Judge schedules Friday hearing on closure of UPMC Braddock

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

By Karamagi Rujumba, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge today said he would hear arguments Friday on a request for an injunction to block the closing of UPMC Braddock.

County Councilman Charles P. McCullough filed suit Monday against University of Pittsburgh Medical Center to stop what he called the "shocking injustice" of the medical giant's decision to close its Braddock operation. Braddock is one of the poorest communities in the county and the medical center is its largest employer and only health care provider.

Judge Gene Strassburger scheduled a hearing for 10:30 a.m. Friday and gave UPMC until 8:30 a.m. Thursday to respond to the injunction request. The hospital is expected to finish the process of closing on Sunday.

Residents have been protesting the decision to close the hospital, saying UPMC prefers to build a new facility in financially stable Monroeville rather than continuing to serve the Braddock area. UPMC has maintained that not enough residents of the Braddock area choose to use that hospital. More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Read Original

The Tribute-Review also has an article

Braddock citizens ready to rally

By Tim Puko

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

UPMC Braddock hospital advocates hold out hope that court maneuvers, a national TV appearance and protests could stop its closing this week, even as Allegheny County officials consider razing the building.

County Councilman Charles McCullough won an injunction hearing this afternoon to possibly block Sunday's closing. Other last-ditch efforts include a protest Saturday, and promises from Braddock residents to boycott University of Pittsburgh Medical Center insurance or other services beyond Sunday.

"We have to fight this monster," Braddock resident Pat Morgan said. "This is a life-or-death situation for many people. You have to stand up and say, 'It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong.' Maybe you stand up and say it enough times and somebody hears it."

McCullough and hospital advocate Tony Buba said County Executive Dan Onorato told Braddock residents at a community meeting Monday a consultant determined that demolishing the 123-bed hospital to build a two-story clinic and assisted-living center likely would be cheaper than retrofitting it.

County spokeswoman Megan Dardanell declined to confirm details, citing negotiations with UPMC. She could not say when officials might release the report.

It estimated that maintaining the building could cost $10 million to $20 million, Buba and McCullough said. Demolition would cost $6 million, and the county could ask UPMC to pay it. A clinic across the street from the hospital wants to expand and could move in.

UPMC spokesman Paul Wood wouldn't comment on those plans, except to say hospital officials are working with community leaders on the building's future.

UPMC officials announced the decision to close in October, saying the hospital is underutilized. Opponents claim UPMC kept patient numbers low at Braddock by transferring people to other hospitals.

Braddock Mayor John Fetterman appeared on CNN Tuesday, stressing the need for federal stimulus money to help small communities preserve infrastructures. UPMC Braddock hospital has the town's only ATM and cafeteria, and about a quarter of its 600 workers hadn't secured jobs at other UPMC facilities as of Jan. 18, Wood said yesterday.

"(The stimulus program's) greatest potential, I think, could lie ahead in funding these kinds of projects and new ones that arise quickly," Fetterman said. "These are the kind of issues towns across the country are dealing with, and we need that kind of quick, responsive deployment of resources to help us."

Saturday's rally is planned from noon to 2 p.m. across the street from UPMC Braddock. The next community meeting will be 7 p.m. Monday at Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Read Original

Individual outrage against closing UPMC Braddock continues unabated, as well it should. But in a perhaps unprecedented display of agreement, no fewer than 14 nearby municipal councils have now drafted resolutions opposing closing UPMC Braddock: Braddock Hills, Wilkinsburg, Forest Hills (letter), Swissvale, Edgewood, Turtle Creek, Rankin, Chalfant, Whittaker, Homestead, North Braddock, West Mifflin, Munhall, Duquesne.

No mere show of solidarity, these local governments depend on UPMC Braddock for various services involving police time. Transitioning to using UPMC Shadyside or UPMC McKeesport for these services is reasonably seen as doubling the time spent per situation/incident, at the expense of patrol time. Thus, closing UPMC Braddock is also a strike against public safety. Perhaps the most memorable of Calvin Coolidge's quote is appropriate here: "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time."

Further, pulling out of Braddock after getting state and county financial support for facade renovations and a senior citizens apartment building across the street would be a brilliant "psy op" if UPMC were at war with the state and county. Instead, it wants both governments to support refloating its bond issue, adding to the injustice of closing the hospital. All opposition to the closing ought therefore to please Barry Goldwater, who said that "moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue ..."

John Hempel

Braddock Hills

Read Original

On Tuesday January 26th John Fetterman, Mayor of Braddock, went on CNN to talk about the stimulus.He talked at great length that this is in large part because UPMC has bailed on our town!

Community health

Braddock hospital has been part of the Braddock community for almost 100 years.

It is the core of the community and a source of employment for 652 people. For UPMC to close this landmark would be detrimental to Braddock and surrounding communities.

Braddock hospital offers many services: emergency care, surgical services, rehabilitation, a diabetes center, critical and coronary care and many more services.

There are other services that may be thought of as small or minute, but they are not. The hospital has the only ATM machine in town and the only restaurant in the hospital's cafeteria. The hospital itself has an occupancy rate of 72.4 percent or higher. Braddock hospital helps everyone, no matter who you are.

Our area needs Braddock hospital, as does the surrounding areas, to continue keeping not only the employees and patients healthy but also the community.

That's why Braddock hospital should stay as it is, which is open.

SHARMAIN JOHNSON
North Braddock

The writer is a 10th-grade student at Woodland Hills High School.

Read more:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10025/1030838-110.stm#ixzz0de1e6dYo

Also in Today's Letters to the editor:

Yes, more time

Regarding the Jan. 19 Perspectives piece "Give Us More Time, UPMC: Let Us Find Someone Else to Run a Hospital in Braddock": Hip hip, hooray, to Braddock Borough Council's Jesse Brown and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman!

Their plea in Tuesday's PG begged UPMC for more time to solve the enormous problem that Braddock faces. They hit the nail on the head.

I agree that if UPMC wants to close the hospital, at least then give Braddock time to help find someone else to take over this integral piece of Braddock and 14 other surrounding communities, all of which have passed resolutions opposing the closing.

Let's all support Braddock council's efforts to enforce a new strategy to keep the hospital alive. As a business owner in Braddock for the last 42 years, I know how critical the hospital is to this community -- an emergency room, hundreds of jobs and one of the best examples of Braddock's humanity.

UPMC -- give Braddock more time. The result could be incredible.

LOUIS GREENWALD
White Oak