Valley Hospital’s next step is critical after expansion plan’s defeat
JUNE 19, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2014, 12:57 AM
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood is at a critical juncture, stung by the rejection of its plan to double in size yet still in need of upgrades that will keep it current in a highly competitive health care market.
After an eight-year battle that has polarized the village, the hospital’s expansion plan was shot down by the Planning Board on Tuesday night. To make the defeat more bitter, all the other hospitals in the area have added a new building or completed major renovations in the years since Valley began asking for permission to build.
“This has been a painful blow, and it now has to face alternatives,” said Don Malafronte, president of Urban Health Institute, a private health care consulting company. “If it wants to continue to be a premier institution, it will be very difficult given the vote.”
Valley, according to others in the health care field, faces critical decisions in the coming months: Should the hospital — which has the state’s most desirable patient population and best bottom line, as well as a solid medical reputation — take the village to court? Should it relocate, possibly expanding operations at its satellite campus in Paramus? Can the hospital develop a new plan that will appease the residents who have fought the expansion for years?
Valley officials refused requests for an interview on Wednesday. At the many hearings on the expansion plan, their representatives often spoke about how the hospital’s survival depended on the expansion, which called for all private rooms and larger operating suites.
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Things change in 8 years, and as business, Valley should re-evaluate the need for all private rooms now that Obamacare is affecting even those of us with good private health insurance. The only way private rooms will be covered is if people pay personally. They might want to think about that before they come back with the same plan for a third time.
Cry me a river. Because of greed, Valley Hospital tried to force a massive construction project on a residential neighborhood that would have been detrimental to the town in general and to the students at B.F. who would have had to deal with a 6-10 construction project. They had plenty of other options including a mix of small expansion at the Linwood property and further expansion at other locations not next door to the middle school (or purchasing other hospitals instead of trying to shut them down claiming that there is already too many hospital beds available in the area). Valley Hospital is in this situation because of its own overreach. But it is in the best interest of the town that Valley Hospital be a positive for the community. We all want Valley to succeed in providing top-notch care (it just doesn’t need to double i size at the Linwood property to do so). Time to mend fences, Valley, it is not too late. Unless, of course, Valley sues Ridgewood. Don’t cross that rubicon.
Lucklow works very well. It is “nice” to go to cancer treatments in a building separate from the hospital. Valley should continue to use that model in the other land they bought. They are alrady doing that with the blood bank and can do it with Ridgewood Ave and Maple Ave properties. Maple Ave they could build several buildings or one long building. And they can renovate the main hospital in a reasonable way without doubling in size.