The Observation Deck

By 2016.

Current employees at Lakewood Hospital were told they can apply for new positions opening in Avon. The rehab unit occupies an entire floor at the Hospital. When the Clinic leaves Lakewood it will leave behind an empty shell and a health care desert in Lakewood.

If Lakewood Hospital had an advocate in County government would it make a difference?

A health care desert was always the plan. What is one third of one billion dollars?

While the Cleveland Clinic is slowly winding down its operations in Lakewood (pop 52,000) Brecksville (pop 13,000) and Broadview Heights (pop 19,000) are getting brand new facilities:


http://www.cleveland.com/broadview-heig ... er_default

Of course the new Clinic facility in Avon is only a few miles from two other hospitals.

Why should the Clinic be allowed to turn Lakewood into a health care desert?

The Cleveland area continues to hemorrhage jobs and people. The only way for a City to maintain its tax base is to attract and keep medical jobs (like Clinic or UH or Metro) and government jobs like Tri-C or Cleveland State. All seem openly hostile to the City and its needs. Why?

A better question might be: Why is our political leadership so complacent in the face of that hostility?

This is very worrisome. There probably should be a community discussion. Internally, this has apparently been well known within the Clinic for some time.

This is a topic I agree on with Bill. I know several Clinic employees and it seems to be a recurrent topic - Lakewood is going to be either closing or left with severely limited services. If so many employees have "heard" this, including some at Lakewood who I understand are looking for positions further west, then I think something is in the works.

I agree it's well known internally. So why doesn't the leadership in Lakewood know or address this?

I don't see anyone posting here who appears to be an expert, or even competent, in organizing and running a medical care system. So why the demand that Lakewood remain a full service hospital? It is not like there is no other facility that is convenient.

I and my family have had good service at Lakewood Hospital over the years. But a few years ago I had an emergency and the rescue squad offered me the choice of Fairview or Lakewood. My wife knows where the parking facilities are at Lakewood, so I chose it. While the treatment was good, the facility was definitely dated, and I felt like I had been put in a closet; my provider soon moved me to their facility and the contrast was shocking.

So if Cleveland Clinic wants to reorganize a part of their complex, I would trust their competency. I would rather see them spending their time managing their enterprise, than spending time explaining the unexplainable to a group that wants something to whine about.

It's an open secret that the Hospital will close, it's just a matter of when.
The Mayor pretty much admitted it over a year ago at one his "Listening to Lakewood" events that I attended.
The die was cast on that years ago...the medical industry has changed drastically, and there is no stopping it.

The question now is what to do with the place.
The ideal situation would be to sell the land to private, tax-paying businesses.
The location is ideal for any number of things.
In exchange for early release from its lease, the Clinic should be required to pay the cost of demolition.
For its part, the city would need to muzzle all the "save the building" preservationists who have been clinging to eyesores like the Hilliard Theater.

If the building can't be demolished, conversion to a nursing home would be a solid option.
This is what happened to "Old" St. John Hospital on Detroit Road, where I was born.
The "real" St. Johns (not the "fake" one in Westlake) closed in 1990.
In 1991 it became St. Augustine Manor, a skilled nursing facility.
Ironically, I just admitted my Mom there for long term care.
It's sort of nice that the building is still being used for health care.
This re-purposing would be similar to the conversion of St. Augustine Academy to LCA...no longer a high school, but still an educational facility.

I've seen JOB and Matt reference their "Recreation Center" conspiracy theory numerous times.
That entire notion is SO incredibly stupid and SO far fetched that I consider it a fantasy.
The reasons that is a bad idea are far too numerous for me to list here.
Any public official who would back that idea should be run out of office.

Michael Deneen wrote:It's an open secret that the Hospital will close, it's just a matter of when.
.

The ex board member who defended the move to Avon with the comment that more people are moving out there is the kind of board member who does real damage. Leaving aside the fact that more people live in Lakewood than live in Avon and Avon Lake. His duty as a member of the Lakewood Hospital board is to defend Lakewood Hospital, not the Clinic.

I don’t see how the hospital survives. I don’t even see how the people of Lakewood can keep and restore medical service to the community. The Clinic is intent on moving to Avon and will leave only a token presence in Lakewood. Lakewood residents will be steered to Avon and there isn’t much we can do about it. The medical industry in the Cleveland area is a classic monopoly and their goal is to create a healthcare desert in Lakewood. Without active opposition they will get what they want.

I first heard of the Clinics plans over ten years ago so this isn’t something that just came up. Much of the initial financing was provided by the Cuyahoga County Commissioners through the Ameritrust purchase. There was more to that deal than we know.

I wonder when the Clinic first decided to destroy the hospital? I suspect it was their primary motive from the very beginning. Is the City entitled to monetary damages? Are there any lawyers out there willing to take the case? What is one third of one billion dollars?

It’s all so sad.

We perform HVAC maintenance for a lot of medical office buildings around town so I see the damage the Clinic does first hand. When the Clinic absorbed the local doctors practice they emptied the local office building. Most are now in foreclosure. The surrounding neighborhoods lost an economic anchor and the city and schools lost income tax and property tax revenue. The Clinics policies are doing great economic damage all around town.

It would be nice if elected officials started speaking up. What do they have to lose? It’s not as if the Clinic is actually doing something for cities like Lakewood.

The Clinic is coasting on its past reputation. It is not growing by expanding the market but by absorbing the competition. Less and less of its business is generated by out of State customers. The Clinic is no longer an economic engine but an actual drag on the local economy. Other regions around the country have medical centers that are every bit as good. They enjoy the additional advantage of being located in areas that are growing. Medical centers in Houston receive billions in donations from the oil and gas industry. What industry is going to donate billions to the Clinic?

In ten years people in Cleveland will be going to Houston for first class medical care.

Think of the Clinic as the General Motors of the medical industry. Ultimately the Clinic will do as much for the City of Cleveland as General Motors did for Detroit.

It is my understanding that Lakewood Hospital is in the red and has been for some time and has almost never had enough beds filled to justify cost. The rehab unit that is moving is apparently the biggest revenue generator there currently. That would suggest an increase/acceleration of losses at that location. I'm not in a position to speculate if that's just the economics of the situation or it's mismanagement or it's part of some plan (conspiracy?) to move/close the hospital. CC has been investing in Fairview which is only a few miles away and by nature or design they aren't going to support both. If a hospital were viable in the Lakewood location, wouldn't CC make a go of it or wouldn't Metro or UH make an offer or wouldn't a group create an independent facility?

Jeff Dreger wrote:It is my understanding that Lakewood Hospital is in the red and has been for some time and has almost never had enough beds filled to justify cost. The rehab unit that is moving is apparently the biggest revenue generator there currently.

Here are the most recent financial statements:



Margins are tight but in the six month period covered by the report the Hospital made money. After liabilities there are $125 million in NET ASSETS. Since the Clinic has been doing all in its power to transfer paying patients to its other facilities the operating results are actually pretty good.

I think you are correct to say that the rehab center is the most profitable part of the hospitals operations. Why would the Clinic close down Lakewood Hospitals most profitable division?

The Clinic has seven years to completely dismantle a profit making institution. I'm confident that at the expiration of the lease the City of Lakewood will take possession of an outdated building in need of major repairs and a hospital with no customers. I think its part of a plan.

Why would the Clinic deliberately dismantle a profit making division? Because the customer base does not exist in Avon. The only way the new Avon Hospital can make money is if it has plenty of customers from Lakewood.

When J. D. Rockefeller bought a competing refinery he closed it down no matter how much money it made because its customers had no where else to go but to him. Just substitute J. D Rockefeller with Toby and refinery with Clinic and you get the picture.

Michael Deneen wrote:I've seen JOB and Matt reference their "Recreation Center" conspiracy theory numerous times.

That entire notion is SO incredibly stupid and SO far fetched that I consider it a fantasy.

The reasons that is a bad idea are far too numerous for me to list here.

Any public official who would back that idea should be run out of office.

Mike,

This is no fantasy my friend.

The Cleveland Clinic is leaving the Lakewood Hospital and Lakewood.

Mayor Mike Summers is going to sneak a property tax by the voters to pay for the recreation center he wants to put in the vacant hospital location.

Folks at City Hall want their names on a plaque at the new "Michael P. Summers Recreation Center & Natatorium."

Just give Mayor Mike Summers a call and ask him about his recreation property tax and recreation center.

With all his faults, I'm sure that Mayor Mike Summers will admit that he is going to hit us with a recreation property tax and recreation center that nobody but his pals ... and his ego ... want.

Oh, and Mayor Mike Summers knows that our residents won't run him out of office because ... the last time we ran Mike Summers out of office he was a Republican ... and ... frankly ... I'm surprised by the apathy we all have to the oligarchy that has developed at City Hall under Mike Summers' reign.

Just look at Mayor Mike Summers' utter disrespect for our residents, families, the LOBC, Kauffman Park Friends, and even City Council with respect to his closing of our basketball hoops at Kauffman Park.

It's time to jump off the drunk bus and wake up, Lakewood!

Matt