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Gov. Christie with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno (l.) state Sen. Gerald Cardinale (second from r.) and Assemblyman Bob Schroeder (far r.) during 2009 campaign stop outside the hospital (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo)
“Failing to establish [the hospital] may place the residents of the Pascack Valley and Northern Valley at greater risk when health care emergencies arise and immediate care is essential,” O’Dowd wrote in a 14-page letter approving plans for the 128-bed HUMC North facility, which the hospital will operate with its partner, LHP Hospital Group Inc. of Texas.
The privately operated, non-taxpayer-subsided hospital will be a first for North Jersey. Officials say it could be open as early as October but more likely before next spring.
O’Dowd placed conditions, saying the facility cannot add beds for three years.
What’s more, “all residents of the hospital service area, especially the medically indigent” must have access to services, she wrote, in the letter released by the Health Department tonight.
O’Dowd is also requiring a residency program for at least 30 med school graduates, aimed at keeping New Jersey from facing a shortage of trained physicians.
Christie’s scheduled Town Hall meeting in Westwood this Wednesday was timed to coincide with today’s announcement, sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CLIFFVIEW PILOT late this morning.
Even before becoming governor, Christie long insisted that Pascack Valley Hospital be reopened. The nearly 300-bed hospital, which opened a half-century ago, closed five years ago after being forced into bankruptcy.
Assembly Republicans Bob Schroeder and Holly Schepisi, both R-Bergen/Passaic, welcomed the move enthusiastically.
“As a firefighter and emergency responder, I have experienced first-hand the life-and-death difference it can make when you have to travel even just a few minutes further to receive medical care,” Schroeder said. “I have full confidence that HUMC-North will provide a valuable and necessary service to our residents, and save lives.”
“Not only will vital medical services be provided in the new Hackensack University Medical Center–North,” Schepis added, “but the jobs that will be created are also a huge benefit to the area’s work force and economy. It is also important to note that taxpayers will not be subsidizing the new hospital, but in fact, the new facility will be paying taxes to New Jersey.”
Residents and officials had fought in favor of reopening Pascack, saying that the health of local citizens is at stake. But Valley Hospital and Englewood Hospital and Medical Center have vehemently opposed it, saying that a reopening would siphon away patients, threatening their survival.
O’Dowd emphasized in her letter that the new facility would have half as many beds as previous valley hospitals and insisted it won’t “disrupt or place at risk any of the operating hospitals in Bergen County.”
Pascack had just significantly expanded when it ran into serious financial trouble. Days before the hospital closed in November 2007, the certificate of need for the hospital’s mobile intensive care unit — which had provided advanced life support services to 18 towns in the Pascack and Northern Valleys — was auctioned in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Hackensack University Medical Center was the winning winning bidder at $3.6 million and began providing paramedic services to the area.
After several delays, the hospital building and property were auctioned on February 27, 2008. HUMC and Touro University College of Medicine won with a joint bid of $45 million — and announced plans to reopen a full-service hospital and a new medical school.
But in September 2008, Touro backed out of the deal, deciding instead to open the medical school in Hasbrouck Heights. HUMC then submitted its revised proposal to the state.
State Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R- Bergen), after being told the news by Christie, called today’s approval “the right thing to do for patients, who face 20 to 30 additional minutes of transport time in the event of a medical emergency.
“It is the right thing to do for our region’s EMS and ambulance services, which have been strained as a result of the hospital’s closing,” he added. “And it is a boost for the economy in northern Bergen County, which will benefit from the jobs generated and property taxes paid by a reopened Pascack Valley Hospital.”
Cardinale also urged Englewood Hospital and Ridgewood’s Valley Hospital to forgo any contemplated legal action seeking to derail the hospital’s reopening.
“I implore Englewood and Valley Hospitals to not delay this process through litigation aimed at preventing Pascack Valley from reopening,” Cardinale said. “There is a substantial need for this hospital to resume full operations in the communities I represent. They should not be denied easy access to quality care because other hospitals fear competition.”
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