The Observation Deck

Councilman Anderson and Councilwomen Marx attended yesterdays(Sunday) meeting of Save Lakewood Hospital.

Councilman Anderson was hesitant to speak because he said he was just their to attend a public meeting. When pressed he rose to defend the process used by Council in approving the deal with the Clinic to close the Hospital. He said Council scheduled 40 public meetings about the issue. He also said that Council had three readings at council before taking a vote.

Cindy Marx made a short comment about the importance of not passing on second had or third hand accounts of bad experiences at the Clinics Lakewood emergency room. That seemed like good advice to me.

Councilman Anderson also made mention of the sale of the property on Columbia Road, the fact that the processes is continuing and that the medical office building on Belle and Detroit would be coming down in a month or so.

When talking about the Columbia Road property Councilman Anderson said that the property belonged to the LHA and that they were giving the proceeds to the City. That's the kind of comment I like to call true but not accurate.

Under terms of the original agreement LHA took possession of Lakewood Hospital and operated the Hospital with the Cleveland Clinic. The agreement required the LHA and the Clinic to maintain the Hospital in substantially the same condition, as an on going concern and to return the Hospital to the City at the end of the lease. The original agreement was quite clear that all of the land, buildings, equipment, licenses, business, customer base, goodwill, cash and investments all belonged to the City. That included the assets of the Lakewood Hospital Foundation. $34 million or so which has now gone.

So... When the Mayor or Councilman says the City is getting land, or building or the proceeds of the sale of buildings that is true but not accurate. The City owned those things already.

That is the essence of this bad business deal agreed to by the Mayor and Council. Lakewood gets a small portion of what it is owed in exchange for a three story medical office building.

The people of Lakewood should reject this deal. Since the City is getting nothing the City has nothing to lose.

Bill Call wrote: Lakewood gets a small portion of what it is owed in exchange for a three story medical office building.

Good post, but...

Actually, the Cleveland Clinic gets the thee story medical office building---paid for with the money our leaders helped them steal from us.

Most of Lakewood will never go there because there will be very few doctors there-- our doctors have all left Lakewood.

Brian Essi wrote:

Bill Call wrote: Lakewood gets a small portion of what it is owed in exchange for a three story medical office building.

Good post, but...

Actually, the Cleveland Clinic gets the thee story medical office building---paid for with the money our leaders helped them steal from us.

Most of Lakewood will never go there because there will be very few doctors there-- our doctors have all left Lakewood.

Good point.

We all know how it works. The Clinic says a specialty is available is Lakewood, you call for an appointment. You are told they can see you in Lakewood 2 months from tomorrow but if you want to go to Avon they can see you this afternoon. Over time the Clinic announces that there is little demand in Lakewood so the service in Lakewood will be discontinued.

By the way the proposed "Family Health Center" will be smaller than the current office building on Belle and Detroit.

This is what a real family health center looks like:

http://www.metrohealth.org/brecksville

Bill Call wrote:

Brian Essi wrote:

Bill Call wrote: Lakewood gets a small portion of what it is owed in exchange for a three story medical office building.

Good post, but...

Actually, the Cleveland Clinic gets the thee story medical office building---paid for with the money our leaders helped them steal from us.

Most of Lakewood will never go there because there will be very few doctors there-- our doctors have all left Lakewood.

Good point.

We all know how it works. The Clinic says a specialty is available is Lakewood, you call for an appointment. You are told they can see you in Lakewood 2 months from tomorrow but if you want to go to Avon they can see you this afternoon. Over time the Clinic announces that there is little demand in Lakewood so the service in Lakewood will be discontinued.

By the way the proposed "Family Health Center" will be smaller than the current office building on Belle and Detroit.

This is what a real family health center looks like:

http://www.metrohealth.org/brecksville

Nice family health center by Metro.

That underscores another thing that Marx, Anderson and City Hall have not been truthful about. They never asked or allowed Metro or anyone else besides the Clinic to bid on a family health center in Lakewood even though the mayor testified Metro was interested in a family health center I'm Lakewood. So they did not explore the obvious options that came to them let alone searching "every conceivable" angle.

1. I am not a member of Save Lakewood Hospital, but I do support their efforts and cause.

2. Were these council members invited to come to the meeting or did they show up voluntarily?

3. Did anyone really think they would say anything worth a hill of beans?

4. We are still waiting from City Hall to see the actual, tangible documentation showing that those with life-threatening, critical, time-sensitive ailments can be taken to Lakewood's supposed ER, be treated, and sent right home. Still waiting!

5. Straight from the mouth of a doctor at Premier Physicians, and I quote "It is an urgent care. Lakewood needs a hospital and emergency room".

6. It appears that Lakewood's supposed ER cannot handle those with mental illness, per public records.

7. As told to me by an employee of the supposed ER "Most people are transferred out". Time is being wasted while the staff is calling around looking for a real hospital with a open bed.

8. Lakewood's supposed ER cannot treat trauma cases, as there are no trauma surgeons or surgery.

As for Ms. Marx, I do not feel that she has any right to dictate what people can and cannot say about any issue of public concern. If in doubt, I would refer her to the U.S. Constitution, Amendment I. Also, perhaps the next meeting she attends, she would like to explain her apparent friendship with Huron Consulting and the $1,000 campaign contribution.

Bottom line is: It appears that City Council and Mike Summers gave the hospital away, ignoring federal laws regarding bid-rigging. Why are some city employees, county employees, and those involved with this deal suddenly abandoning ship, selling their houses, and leaving Lakewood if Lakewood and the deal is so great? Hmm.... Perhaps the poop is about to hit the fan!

Everyone stay tuned. I suspect after an hour of pow-wowing, one of the mayor's spokespeople will be on to throw arrows! That is fine, but please bring documentation to prove myself and others wrong.

Cindy Marx said something at the end of the meeting that had a ring of truth to it, although it was open to challenges. The reason it wasn't challenged, I assume, was it came at a time when the meeting should have ended some time earlier and most were packing up to leave.

She said, paraphrasing, that the city was limited in its choice of operators because of the various pools of doctors who would be allowed privileges at the hospital. It would have to be either the Clinic or Metro. That of course leads to all the questions we've been asking forever about Metro, but it was something I hadn't heard before (I haven't attended every meeting about the hospital; not a masochist), but it makes me wonder if there are other points like it that haven't been made, the kinds of things Jim alluded to in talking about his private conversation with the Mayor some time ago.

Something I didn't hear at the meeting, although maybe it was said individually, was to thank the two council members for coming. Perhaps if they would be a more regular presence at SLH meetings, opponents of the deal would start relating to them as something other than the "enemy." That would help the community recover when this is all over.

I look forward to some of SLH's finest reporting on their attending and speaking at the next Dark Money, Conflicted Insiders, Lakewood Voters for Progress meeting. They're invited, right?

I believe Ms. Marx was feeding you a bunch of BS. City Council and Summers would have nothing to do with deciding which physicians would be given privileges to a specific hospital. If the hospital were sold, there would be a review committee meeting and that would be it. Unless you are a total screw up, anyone can get privileges. It helps the hospital make more money. I don't believe Ms. Marx's opinions would be needed or asked for by a private institution. They could care less what she thinks.

As far as wanting council members to attend SLH meetings? Really? I think we all should know by now that these people are NOT our friends and, I believe, would just take whatever information they gathered back to Summers and CCF's attorneys.

Folks, we have a law suit going on right now, we are NOT supposed to be sharing comments and ideas with these people. The idea is to not give them more information that they will turn around and use against us.

Did Truman tell Japan when he was going to drop the bomb?

In response to Lori's question: The two city council members showed up unannounced. David Anderson slipped in a few minutes into the meeting, and Cindy Marx came in about halfway through the meeting.

It was not their intent to actively participate in the meeting; just to observe and listen.

Both were treated cordially and respectfully throughout the meeting, even as questions were directed at either one (near the end of the meeting).

No voices were raised (on either side) and nobody's comments were cut off.

Next response: Yes, we did thank (publicly) both Anderson and Marx for coming to our meeting. We offered them a collaborative effort between SLH and city council, to reinvent our hospital; to obtain a medical assessment (by medical procedure category) of the real medical needs of our community and use that to determine how best to serve those needs. We opined that there is no reason to destroy our hospital, just to get a family health center. We COULD HAVE BOTH so our community's medical needs are met. Plans already exist for a new bedtower in a scaled-down hospital. Addiction treatment is a serious need in our community, as well as in all the surrounding towns.

Even though one or both of them heard stories of overcrowding and long waits at Fairview, or of long travels to far east side hospitals, neither one considered that as evidence of a need serious enough to figure out HOW to keep a real hospital in Lakewood.

Neither one of them wishes to revisit and/or rework the existing setup. Their minds are made up. Unfortunately.

Wish I could report otherwise . . .

Many know this, but I get a sense that some may not, from the library's meeting room policies:
"All meetings held in the Library must be open to the public and free of charge."

I was also in attendance at this meeting. Councilman Anderson and Councilwoman Marx adamantly presume that our city will have a full-service 24 hour ER. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE. I just left a Cleveland Clinic ER and learned details that warrant concern about our ER. Our ER will not remain with 24 hour service for much longer. They are already in discussion about closing it earlier in the evening because the numbers are so low... well below the CCF minimum to keep a freestanding ER open. It is a ghost town and there are NO GUARANTEES THAT IT WILL REMAIN OPEN IN THE MASTER AGREEMENT.

Our councilmembers are jeopardizing the lives of Lakewood residents. Our city has over 3000 elderly within walking distance of the hospital. It deserves more than a "GLORIFIED" URGENT CARE! Why is this so difficult for our leaders to understand? They should compare the number of patients beginning in October 2015 of last year and January 2016 of this year... it is a snowballing issue that only hurts our city. I will vote against the ordinance to right this injustice.

I just left a Cleveland Clinic ER and learned details that warrant concern about our ER. Our ER will not remain with 24 hour service for much longer. They are already in discussion about closing it earlier in the evening because the numbers are so low... well below the CCF minimum to keep a freestanding ER open. It is a ghost town and there are NO GUARANTEES THAT IT WILL REMAIN OPEN IN THE MASTER AGREEMENT.

This is, I suspect, what was planned all along. Too many "clues" out there that indicate this was what they hoped and planned for - not enough traffic to justify having a 24 hour ER.

We are the victims of an elaborate shell game.

I believe that in the midst of a law suit that the defendants and plaintiffs are not suppose to be in contact with each other. You would assume that Marx and Anderson would know this. I believe they must have gotten their legal advice from Kevin Butler, AKA, the acting mayor!

Bridget Conant wrote:

I just left a Cleveland Clinic ER and learned details that warrant concern about our ER. Our ER will not remain with 24 hour service for much longer. They are already in discussion about closing it earlier in the evening because the numbers are so low... well below the CCF minimum to keep a freestanding ER open. It is a ghost town and there are NO GUARANTEES THAT IT WILL REMAIN OPEN IN THE MASTER AGREEMENT.

This is, I suspect, what was planned all along. Too many "clues" out there that indicate this was what they hoped and planned for - not enough traffic to justify having a 24 hour ER.

We are the victims of an elaborate shell game.

I believe this is called burying the lead!

The Clinic has refused to guarantee ANY level of service at the Lakewood "Emergency " room.

One of the main talking points of the Mayor was that the City will get a family health center just like they have in Twinsburg. Right..! $!

Do you have a source you can cite for this statement. If it were true it would have an impact on the LFD operations. The ER saw 80 patients last Thursday and volume has been up by 25% on weekends since April and the Phyiscian Assistant time is being extended on weekends. .

I was also in attendance at this meeting. Councilman Anderson and Councilwoman Marx adamantly presume that our city will have a full-service 24 hour ER. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE. I just left a Cleveland Clinic ER and learned details that warrant concern about our ER. Our ER will not remain with 24 hour service for much longer. They are already in discussion about closing it earlier in the evening because the numbers are so low... well below the CCF minimum to keep a freestanding ER open. It is a ghost town and there are NO GUARANTEES THAT IT WILL REMAIN OPEN IN THE MASTER AGREEMENT.

Our councilmembers are jeopardizing the lives of Lakewood residents. Our city has over 3000 elderly within walking distance of the hospital. It deserves more than a "GLORIFIED" URGENT CARE! Why is this so difficult for our leaders to understand? They should compare the number of patients beginning in October 2015 of last year and January 2016 of this year... it is a snowballing issue that only hurts our city. I will vote against the ordinance to right this injustice.