News
Hospital gets support
No opposition to Baptist’s latest bid is heard
Journal Photo by Lauren Carroll
Lewis Thorpe (left) and Bill Orrell, both of Advance, wear shirts in support of Baptist’s proposed 50-bed hospital in Davie County.
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Published: May 13, 2008
Proponents of a new Davie County Hospital rallied around a proposed site for a 50-bed hospital during a state hearing devoid of tension yesterday.
No opposition was presented against Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center's latest bid for a certificate-of-need application during the nearly 2½–hour hearing at Cornerstone Christian Church in Advance. More than 300 people attended.
By comparison, the Nov. 16 hearing on the first CON application from Baptist and only application from Forsyth Medical Center drew hundreds of vocal supporters on both sides.
The silence was intentional on the part of proponents of Forsyth's rival 50-bed hospital proposal in Clemmons.
Although Forsyth officials were at the hearing, they did not comment on the second Baptist CON application. When asked for comment, they cited written objections submitted by Forsyth to the N.C. Division of Health Service Regulation on May 1.
Health-care institutions typically file written objections to state regulators to argue that rivals have failed to show a need for new hospitals where they want to build them. That is one piece of criteria that the state considers when weighing CON applications.
The hearing was the latest in the continued jockeying between Novant and Baptist for state approval of small regional hospitals that would be about four miles apart. Analysts have said they do not believe that the state would approve both hospitals. The state must issue a certificate of need before either can be built.
Baptist officials, as well as supporters in the Davie community, recognized early on in the hearing that they were preaching to the choir with their comments. Health-care analysts say that public hearings typically carry little weight with state regulators compared with the CON application.
That is why many of the Davie hospital proponents used their time to express unified support for the Advance site, which was pointed out as a major sticking point in the original Baptist application.
Martha Frisone, the state regulator in charge of the three CON applications and yesterday's hearing, found in Baptist's first application that it did not justify why moving the existing Davie hospital from Mocksville would "meet the needs of the population it presently serves."
"With our latest application, we have addressed everything that they pointed out to us that was weak with the exception of the land site," said Donny Lambeth, the interim president of N.C. Baptist Hospital. "The state is hearing comment from across the county, particularly from our senior-citizen groups, that a hospital in the eastern part of Davie is well supported."
The hospitals filed applications for their hospitals last September. Both were initially denied and are being appealed. In the interim, Baptist also filed a new application for a smaller version of its Advance hospital. It said that the current hospital in Mocksville is outdated and is not cost-efficient to renovate.
The N.C. Court of Appeals acted May 1 to allow Novant Health Inc. to offer public comments on Baptist's second application. The court's decision halts a preliminary injunction obtained by Baptist that would have prevented Novant from commenting on the second application.
Andrew Brock, a former Davie commissioner, said that the Advance site is the best tactical site in the county for a hospital. He cited last week's severe weather and a recent major wreck on Interstate 40 as examples of how Davie residents could be cut off from needed health care in an emergency unless there is a new hospital within the county.
Having a hospital within two miles of the Bermuda Run community would save time and lives, said Ed Beam, the president of a residents association at Bermuda Village. He said that there were at least 10,000 medical-related trips made by residents of the village last year, including at least 5,000 handled by village staff. Most were made to hospitals outside the county.
"The reality is that there is no other proposed hospital site in Davie County," said Hank Van Hoy, a local attorney. "The support being spoken for a new Davie County hospital should override any theoretical concern about the logistics of the site."
Several speakers said that no Davie tax dollars would be spent on the proposed $100 million hospital.
"It's like having a winning lottery ticket and not being able to cash it in," said Terry Bralley, Davie County's manager. "I've never seen this kind of support for any project in my 29 years in Davie. Especially for one in which the need for a replacement is so great and the alternative would be no hospital at all in Davie."
Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at
rcraver@wsjournal.com.
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N.C. Politics
Federal Politics
The Downtown Summer Music Series will begin on Thursday. Ed Bumgardner talks to some of the organizers of the Downtown Jazz lineup, in which a form of music known as "smooth jazz" will play a more prominent role this year.
Thursday's relish stories will appear in the Entertainment section.
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