Residents Of Lakewood - Hospital Chain Letter...

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Jim O'Bryan
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Residents Of Lakewood - Hospital Chain Letter...

Postby Jim O'Bryan » Sat Jan 24, 2015 1:23 pm

The other day I was handed a chain letter for lack of a better term. A letter with a series of questions about the Lakewood Hospital Deal, and Questions to ask at the meeting on the 28th. Of course with this letter came the all too regular, "Don't tell anyone where you got it."

There are a lot of questions, and a lot of misinformation. Of course this always happens when people scheme in private and spring it on you. It is even worse when their timeline is broken up, and people have to scramble. It is at those moments you can who is for real and who is not.

Like the Cleveland Clinic or not, they have never lied or mislead on this. On the other hand
I am trying to figure out when the City of Lakewood has been truthful. With that said let's
look at this letter, and then I will answer some of the issues. No matter what you read or
hear, take the time to think how it affects you and your family, and the community. The needs of a young family with kids is very different from seniors with no kids. Always think of your needs and the community's.

What bothers me about this letter, and "save the hospital" is they complain about deals in secret and refuse to put their names on this letter or website. For the life of me I cannot figure out how you battle secrecy with secrecy. They as you to put your name on it, well where is theirs? For all we know this is prepared by the Crisis Management Team for easy answers to a complex problem.

Just saying...

January 23, 2015
Dear Friends of Lakewood Hospital,
The time has come to let our elected officials know that Lakewood Hospital is an asset that is critical to the City of Lakewood. On Wednesday, January 28, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Beck Center, 17801 Detroit Avenue, the Mayor of Lakewood, Lakewood City Council, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Lakewood Hospital Board trustees will hold an open forum to discuss their plans for Lakewood Hospital.
They have negotiated a written a “non-binding” letter of intent with Cleveland Clinic to close the hospital and reopen a new family health center. The following will happen:
1) The city of Lakewood’s Lakewood Hospital, at 457,000 square feet, will be torn down, and the 263 beds will be lost.
2) The city of Lakewood’s $1,000,000 in annual rent from the Cleveland Clinic will be lost. The Cleveland Clinic’s current lease goes through 2026.
3) 1,100 jobs will be transferred or lost to the Cleveland Clinic’s new hospital in Avon, Ohio.
4) Lakewood Hospital’s annual payroll taxes of $500,000 will be lost. These financial losses mean critical services such as police and fire will need to be reduced. Maintenance of parks, city streets, sidewalks, and other services will need to be decreased or taxes will need to be raised.
a. The Cleveland Clinic is buying the office building on Columbia Road and I 90 for 8.2 million. That purchase will help maintain city services in the short term.
b. According to the County Auditor, the building on Columbia Road and I 90 is worth about 13 million. The Cleveland Clinic is getting quite a deal!
5) Doctors who maintain offices in surrounding buildings will close and move their offices out of the city of Lakewood. This will mean additional jobs from office workers, nurses, and professional staff will be lost.
6) Restaurants and service providers located in Lakewood will see a significant loss of business. Businesses will close along Detroit Avenue.
7) Property values of buildings and homes throughout Lakewood will depreciate.
8) The Cleveland Clinic will not allow another hospital to operate on the current property.
9) The Cleveland Clinic will spend 34 million to build a sleek new 64,000 square foot family health center on Detroit Avenue and operate a 24-7-365 emergency room.
a. The Cleveland Clinic will maintain a smaller staffed emergency room. It will no longer be a Level 2 emergency room since the hospital will be gone.
b. The current emergency room will close when the new building is built.
c. The emergency room was rebuilt from millions of dollars from Lakewood residents and was dedicated in 2000. Those gifts will be dismissed as foolish investments.
10) On Thursday, January 15, 2015, Cleveland Clinic's Dr. Toby Cosgrove, Lakewood’s Mayor Michael Summers, and Lakewood Hospital’s trustee, Ken Haber held a press conference at Lakewood City Hall announcing this new agreement.
a. Cosgrove said, “Look at the Huron Community Health Center and what it has done for that community.” Cosgrove was talking about the health center that replaced the Huron Road Hospital that the Cleveland Clinic closed in East Cleveland.
b. After East Cleveland filed a lawsuit, the Cleveland Clinic reached a deal with East Cleveland to provide 20 million dollars to replace lost payroll and money to tear down the Huron Road Hospital. Many jobs and payroll taxes were lost and now the city of East Cleveland is nearly bankrupt.

Will Lakewood be the next city to go bankrupt?
11) The Cleveland Clinic will be able to abandon the Family Health Center at any time and for any reason. The city of Lakewood will be allowed to buy the Family Health Center at a fair market value.
12) The Cleveland Clinic will make payments totaling 24.4 million to a new tax-exempt not-for-profit community based foundation. The 7.6 million will come from Lakewood Hospital assets bringing the total assets for the new foundation to 32 million. The Cleveland Clinic will be afforded naming rights for the new nonprofit foundation, any building(s), and will have two voting board members on the foundation.
13) No other health system provider will operate on the same property.
14) Lakewood will release the Cleveland Clinic from any liability for the violation of their current lease with the city.
15) The city of Lakewood will include the Cleveland Clinic health benefits as a Tier 1 and/or “Preferred Provider” access for city employees.
16) The formal agreement must be executed within 90 days.
17) The negotiations for this agreement have been done in secret, without any citizen input, and possibly in violation of the State of Ohio’s Sunshine Law, Ohio Revised Code Sections 109.43 and 149.43 (E) (1).
18) In 1931, Lakewood City leaders had the foresight to save Lakewood Hospital during the Great Depression. In 2015, will our current city leaders have the same insight to save Lakewood Hospital?

Please come to the January 28, 2015 meeting at Beck Center.

If you’re unable to attend the public forum or wish to contact your elected officials directly, please see their contact information below.

Michael P. Summers, Mayor 216-529-6600
Email: mayor@lakewoodoh.net
Mary Louise Madigan, Council President, Ward 4 Ryan Nowlin, Council Vice President, At Large
216-228-9579 or 216-529-6053 216-712-7582 or 216-529-6053
Email: mary.madigan@lakewoodoh.net Email: ryan.nowlin@lakewoodoh.net
David W. Anderson, Council - Ward 1 Sam O’Leary, Council - Ward 2
216-789-6463 or 216-529-6053 216-200-8002 or 216-543-0629
Email: david.anderson@lakewoodoh.net Email: Sam.OLeary@lakewoodoh.net
Shawn Juris, Council - Ward 3 Thomas Bullock, Council - At Large
216-906-8432 or 216-529-6053 216-337-1318 or 216-529-6053
Email: shawn.juris@lakewoodoh.net Email: tom.bullock@lakewoodoh.net
Cindy Marx, Council - At Large
216-521-1848 or 216-534-1772
Email: cindy.marx@lakewoodoh.net

Mail city officials: City of Lakewood
12650 Detroit Avenue
Lakewood, OH 44107

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Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident

"The very act of observing disturbs the system."
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If not, don't worry. Just forget about it."
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