ALMOST a year ago, Pascack Valley Hospital closed its doors and filed for bankruptcy. Its 50-year history of serving the region's families came to a screeching halt and the issue of access to health care landed smack in the heart of Bergen County.

Bergen County is the most populous county in the most densely populated state in the nation. It is divided into more than 70 different municipalities connected by congested highways and local roads. The frustration of crossing from one town to another can make a trip of just a few miles seem endless. In a critical medical situation, in a case of life and death, such a trip can indeed be an eternity.

Hackensack University Medical Center and Legacy Hospital Partners have pooled their resources – financial, medical and operational – and have applied to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital under a new name and new management. The new hospital will be called Hackensack University Medical Center North at Pascack Valley.

The new hospital is slated to open in several phases. The emergency department has already opened and other important health care functions will be offered in mid-2009. By the time all phases are completed, HUMC North at PV will be a 128-bed hospital offering services ranging from obstetrics and surgery to oncology and a wellness center. The new facility will include radiology and nuclear medicine, a cardiac center and the full range of services required to meet the needs of the families in the service area.

The new facility will create 400 permanent jobs and will generate an estimated $170 million in annual revenue. The hospital will pay property taxes to Westwood, where it will be located, and also to the county. Unlike so many other hospitals that are exempt from paying any property taxes at all, HUMC North will pay its full and fair share.

Health care options

Reopening and revitalizing Pascack Valley Hospital isn't just about creating jobs and providing tax revenues. It is fundamentally about returning health care options to the thousands of families that saw their choice foreclosed when the previous hospital went bankrupt.

Pascack Valley Hospital found itself in financial trouble for a variety of reasons, but a lack of patients in the community was not one of them.

HUMC North will provide high quality health care services primarily to the residents of 14 municipalities in northeastern Bergen County.

Health planning is a challenge for state and local policymakers. The process involves meeting needs, assessing finances and calculating the impact that opening a new hospital will have on the entire health care system.

By all these measures, HUMC North should receive quick approval by all regulatory agencies.

The need for HUMC North is not in question. In fact, every one of the 14 mayors in the core service region has endorsed the reopening of the hospital.

While the final report of the New Jersey Commission on Rationalizing Health Care Resources indicated an excess of 254 beds in our area in 2015, three area hospitals, including 696 beds, have since been eliminated. As a result, our region will have a deficit of approximately 450 hospital beds in 2015.

The 128 beds proposed for Hackensack University Medical Center North will not eliminate the shortage of beds in the area by 2015, but they are an important step in the right direction.

Sound financing

The finances of the new hospital will be among the most sound in the nation. The project will be funded entirely with private investment dollars from Legacy Hospital Partners, Inc. and from HUMC. Not a penny of taxpayer dollars will be spent to return quality health care to the Pascack Valley.

Meeting demonstrated health care needs, preserving and enhancing health care options and contributing to the quality of health care services provided throughout the region and the state is a moral and ethical obligation that will be met and embraced by opening Hackensack University Medical Center North at the former site of the Pascack Valley Hospital.

J. Fletcher Creamer Jr. is chairman of the board of Hackensack University Medical Center. He is a resident of Park Ridge.