The Observation Deck

So, when the Cleveland Clinic abandoned Medina citizens for $$$ and profits, its caring mayor went to work and is welcoming in another health system.

That caring mayor spoke the truth to power and says he's doing that “for the Medina County residents that were being abandoned by Cleveland Clinic.”

http://www.medina-gazette.com/Medina-Co ... ussed.html

By contrast, in Lakewood, Summers worked against residents, and lied to them, all the while claiming the Clinic's abandonment of residents was "Good News"

As to the alternate hospital systems:

1. Summers shunned Metro and kept his shunning a secret for years he lied about Metro's interest to both Council and the public. When Metro resurfaced, Summers and then Council-Vice President Ryan Nowlin wrote letters rather than meeting with Metro's leaders. Huh?

2. Summers & City Council (including candidates Marx, Bullock & Nowlin) all ignored Surgical Development Partners interest and apparently made a decision to reject that interest in other than a public meetings. Instead of meeting with SDP, they had their mouthpiece, Butler write letters that were kept secret and only revealed through public records requests.

Medina City Council voted 6-0 to condemn Cleveland Clinic's actions.

What a contrast to Lakewood!

http://www.cleveland.com/medina/index.s ... s_cle.html

It will be interesting to see how things turn out for Medina. We'll see what they end up with.

Pam,

All the Mayor and Council had to do for the citizens of Lakewood was to threaten the Cleveland Clinic with a lawsuit should they break their lease.

Do we really know for sure that the Cleveland Clinic wanted to leave? Maybe the Mayor and Council wanted them to leave in order to give their "friends " jobs for more of their genius economic development projects. Are there any kick backs involved? Doesn't everything come with a price?

I believe this subject deserves further investigation. Stay tuned!

Lori Allen _ wrote:
Do we really know for sure that the Cleveland Clinic wanted to leave? .....Doesn't everything come with a price?

Mrs. Allen,

We know that the Clinic did not want to leave because:
1. They were bleeding $24M per year from the hospital.
2. They demanded a non compete to protect what Subsidium said "Lakewood's valuable market.
3. They are still here and won't leave--do you really think that Summers and Council persuaded the almighty Clinic to stay in Lakewood when the Clinic did not want to stay

A very wise man in Lakewood suggested that Summers and friends gave the Clinic our $100M so that Summers and friends could keep the rest and do the mixed use thingy.

Bridget Conant wrote:Medina City Council voted 6-0 to condemn Cleveland Clinic's actions.

What a contrast to Lakewood!

http://www.cleveland.com/medina/index.s ... s_cle.html

Our councilmembers lacked the competence and courage to understand the damage they caused by voting unanimously to CLOSE our hospital.

They blindly dismissed the wisdom & expert advice of Brian Essi, Dr. Kilroy, former councilman Ed Graham, former safety director Tom Monahan, current CPA Marguerite Harkness & many other highly knowledgeable & experienced constituents.

Then council president Mary Louise Madigan rushed to hold that 3rd meeting on December 21st. Did she really think the new council members would vote any different from the previous? It certainly doesn't seem so.

Yes, Bridget... a definite & disappointing contrast.

Brian,

Simply put: this was a public transfer of wealth from public to private hands. A money laundering scheme. Foundation money in a small town is a lot of power.

Interesting how Medina council members fight tooth and nail to protect their citizens. Our "Democratic" council members parrot the line "healthcare is changing" and promote a position paper put forth by the now defunct subsidium.

Meanwhile healthcare spending is increasing nationally:

"The health care industry added 2.2 million jobs in 2016—growing more than any other sector of the economy—but a new study warns that repealing the ACA could have severe consequences for the industry, Shelby Livingston reports for Modern Healthcare.

Year over year, the health care sector added 406,600 jobs in 2016, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released last week, which includes preliminary data for November and December. Overall, the health care industry employed 15.8 million people at the end of the year. The pace of health care job growth remained strong in 2016, averaging about 35,000 jobs per month, just slightly behind its pace in 2015 of 39,000 per month."

https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing ... -care-jobs

According to Tom Bullock and the rest of council, these trends don't apply to Lakewood.

Nadhal

T Peppard wrote:Then council president Mary Louise Madigan rushed to hold that 3rd meeting on December 21st. Did she really think the new council members would vote any different from the previous? It certainly doesn't seem so.

Yes, Bridget... a definite & disappointing contrast.

T Peppard

I believe had they waited until the new year, it would not have been unanimous. Which is why it was rushed through.

.

I wish this thread had a different title, to let people know that this isn't wordplay or otherwise connected with Lakewood only remotely, but instead just one county away from us. I would really like people to read about this, because it seems there is something very important here which is easy to miss.

My own reaction to this story has been increasingly sadness, more than anything else, and it took a day or so to figure out why.

This morning it occurred to me: this is what leadership that brings a community together looks like. This is what working together looks like.

Unless Bob Finnan has done a terrible job at reporting, apparently this challenge is not creating division or acrimony in Medina. If anything, it's probably increasing trust and improving relations between citizens and local government.

Why did it have to be different in Lakewood?

I think this is a persuasive argument that it did not.

As a once much-praised and respected Lakewood official commented, some while back, "it's really sad." It sure is.

I was at the Medina City Council meeting when the mayor announced he had contacted another health care operator and to witness the passage of the resolution by council against CCF's closing of the birthing center.

It was to say the least, refreshing to see a city council act in the interested of the public.

Contrasting the actions of Medina's city government with the actions of Lakewood's city government gives all the more reason for suspicion of dubious motives for the closing of our hospital.

Aside from the issues with our city government, Northeast Ohio is dealing with a health care operator that is perfectly willing to close life saving facilities so they can channel the money to projects in Dubai, London, Toronto and other profit making adventures. CCF is equal to the likes of Goldman Sachs. It is all about the money and has nothing to do with what's right. We need to join with the City of Medina and other communities throughout NEO to hold CCF accountable. We need to organize and TOGETHER, we need to contact our Governor, our representatives, our county officials and other officials to join us. We deserve the best health care and as a foundation that enjoys tax breaks, CCF owes it us.

A slightly more detailed story on the Medina City Council meeting at this link...

http://www.cleveland.com/medina/index.s ... s_cle.html

Note the council members speaking out on the issue, rather than falling towing the corporate line. Now that GOOD GOVERNMENT!

As I was talking about Lakewood with a very young person who lives in Medina (I do not wish to identify this young person online), he said, "Why does the Lakewood mayor want to close the hospital? Medina's mayor doesn't want to close our hospital." This was some time ago, and prescient.

The plan to sell our hospital for pennies on the dollar was planned well in advance of the residents of Lakewood ever knowing about.

I believe this scheme with the hospital was illegal and immoral.

Since the truth is starting to come out, I think it is time we all agree that this deal appears to be both illegal and immoral. They just can't wait to sell the hospital land to one of their developer friends for pennies on the dollar. Liberty? Payne and Payne? Forest City? Rockport Square? Who knows, maybe Mr. Summer's good friend Darren could expand from being just a flipper to a full blown developer. I am sure the Mayor would give him a sweet deal.

What was Council and Summers and Company's reward?