An Open Letter To Senator Skindell

[Bill Call]

I want to thank you for bringing attention to the closing of Lakewood Hospital.

The Cleveland Clinic has been deliberately undermining Lakewood Hospital for at least ten years. Their new facility in Avon, population 22,000, needs Lakewood Hospitals customers to survive.

I am deeply disappointed in the conduct of the Mayor and the Hospital Foundation and Hospital board. While I understood the Clinics need to destroy the Hospital it never occurred to me that the leadership in Lakewood was all on board with that policy.

The Plain Dealer and politicians and other community leaders in Cuyahoga County agree on one thing:

The population of Northeast Ohio is not going to grow and that urban sprawl weakens Cuyahoga County, waters down economic development and leads to duplication of services.

I find it odd that no one in Cuyahoga County government or Lakewood government is addressing the fact that the Clinics policies are one of the major factors in that sprawl.
The Clinic is set to transfer thousands of jobs and millions in economic activity to Lorain County and beyond and no one has anything to say about it.

Lakewood Hospital has been losing money because:

The Clinic has transferred Lakewood doctors to Fairview and Avon. Patients follow the doctor.

The Clinic has transferred entire departments and services to Avon. Patients go where the services are.

The Clinic has under invested in modern medicine at Lakewood Hospital.

The Clinic has undermined independent doctors and specialists with intent to restrain trade.

Even with all of that the losses at the Hospital have been driven by uncompensated care and not inefficiencies or lack of demand. That uncompensated cost could have been addressed by modernizing and expanding service to attract the paying customer. Instead the Clinic and the Hospital Board deliberately degraded service to steer the paying customer to Avon. It seems like a deliberate act of sabotage to me.

If you hope to succeed in saving this desperately needed facility you are going to need allies. Unfortunately you won't find any at Lakewood City Hall, the Lakewood Hospital Foundation or the Hospital board.

They are all in hiding. Apparently they are too ashamed of their conduct to publically defend it.

[Bill Grulich]

Cleveland Teacher, Meryl Johnson, will interview Sen. Skindell on WRUW 91.1 FM this Saturday, Feb. 7th. Tune in to Meryl's radio show, "It's About Justice" from 1:30-2:30pm. Listen online at http://wrur.org

Carry on Bill Call!

[Bill Call]

Cleveland Teacher, Meryl Johnson, will interview Sen. Skindell on WRUW 91.1 FM this Saturday, Feb. 7th. Tune in to Meryl's radio show, "It's About Justice" from 1:30-2:30pm. Listen online at http://wrur.org

Carry on Bill Call!

I'm wasting my time but that's ok.

The leadership in Lakewood at all levels seems intent on destroying health services in Lakewood. I suspect they will get what they want. The question is: Why do they want it?

[Grace O'Malley]

Look at who they surround themselves with and who they appoint to boards. I see a lot of the Same names from the 47 debacle. What's in it for them?