Editorial...Yes, Yes, and No on New Hospital

The Observer has been accused of being opposed to a new $58 million hospital in Grove. Nothing could be further from the truth so let's say that up front.

We say Yes to a new hospital. It would be a tremendous new asset to the city and area and would bring additional business to Grove, increased staff of physicians, nurses and other employees, and as designed by HKS Architects, would be the most beautiful building in our city.

We also say Yes to the volunteer fundraising effort being undertaken by the Hospital. One individual has pledged $1 million to the effort and his generosity is noteworthy to say the least. We hope many others who have the means will step forward as well. A total of $5 million has been requested by Integris as a sign of "community support."

But we say No to the request for $1 million from the city coffers, payable at $200,000 over five years. This money will come from the City Capital Fund budget, this year at $4.3 million. A $200,000 per year donation will come to nearly 5% of the city's total Capital budget, or $200.00 a year for every man, woman and child in Grove.

In fact, the $200,000 is nearly the largest item in this year's budget, exceeded only by $250,000 allocated to fix the leaking Civic Center roof, which probably isn't enough; $246,000 to complete the downtown storm drainage project, and $280,000 for the new cemetery project.

We have $25,000 budgeted for pothole repairs and $50,000 for asphalt overlay.

At $50,000 per mile for a complete asphalt overlay program, we could pave four miles with just one year's donation to the hospital. Our streets are grinding up tires, wearing out brakes and suspension systems. Bumpety Bumpety.

If put to a vote of the people, (not likely), the issue of a $200,000 per year donation would fail by a wide margin, according to our research. And we don't oppose "in kind" donations by the city, but none have been discussed. These include free tap fees, utility construction costs, land swaps, give backs, etc.

Frankly, we don't know how this suggestion came up in the first place. It appears to have come upon us like a stealthy fog bank.

In the end, our city council will make the decision and that is why they get elected. If the city residents don't like their decision they can vote them out at the next election.

We hope this clears up our feelings on the matter and at least you know. Other media in the area are silent, and are not likely to speak up.

News Analysis--Hospital PR Releases

Expect to see a lot of medical articles in the coming weeks on the front page of the Grove Sun Daily, as the local hospital public relations office preps the public for the $1 million tax donation from the city for a new hospital.
One such article appeared Monday in the Sun Daily, "Hospital Foundation Gives Back to the Community." It talked about a program begun nine years ago to provide defibrillators for every school in Delaware and Ottawa counties and how it saved lives.
The article was accompanied by a photo of three persons who survived cardiac arrest incidents and was obviously pulled from a hospital filing cabinet and recycled with the article.
The bad news is that one of the persons in the photo had died some time ago, forcing the Sun Daily to issue a front page Apology in Wednesday's edition. The family of the deceased person must have been sorely upset at the photo, which identified the man as surviving a cardiac arrest incident, which at one time he had, but had since passed away.
The second bad news is this is what happens when a PR department gets so full of itself and fails to check the facts before putting out a news release and photo to an unsuspecting reporter.
Newspapers don't have the resources to fact check every PR release that gets dumped on the desk and they depend on professional PR people for accuracy.
But here at The Observer we can relax---the local hospital has refused for two years to send us any of their news releases. We might ask too many questions.

Grove Hospital Trust OK's $1 Million Request

Members of the Grove Healthcare Trust Authority approved a resolution to support the building campaign of a new $56 million hospital, by committing $1 million from the city, payable over a five-year period at $200,000 per year. The measure will now go to the Grove City Council for action.
The first payment would be made by Dec. 31, 2007, with the final payment Dec. 31, 2011. "In-kind" donations by the city such as utility services would be deducted from the $1 million cash donated by the city.
Greg Martin, Integris Grove Hospital President, told members of the trust authority the hospital would like to have a total of $5 million in local committments by December or January. He said that the total committed to date is "more than halfway there."
The new hospital will be state of the art, replacing the current 43-year-old facility, with all-private patient rooms and amenities, more surgical facilities, additional physicians, and a new emergency department with additional treatment rooms.
Integris Grove currently employs approximately 350 people with an economic imnpact for the city of more than $12 million annually; more than $1.8 million each year is returned to the community in the form of charity care, would would amount to more than $9 million over the five years of city contributions.
HKS Architects, headquartered in Dallas, is designing the new facility. Among its clients are the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tx; the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston; Seattle Childrens Hospital; George Washington University Hospital; the AA Center in Dallas, Los Ventanos in Los Cabos; J.C. Penny Headquarters in Frisco, Tx; and The Beacon Development in San Francisco.
The firm has offices in 12 cities including Oklahoma City.
The new building will face 18th Street in Grove. A request to hospital officials for a photo of the renderings was refused.