Takoma Park weighs in on use of hospital site

Emergency care facility remains as top option as Washington Adventist officials meet with community at forum

The meeting came on the heels of an announcement April 17 that the Adventist HealthCare system had purchased nearly 49 acres in the Calverton-White Oak area of Silver Spring for $11 million, with plans to move Washington Adventist Hospital there from Takoma Park.

With the news came an assurance from hospital officials that the Takoma Park campus would not be sold and the land would not be developed without community input.

‘‘We had talked about divesting that campus and leaving Takoma Park entirely,” Stocks said at the meeting, adding that the hospital could have received between $15 million to $20 million if the campus was sold. ‘‘We determined it makes more sense to retain that site.”

In a meeting with The Gazette’s editorial board April 25, Adventist HealthCare CEO William Robertson said residents near the current campus may not want to travel the six miles for primary care, making it important to keep health care at the Takoma Park site.

At the public forum, residents were emphatic in telling Stocks that few people would travel six miles up Route 29 for emergency care.

‘‘I know someone alive today because they could go to Washington Adventist,” resident Robert Lanza said.

Paying for what goes there, however, is another matter.

Several at the community forum questioned whether their opinions mattered, since they had no idea about the cost-efficiency of their proposals.

Andrew Strongin, a member of community group Sensible Growth, said residents needed to press the hospital for a contract to maintain health care in Takoma Park. Without it, he said, the hospital would not have the incentive to keep medical services nearby.

‘‘If you give the support without a binding promise, you’ll be left hitchhiking up [Route] 29, because Metro won’t take you there,” he said.

Stocks acknowledged that anything that went on the campus would need to be financially viable in the long run.

‘‘The reality is, looking at it financially, we’d be better off not to do anything there. But that’s not in the best interests of the community. ... It’ll be a challenge financially to operate this facility,” Stocks said at the meeting. ‘‘The commitment will be there. ... But it’s certainly not going to be a money-maker.”

Stocks said it made sense to keep emergency care on the campus, but added that it was too early to tell whether that would be possible.

Adventist HealthCare opened a freestanding emergency department in Germantown in August 2006. That site is still the only one of its kind in Maryland, and took nearly two years to receive final approval from the county and the state. The emergency facility is nine miles away from Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, where patients are transported if they need to be admitted, said Robert Jepson, Adventist’s associate vice president of government relations and public policy.

To reuse the Takoma Park campus for health care, the area also would need to go through a zoning approval process, Stocks said. The hospital site is currently zoned for residential use, but was granted a special exception by the county. Once the hospital moves, its special exception disappears, said Suzanne Ludlow, the city’s community and government liaison.

Glenn Kreger, a team leader for the Silver Spring⁄Takoma Park area with the county Planning Board, said the area is currently only approved for ‘‘inpatient care,” and since an emergency department would not include beds for overnight stays, the hospital would need to seek a new special exception, or ask the Montgomery County Council to rezone the area.

‘‘If it took less than a year, I’d be surprised,” Kreger said.

Other ideas from residents at the meeting included an alternative birthing center and a clinic for low-income residents.

Stocks said a team has been hired by the hospital to continue collecting community input. That team, led by consultants from Ohio-based Dynamics Advisers, was behind the revamp of a hospital site in Detroit, Mich., that eventually became a nonprofit village, or offices for more than 50 organizations. Vince Day, a consultant with the firm, said he and his partner would interview between 100 to 200 people before coming back to hospital officials with a plan.

Del. Heather R. Mizeur (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring said at the meeting she and the state would need to see timelines and a more concrete plan of how various projects would provide for the community before giving her support. Stocks said the hospital should have a better idea of feasible ideas by the fall.

The Montgomery County Council discussed the hospital in closed session with officials from Adventist HealthCare Tuesday morning.

Council spokesman Neil Greenberger said on Monday the discussion would be focused around questions of the future of the Takoma Park site and delays in the Long Branch medical center project. The county has allocated $2.1 million over three years as part of an economic funding grant.

Staff Writer Janel Davis contributed to this report.