Bad neighbors, bad representation

Pascack Valley Hospital

It is a poor reflection on the state of humanity and patient rights in northern New Jersey when two hospitals and two state legislators team up to try to deny nearly 175,000 residents in the Pascack Valley and Northern Valley regions of Bergen County the right to have access to health care in our own neighborhood. The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and Assemblyman Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood, are simply dead wrong in their efforts to block Hackensack University Medical Center from reopening the former Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood.

Since Pascack Valley closed its doors last November, residents in 22 communities have faced extra long delays in transporting emergency patients to health care facilities throughout the Bergen and Passaic area. The TriBoro Ambulance Squad serving Montvale, Park Ridge and Woodcliff Lake is now averaging 20 more minutes per call.

The hardship for the patient is only one part of the equation. For the past four months, our emergency medical volunteers have had to put in more than 165 extra hours finding available emergency rooms for residents from our three communities. That’s also 165 hours that our emergency vehicles were not around in our communities to transport other patients in need. In addition, there has been a 500 percent increase in the need to take patients to more distant facilities because of overcrowded emergency rooms.

Just multiply those figures for the rest of the 19 communities that no longer have quick and easy access to hospital care.

Those of us who have driven ourselves to Valley and have sat six hours or more waiting in the emergency room for care are having a hard time believing that a "commissioned" report by two hospitals in competition with HUMC represents the best interests of the Pascack and Northern Valley communities.

Residents in the 22 Pascack and Northern Valley communities should make their voices heard in Trenton.

Richard Henning

Park Ridge, Sept. 26
The writer is president of the Park Ridge Borough Council and a former Pascack Valley Hospital board member.

I was intrigued by "Plans for med school change" (Page L-1) and "Rival hospitals dispute need to reopen Pascack" (Page A-1) in The Record’s Sept. 26 edition.

Like Westwood Mayor John Birkner Jr., I’m a little disappointed that Touro University College of Medicine will not be a part of Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley. But seeing the positive, this now frees HUMC to provide even more services that will occupy the building that Touro was set to use, and it eradicates any disputes anyone had with zoning. We are set to have a better-than-ever full-service hospital back on the site.

But not if The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center have their way. I find it ridiculous that these two hospitals are working so diligently to deny Pascack Valley residents restoration of their own hospital.

Perhaps we should start a petition requesting that people not go to dinner at any of Ridgewood’s fine restaurants, or not see a show at the bergenPAC. Doesn’t that sound a little silly?

Valley and Englewood should mind their own businesses, perhaps concentrating on getting their institutions back on solid financial footing rather than reaping profits from patients who are forced to use their facilities because they have no other choice.

Douglas Duchak, Englewood’s president and chief executive officer, said HUMC is putting profit before patients. But that’s exactly what Englewood and Valley are doing by fighting Pascack Valley’s reopening.

Michael Lewis

Westwood, Sept. 29

I am furious that The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center dispute the need to reopen Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood ("Rival hospitals dispute the need to reopen Pascack," Page A-1, Sept. 26).

It sounds like a Hollywood western, where the good guy moves in and the bad guys want to run him out of town because the good guy brings success to the villagers, causing the bad guys to lose profits.

When Pascack Valley folded, patients seeking emergency care were turned away from some hospitals because of lack of room and directed to other places for treatment. Also, patients have been placed in hallways at Valley many times and have had to wait hours for available beds.

We need a full-service hospital such as the one HUMC is planning,

Toni Goddin

Hillsdale, Sept. 26

"Rival hospitals dispute need to reopen Pascack" (Page A-1, Sept. 26) details how The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center are fighting Hackensack University Medical Center’s creation of a much needed acute-care hospital at the site of the former Pascack Valley Hospital in Westwood. I fully understand that competition for business is at the heart of the issue. However, the last sentence — "They put profit before patients" — angered me.

Who hired a consultant from Washington, D.C., to write a report on the health care needs of our residents? I am insulted that someone from Washington thinks he can assess the needs of our communities without experiencing the unique problems that confront our residents, now that we no longer are served by a local hospital.

What about the medical needs of our residents? The remaining hospitals in Bergen County contend that Pascack Valley’s closure has strengthened them without harming access to care in any significant way. These statements reflect a callous attitude toward our residents, one that clearly puts their profits before the patients’ needs.

We don’t simply want our hospital back. We need our hospital back.

John Birkner Jr.

Westwood, Sept. 27
The writer is mayor of Westwood.