vision2020
RE: Regional hospital
Jeff asked some questions about why people oppose building a joint hospital
between Pullman and Moscow. I am opposed to such a move for several
reasons:
1) The hospital in Moscow is an integral part of our community. Moving it
out of Moscow for the sole reason of making it closer to Pullman doesn't
make sense. There is currently room around Gritman for expansion if that
would be necessary to increase services to the region.
2) Construction of any large demand facility in the corridor is a bad idea
for transportation flow between Pullman and Moscow. I believe that sprawl
into the corridor is a bad thing for our area. Our communties and
Universities are better served by an ability to move quickly between towns.
3) Building a new facility wasteful of resources when the opportunity
exists to simply expand on what we have when needed.
4) Putting a hospital in the corridor doesn't just end with that facility.
With that investment comes the relocation of doctors' offices, food
establishments, etc. I think this discussion is much more complicated than
simply "wouldn't it make sense to split the cost of a bunch of medical
equipment".
5) The hospitals can work together by specializing in what they do best,
without relocating entire facilities out of town.
I strongly believe that keeping our communities in tact and not just
relocating them out to the corridor is looking to the greater good. It is
the "pro-community" position. I think physical relocation is not the
make-or-break condition for working together as a "greater Palouse"
community.
In many communities around the country, large buildings are being abandoned
in the effort to relocate to even larger buildings. Three-plex movie
theatres are being abandoned for 20-plex theaters because it "makes
economic sense". This seems to be the basic argument by those that wish to
build a large corridor hospital, and it doesn't feel like a decision that
would build community. Those are my reasons for opposing the idea.
Tom
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