERO facts or basis claims I can be bought off for a few dollars
or anything, I make sure he realizes he is wrong.Usually when some small minded person
says I am getting paid off, it is merely a projection of how cheap they can be bought.

Most people who say they have never had to question their clients, is wearing blinders
and with you comment, again I am sure it was just a projection of how low you can be bought.

.

ZERO facts:

Let see Mr. O'Bryan you endlessly drone on and on whenever a corporate entity chooses to set-up shop in Lakewood. All the special favors they get, destroy our neighborhoods, not Lakewood... blah blah blah.

Until the conversation turns to the Clinic then you are the first one to jump in, in their defense, supporting and justifying every move. Cartwheels and pompoms.

I'll give you the benefit of a doubt, but it sure seems like an odd coincidence.

I regards to my current and past clients, including Ed. I'm very proud of the clients I serve and have served over the years, generally our relationship goes well beyond the one of the standard supplier-client variety.

It has been my observation that folks and businesses that continue to attract those of questionable character need to take look in the mirror. Just saying.

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll need to keep an eye out in the halls for those undesirables you seem to have a way of attracting, according to your self described history.

Back to the topic:
Perhaps we can get services returned to the hospital if we build them a helipad. I see they are fighting it out with the city of Cleveland to get one at Fairview. We all know one person that is all for it.

Bill

[marklingm]

Unlike Facebook, the Deck is a hard platform to edit posts so I'm sorry for the double posts, Gary. I'm not sure how that happened. But I can't delete the first post. Sorry.

And, hey, Jim and Bill T.

Both of you are cool cats.

Yes, even you, Bill T. You like to play the grouch but I know that you are a good family man who loves the 'Wood.

Folks think I'm "crazy" for posting about "controversial issues" like snow plows, sidewalks, City Hall and Friends, city manager huggers, hospitals, and an assortment of other "topics."

How can we expect folks from City Hall, the County, and/or the Lakewood Hospital to come in on this thread and explain the status of the Lakewood Hospital if you two keep fighting over who has the worst clients?

I am sure that, if we all just stop talking about anything controversial or meaningful, others will flock to the Deck and engage in earth shattering discussions.

Until that time, let's all just chillax and post photos of our pets and memes.

Gary, queue the banjo.

Matt

[Bill Call]

Perhaps it would be easier to understand a major urban medical service as being an inter-related mega-hospital SYSTEM, rather than looking at the individual hospitals involved.

It IS a mega hospital system that is crushing the independent doctors practice, emptying local office buildings, encouraging urban sprawl, undermining economic growth, increasing costs and creating health care deserts in cities like Lakewood. Did I miss anything?

People like to think the Clinic is an economic engine for the region. It once was but it is no longer. Less and less of its income is derived from "foreign" patients. Other areas of the country are not standing still; they are developing and improving their medical centers and are offering the same and better service. Since many of those facilities are located in regions with growing populations and growing economies those facilities will have an increasing competitive advantage.

Like General Motors, the Clinic will find that its monopolistic practices, predatory pricing and deteriorating competitive advantage will leave it a backwater institution in a backwater region. Unlike General Motors it will not be receiving a federal bailout.

In that environment it is the duty of City officials in Lakewood and the Hospital Board to FIGHT to preserve the medical service we have and NOT allow the Clinic to turn Lakewood into a healthcare desert.

I'm sure the Clinic and its supporters won't lose any sleep over what is written here on the Observer. However, there is some slim hope that some local political leader somewhere at sometime will start to challenge its policies.

The odd thing is that in challenging those policies they will not only help the City and the region but the Clinic as well.

[Bill Call]

Here are recent financial statements for Lakewood Hospital:

lakewood hospital 2013.pdf

(42.41 KiB) Downloaded 142 times

Can you find the prize?

[Bill Burnett]

Looks good to me. Debt was reduced. Cash on hand went up. Net assets went up. Liabilities went down. Excess revenue over expenses went way up. From what I see here there is no reason for the Clinic to abandon it.

[Peter Grossetti]

Looks good to me. Debt was reduced. Cash on hand went up. Net assets went up. Liabilities went down. Excess revenue over expenses went way up. From what I see here there is no reason for the Clinic to abandon it.

Bill - While I understand and agree with your assesment of the Cleveland Clinic financial statement so kindly linked to by Mr. Call, numbers are just number ... and there is always a narrative associated with numbers. I don't know what the opposite of "gentrification" is called, but I have to believe that Cleveland Clinic is slick enough to realize that "anti-gentrification" (can someone help me with the term I'm looking for??) is here to stay in Lakewood and that has to be a factor in their decision to abandon or not abandon Our City.

Anway ... should Lakewood Hospital some day not be a hospital, wouldn't it make a nice hotel? (or ANOTHER addtion to the Detroit Avenue Cow Line? or a pants store?!?)

[Gary Rice]

Dad and I just got our medical lab work taken care of yesterday at Cleveland Clinic's "Lakewood Family Health Center" on Woodward and Madison Avenues. To me, that place is one of the best kept secrets in town. Close by, convenient, and very friendly and neighborly. We love it and have used it in the past. We've never found it to be crowded, and the work we've had done there has been first class.

While I certainly understand the frustrations of anyone fondly remembering the local private practice operations of our doctors, (and I well recall those same doctors doing house calls!) I'm nonetheless VERY glad to have the close-proximity big-time facilities here that we do. I have relatives living in relatively rural areas in other states and they have to drive miles nowadays to go to centralized medical centers, and from the stories I've heard, I'm glad to be here and not there. I would think that one of the advantages of a place like the Cleveland Clinic system would be the sheer volume of work they do, and the experience gained by that work.

Would you rather have surgery from a doctor who does 10 procedures like the one you need a year, or 100?

Back to the banjo.

[Bill Call]

Looks good to me. Debt was reduced. Cash on hand went up. Net assets went up. Liabilities went down. Excess revenue over expenses went way up. From what I see here there is no reason for the Clinic to abandon it.

You found the prize.

Since the region is going to continue to lose population how will the Clinic choose to ration the care it gives? We certainly don't need a new hospital in Lorain County, the population just can't support it. Which facilities will it close? What is restraint of trade? What is one third of one billion dollars?

The Lakewood Hospital lease is up in 13 years. tick, tock, tick, tock.

A visitor from France (a physician) was outraged at what she saw in Cleveland. What was she outraged about? All of those medical building "palaces".

Are all those "palaces" built out of need or built to massage the egos of the people in charge?

[Jim O'Bryan]

The Lakewood Hospital lease is up in 13 years. tick, tock, tick, tock.

A visitor from France (a physician) was outraged at what she saw in Cleveland. What was she outraged about? All of those medical building "palaces".

Are all those "palaces" built out of need or built to massage the egos of the people in charge?

Bill

With some of the newer equipment being 2 and 3 stories, large buildings are to be expected.

$5 million dollar mirrors, err reflecting pools not so much.

I was speaking with a person last night, with a very long and very established history with
the Clinic and Lakewood Hospital. So I asked, "Do they do 13 years?" His answer, "No."
He had no time frame, just some of the same loose talk, but he said, "No way do they go 13."

FWIW


.

[Bill Call]

[quote="Jim O'BryanI was speaking with a person last night, with a very long and very established history with
the Clinic and Lakewood Hospital. So I asked, "Do they do 13 years?" His answer, "No."
He had no time frame, just some of the same loose talk, but he said, "No way do they go 13."
[/quote]

I knew 10 years ago that the Clinic planned to build a new hospital in Avon. It doesn't take a big leap to conclude that a new hospital and medical center in Avon on the border of Cuyahoga County means the end of Lakewood Hospital.

One of the very many galling facts about the issue is that the new Avon facility was funded by Cuyahoga County as part of the Ameritrust deal.

I know City officials are aware of what's going on across the border. I'm not sure what they can actually do about it. The region does not need another hospital.

I am very disappointed in Ed Fitzgerald. I don't mind that he had his mind on higher office before he even took the oath for the County Executive job. What bothers me is that he didn't feel the need to do something for Lakewood. Downtown, downtown, downtown, regionalism, regionalism, regionalism, governor.

Speaking of regionalism.... Why not give it a test drive. Let's merge all of the local colleges and universities into one big university, lets merge all the foundations and non-profits into one big foundation. Let the regionalist give up their institutions and show us the way!!