More and more "Save Lakewood Hospital" signs are popping up all over town.
As the conversation turns from "Is it a good deal" to "how could anyone agree to that," the
movement is growing and growing. Tonight it picked Lakewood City Hall for s short planned
demonstration and more...
A large crowd, much larger than the crowd that got the Skate Park built, gathered to "Save
Lakewood Hospital," and to make City Council and Lakewood Government more accountable
to the voters and residents.
State Senator Michael Skindell was there, but so were other politicians, including some
from past City Councils.all agree. SLOW IT DOWN, LET'S MAKE SURE, LET's MAKE IT PUBLIC!
Besides the signing and picketing they were presenting the first batch of more than 2,000
signatures asking council to say no to the LOI.
photo by Mike Zanoni
photo by Mike Zanoni
Also were LO's Brian Essi reading another proposal to Council, and some other things
timed out so they do not run past the 5 minutes.
Tom Monahan was going to read this into the record...
Save Lakewood Hospital Committee
16903 Fischer Rd,
Cleveland, OH 44107 May 18, 2015
Lakewood City Council
12900 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood. Ohio 441107
Dear Members of Council:
On behalf of the members of the Committee to Save Lakewood Hospital, please accept these petitions signed by over 2,000 individuals asking Council to reject the proposed Letter of Intent. The majority of signatures are from Lakewood residents, with a few hundred from individuals in surrounding communities that are part of our hospital's service area.
For more than three months, a large group of residents have been meeting to gather facts and information to better understand the rationale to close our hospital. Members of our group have attended every public meeting and reviewed all written information related to the management and operations of our Hospital. The group has researched academic, industry and market trends of the healthcare field, including insurance, regulatory, and patient management requirements established by the Affordable Care Act.
Our Committee has scrutinized the proposed Letter of Intent to enter into a long term agreement with the Clinic and to replace our hospital with a family wellness center. We made a visit to the Clinic's Huron Road Wellness center and interviewed a large number of healthcare workers, paramedics, doctors, hospital trustees and members of council, along with other elected officials, to understand the magnitude of this decision. The Committee has also reviewed the 2014 proposal from Metro Hospital to operate and manage Lakewood Hospital.
We have secured, by way of multiple public records requests and through the assistance of volunteer legal counsel, extensive factual information related to the process that led to the decision to close our Hospital. This includes notes, reports, financial statements, and meeting minutes. The Committee also reviewed the operations of the Clinic’s west regional hospitals, attended the “State of the Cleveland clinic» meeting hosted by Dr. Cosgrove, and_carefully monitored Cleveland Clinic marketing and planning activities for the west region.
The Committee has paid particular attention to the delivery of patient care at our Hospital and noted the long and unreasonable emergency room wait times now occurring at Fairview Hospital. Much of this has occurred because of inaccurate statements concerning the closing of the Lakewood emergency room. We have listened and reviewed the campaign activities and comments by some of out elected officials and board members of Lakewood Hospital for the purpose verifying the statements for accuracy and completeness. The Committee believes that many Of these statements are misleading and are intended to undermine the continued operation of our hospital and to deplete valuable resources. The Trustees’ conduct is presumptuous and attempts to circumvent the City Council’s authority to determine the future of Lakewood Hospital.
Through the course of our investigation of the operations of our Hospital, it has become evident that the decline of patient volume is directly related to multiple breaches of contractual obligations to maintain and operate our Hospital. For over five years there has been an obvious plan to reduce patient volume with a systematic elimination of hospital service lines. This plan has been perpetrated by the Clinic acting in complicity with the Lakewood Hospital Association. There has been a strategy to strip the hospital of profitable service lines so as to cripple the viability of our hospital.
We are confident that as this dispute makes its way to the courthouse, evidence will be uncovered that the Clinic's conduct to eliminate the viability of our Hospital was motivated to support expansion of the C|inic’s facilities in Avon and to destroy the opportunity for other healthcare providers to serve the citizens of Lakewood. This restraint of trade is unlawful and it unfairly provides the Clinic with an unearned market share of patients that leads to unnecessary costs, diminished quality of patient care, and a lack of competition for healthcare providers in the Lakewood service area.
We are asking that Council immediately place the Lakewood Hospital Association and the Clinic on notice that they are in breach of the lease and to initiate the legal process to declare a default under the terms of this contract. It is imperative that council demand that the Lakewood Hospital Association immediately restore required services to the level mandated under the terms of the hospital lease. Otherwise, unnecessary losses will be incurred and the public confidence in the quality and availability of medical services provided by our Hospital will be adversely affected.
We request that Council prepare a Request for Proposals from other Health Care Providers who may have an interest in continuing to operate and manage Lakewood Hospital. It is important that independent health care experts be retained to advise and assist Council in an open and transparent review Proposals. Council should assume responsibility as it is evident that the pm?’ request for proposal issued by Lakewood Hospital Association and managed by their "step two committee" was rigged to exclude meaningful negotiations with viable partners who are capable of operating our community hospital.
A review of the process clearly reveals that the Clinic received preferential treatment of the negotiations and review of their proposal even in spite of their continued breach of the lease. Most importantly, the Clinic has never been required to account for their violation of the contract.
Finally, we believe that significant reforms must take place within the governance of the Lakewood Hospital Association so that proper oversight and compliance with the requirements made to citizens of Lakewood are honored.
We thank you for your efforts to scrutinize this proposal and to protect such an important community asset.
Sincerely
Thomas Monahan,
Co-Chair
Save Lakewood Hospital Committee
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Stay tuned, we broke the story and no one covers it better than your friends and neighbors.
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