Reader asks why is Valley and its supporters pushing for the massive construction, when it fact it will not be great benefit to the residents
As the original poster to a number of articles about Valley, its ability to treat trauma victims and its occupancy rates, I am very glad to see that I got the answer from a fellow poster in that:
“Trauma centers are regulated. The hospitals have specialized equipment and highly trained staff and participate in research. Car accident and pedestrian accident victims in Ridgewood are transported to Hackensack/St Joes because they have the facilities for the best outcome.’
So in reality, Valley hospital is primarily in the business of medical healthcare specialties in that they don’t treat trauma victims from car accidents, to heart attacks.
The question then crops up, why is Valley and its supporters pushing for the massive construction, when it fact it will not be great benefit to the residents but will be of sound financial benefit to Valley and those specialists that work there. This is all about wealth creation for the hospital and its employees and contractors, those that are working at Valley in the numerous medical specialties.
Look, Valley is a great hospital. We gave birth to our daughter there a number of years ago and they did an excellent job but I think there were two babies born the same day as my daughter so the maternity ward was at a small occupancy rate – I know that the cancer unit is located in Paramus and they also have a great cardiology department but hey, what else do they do? There pulmonologist department is tied into their cardiovascular department – but I would sincerely doubt whether any of these departments are operating at full capacity on any given month, never mind any given day.
So because they are a specialty hospital, operating purely for profit, although they have non-profit status, why do they feel the need to increase their current structural size – it’s not as if they are going to increase their patient capacity, is it??? People will continue to go to the hospital they feel most comfortable with; the hospital that they know have the experts to cater to their medical needs and no amount of new buildings will attract more patients.
Most cancer patients will continue to travel into New York to receive treatment at the world famous facilities there. Those that can afford it will obviously travel further afield for most exclusive treatment so just because you build it, it doesn’t mean that they will come to it.
Apart from anything else, the majority of residents in the entire village of Ridgewood are against the expansion policies of Valley Hospital as we all know there is no need for creating such an expanded facility in Ridgewood, when most people tend to go out of town for treatment.
I think that we can put up with all the comments from the pro-Valley people because they know that the expansion is a pipe-dream and it will not happen. Anybody that does think it will go ahead, needs to visit a good psychiatric facility in another part of NJ or New York City as Valley doesn’t have one – there is no money in that specialty.
AND NO, I AM NOT PJ – I AM AN ORDINARY RESIDENT AND I SUPPORT PJ AND THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG!!!