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Broadlands hospital fight draws national attention
A national nurses' union-organizing group has joined local groups in the battle to block HCA's five-year quest to build a hospital in Broadlands.Two representatives of National Nurses Organizing Committee, an arm of the California Nurses Association, held a joint press conference with the Concerned Citizens of Broadlands on the courthouse lawn in Leesburg May 19 to protest the rebirth of HCA's plans.
"Too often," said Kathy McGregor, the committee's organizer for Virginia, HCA "puts profits before patients. We believe registered nurses have the right and responsibility to shape health-care policy and to influence health-care decisions."
An HCA representative later questioned a California group's interest in a local land-use issue, and emphasized the need for more hospital beds in Loudoun. Margaret Lewis, president of HCA's Capital Division, said earlier that Broadlands is the correct place for the facility, that the Health Commissioner has agreed by granting and extending the state's approval of that site, and that there is not yet sufficient demand for a hospital on U.S. 50 in Arcola, where the corporation owns land.
The press conference, which brought together four Broadlands residents, two NNOC representatives, one HCA representative (taking notes) and a sprinkling of local reporters, followed last week's announcement that the Virginia Health Commissioner had approved a one-year extension of the state regulators' approval of the 164-bed Broadlands Regional Medical Center at the intersection of Broadlands Boulevard, the Greenway and Belmont Ridge Road.
"We are here to express our disappointment with the state health commissioner for granting the extension of the Certificate of Public Need," said Broadlands resident Mark Booth. He pointed to "three years of a meritless lawsuit" – HCA went to court to overturn the Board of Supervisors' 2005 vote not to allow a hospital there – and the current Board of Supervisors' deal with HCA to re-hear the application in return for HCA's dropping the lawsuit.
"Will they treat patients the way they treat the residents of Broadlands and put profit over patient care?" Booth asked.
Greg Miller, a registered nurse from San Jose, Calif., added to the NNOC complaints against HCA. The huge for-profit hospital chain bought the nonprofit San Jose Medical Center in the mid-1990s, he said, and in 1998 closed it. The medical center, Miller said, served the neediest in San Jose. Now it is gone.
HCA bought Northern Virginia Community Hospital in Arlington and Dominion Hospital in Falls Church in 2003 in order to close them and move the state-approved beds to Broadlands.
Booth and several Broadlands residents, clad in bright yellow T-shirts emblazoned "Impact Zone Resident," focused on local issues.
The board back in 2005 turned down the HCA plan because of the impact of a hospital in a residential community, Booth said. Those issues of traffic, safety and quality of life haven't gone away.
Booth would prefer to see the 58 acres developed as they are zoned, as an office park. Medical offices, which would not operate 24 hours a day, would be fine with him.
Cliff Keirce, president of the Broadlands Homeowners Association, was not at the press conference. The HOA has not taken a position, but he supports the hospital, Keirce said.
Development of millions of square feet of office and commercial use on the property, Keirce said, will have far more impact on the community than would a hospital. The hospital building, according to HCA's plans, would be put on the back of the property, near the Greenway and as far as possible from residences.
And the HCA offer to turn four acres on Broadlands Boulevard over to the HOA for public use, and to widen and improve Belmont Ridge Road from the Greenway to Brambleton, is a "big plus."
And Keirce knows from personal experience, he said, that the area needs more hospital beds, more specialists, and more health care.
"We know how HCA is on the inside," said McGregor, the NNOC organizer. "We are here to join this fight. We want to say to HCA, 'Listen to what the community says.'"
Her group supports HCA's building a hospital on land it already owns along U.S. 50, McGregor said. "But quit rolling over the community. Listen to the nurses."
Contact the reporter at ssollinger@timespapers.com
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