The Observation Deck

From page one of the new Parma Observer...


MetroHealth Opens Hospital In Parma
by Tina Arundel

MetroHealth has reimagined the hospital experience by opening two new hospitals in Parma and Cleveland Heights. The Parma facility is located at 12301 Snow Road and will open to patients on January 3.

These hospitals are designed for the best experience possible for the patient. That means:
new, private, airy rooms
the most comfortable hospital beds available
on-demand ordering for restaurant-style meals
space for visitors
a resting chair for overnight visitors
interactive television
window blinds controlled from the patient’s bed
cozy bathrobes
aromatherapy
free parking for visitors

That’s right, the new hospitals offer MetroHealth’s expert care in an attractive, healing environment. “Most people want to receive exceptional medical care close to home,” says Bernard Boulanger, MD, MetroHealth’s executive vice president and chief clinical officer. “That’s part of why we’ve opened these hospitals. Patients will be able to stay in their community and receive the care they need.”

These new hospitals are ideal for medical issues that require hospitalization and around-the-clock care, but not necessarily all the features offered for critical care, like trauma services or intensive care. These new hospitals also are not birthing centers. Deliveries will still be at MetroHealth’s main campus.

Questions about our new hospitals:

Q: What kinds of conditions can I receive care for at these hospitals?
A: These sites are fully equipped to treat a wide range of adult conditions that require a hospital stay, including but not limited to pneumonia, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, mild problems with congestive heart failure, and dehydration, which can be caused by the flu and other illnesses. Trauma and the most critical illnesses will still be treated at MetroHealth Medical Center.

Q. What services are available at these hospitals?
A. Both of these MetroHealth locations also feature an emergency department, lab and radiology services as well as pharmacy and physical therapy. They have primary care medical offices and specialty care outpatient clinics, which include cardiology, neurology, cancer and infusion services, physical medicine and rehabilitation and orthopaedics. MetroHealth Parma also offers outpatient surgery.

Q. What kind of interaction will I have with my doctors and nurses?
A. Your doctors and nurses will be able to spend the time they need with you to deliver personalized care. They will work together with you to coordinate all the care you need in the hospital and will help you transition to any outpatient or at-home care you may require.

Q: These hospitals sound really nice. Will this be a costlier place to receive care?
A: No. Although every hospital stay is different, in general, these new hospitals will be billed at a rate comparable to that of MetroHealth Medical Center’s main campus.

To find out more about our new hospitals, visit metrohealth.org/cleveland-heights or metrohealth.org/parma.

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The decision of the mayor and his Lakewood Hospital Association "step-two" committee to ignore and abandon the offer of Metro Health System to run Lakewood Hospital goes down in Lakewood history as one of its biggest failures of leadership ever.

You might also want to browse recent articles on the demise of bricks-and-mortar retail as we think about the city administration's vision-less plan to donate the former hospital site to a developer for mixed-use.

We have a city administration that is feckless, reckless, and clueless. (And, I am being polite here).

Here is one of the Metro proposals:
Councilman O'Leary and Mayor Summers first lied about the existence of the offers made by Metro. When the proposals were made public the Mayor and O'Leary lied again to say the offer was withdrawn before they could respond. The truth was the Mayor and O'Leary ignored the offer and then applied political pressure to have the offer withdrawn. Local media like the PD just reported the withdrawal without pointing out that the City ignored the offer and then demanded that the offer be withdrawn.

There was another letter from Metro where it was stated that Metro was interested in a lease, lease option or purchase or any other arrangement. Metro was very interested and even named their negotiating team.

The City was not just interested. They were wedded to their plot to simply sign away 1,500 jobs, millions in rent and income tax receipts, millions in cash and investments, the Lakewood Hospital Foundation and more. What a waste.

I remember attending one City Council meeting where a member of the Hospital Board raced up to the podium waving a book. She explained, "I read this book and this book says hospitals are obsolete."

I hesitate to say this but that woman is and was a complete idiot. But she was on the board and fully on board with moving Lakewood Hospital to Avon. I wondered at the time how she could so ill serve her community. I later found out that she was moving to Avon/Avon Lake area. So it turns out she was serving her community after all.

The city administration abandoned its invaluable community hospital.

The city administration abandoned the major proposal to retain its invaluable community hospital.

The city administration abandoned the income tax revenue stream of 1,662 hospital employees.

The city administration abandoned the multi-year lease revenue streams.

The city administration abandoned tens of millions of dollars in current and future charity care to its community.

The city administration plans to abandon the former hospital site to developers.

Those 6 sentences describe a health-care and economic-development disaster of epic proportions.

For what? Retail and apartments!

Oh! And, before I forget...

The city administration is planning to abandon the former hospital site to a development team that includes a former LHA board member.

This former LHA board member (and former mayor) led a campaign to close the hospital with a fake (one issue) community newspaper.

This fake newspaper carried as a headline a "big-lie" news article published with the intention of confusing voters on Issue 64.

The Orwellian "big-lie" article was to the effect that Issue 64 would doom the hospital; despite the fact that the City and LHA had themselves had already doomed the hospital.

My God! How scuzzier could this be?

Here is the link to the story in the SCENE:

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-he ... o-election

Mark,

Thank you for sharing that chart. It’s incredibly important to dispel the myth put forth by Summers, O’Leary, Bullock and the rest of the “democrats” on city council. Healthcare is indeed changing. Hospitals are being built all over Northeast Ohio and Lakewood will get nothing.

I don’t blame the Clinic. Sam O’Leary the “rising star” council president and Tom Bullock were the peddlers of disinformation. The original fake news came out of Ed Fitzgerald.

Interesting enough this has been a failure by the Lakewood Democratic Party:

1. If you look nationally, Democrats spent all of 2017 fighting the repeal of ACA. Specifically preserving the Medicaid expansion.

2. In Medina, Republicans fought the Clinic tooth and nail to preserve a Medina birthing center.

3. In contrast, our “rising star” council president and allies on city council did everything in their power to pave the path for the closure of Lakewood hospital.

4. The former mayor Ed Fitzgerald turned failed gubernational candidate bids to develop the former hospital site.

5. Mr. Fitzgerald who systematically weakened Lakewood Hospital during his tenure gets the bid to develop the hospital site.

6. Im still waiting for a current council member to have the courage to ask for a third party investigation into the closing of Lakewood hospital. 1,500 jobs lost and the loss of healthcare in a deserving community is worth another look.

Nadhal

Mr. Eadeh, I always respect your analysis and thoughtful opinion, especially since you work for the single largest health care provider in the United States, the Veterans Administration.

Mark Kindt wrote:Mr. Eadeh, I always respect your analysis and thoughtful opinion, especially since you work for the single largest health care provider in the United States, the Veterans Administration.

It should be noted Parma probably needs 2 hospitals, it has 81,000 residents and is trying to attract new residents across a wide spectrum of interests, social patterns, and trying to raise the medium income of the city.

Where Lakewood only has 51,000 plus and is trying to run out high paying jobs, and free thinkers from the community. While desperately trying to drive the medium income down, with some success, so that eventually we join East Cleveland begging Cleveland to annex us. After all both Ed FitGerald and his mentored students like Mayor Summers, Tom Bullock and Sam O'Leary are die-hard regionalists.

Get ready for a wild ride. As often noted here the book "Slaughter of Cities" goes into great detail about destroying a community's value so that developers can buy for pennies on the dollar and build up everything from mixed-use building, to mixed-use strip malls.

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