Mayors put local hospitals on notice
The Record
Sunday, November 16, 2008
BY LINDY WASHBURN
The mayors of 10 Pascack Valley towns have told hospital executives who oppose the reopening of Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood to back off — or else.
“We take extreme offense to the tactics put forth by each of your hospitals,” said a letter to Presidents Audrey Meyers of The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and Douglas Duchak of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. If “you continue to thwart the efforts of Hackensack University Medical Center to bring a hospital to our community, we are prepared to use our collective resources to respond in kind.”
The four-page letter was signed by the mayors of Emerson, Montvale, Oradell, River Vale, Westwood, Hillsdale, Old Tappan, Park Ridge, Washington Township and Woodcliff Lake.
In a joint statement, spokeswomen for the two hospitals said they had just received the letter and had questions about its overall accuracy.
“This issue is not about politics, but about ensuring that all Bergen County hospitals remain healthy and strong to serve all Bergen County residents,” said the statement from Megan Fraser at Valley and Maria Margiotta of Englewood hospital.
Hackensack has applied for state permission to reopen the former Pascack Valley Hospital as a 128-bed community hospital. The new facility, Hackensack University Medical Center North at Pascack Valley, would be operated in a joint venture with Legacy Hospital Partners of Texas as for-profit hospital.
Pascack Valley closed one year ago after declaring bankruptcy. Residents of the Pascack and Northern Valley towns were forced to go elsewhere for treatment, traveling six extra miles to Valley or eight extra miles to Englewood in emergencies.
Since Oct. 1, the former Pascack Valley emergency room has been open as a satellite emergency department of Hackensack University Medical Center to treat non-life-threatening emergencies.
The letter from the Pascack Valley Mayors’ Association is the latest salvo in a public-relations and political battle over the proposed reopening of the former hospital.
Hospital officials at Englewood and Valley support the satellite emergency room, but they oppose the reopening of a full community hospital in Westwood because they say the region has enough hospital beds. Englewood, for example, has the capacity to open 150 additional beds, if needed.
Opening a new hospital would have a “devastating impact on the financial stability” of Englewood, its executives have told state officials.
