Medical Center chief gets high marks for an inclusive approach.
By: David Campbell
Members of Princeton Future, the volunteer community planning group, give The Medical Center at Princeton’s president and CEO high marks for his inclusive approach to long-range planning.
The nonprofit group has said it will not stake out a position before finalization of the hospital’s strategic planning process, which is exploring the financial feasibility of a satellite outpatient campus large enough to accommodate future growth.
Princeton Future may approve a formal statement at a meeting of its steering commission in June, said Steering Commission Co-Chair Robert Geddes this week.
Mr. Geddes, a Princeton architect, said he was personally "very impressed and very hopeful" about hospital President and CEO Barry Rabner’s strategic planning, which Mr. Rabner launched in August 2002 after taking over as president.
"I think that he is starting and has been engaged in an open and intelligent process. I was certainly impressed by the options and possibilities he set," Mr. Geddes said.
The architect outlined four parties with stakes in the future of the hospital the medical institution itself; the immediate neighbors; the regional community at large; and the local governments and noted that Mr. Rabner has been responsive to all.
Fellow Co-Chair Sheldon Sturges said he was "impressed" with the inclusiveness of hospital planning, and said he hopes neighbors will continue to be welcomed in hospital talks about options as they emerge, particularly with those having to do with the Merwick Rehabilitation and Sub-Acute Care unit off Bayard Lane.
Replacing the Merwick facility with a larger and more marketable building, either at the current Bayard Lane site or elsewhere in the Princeton area, is among the "critical objectives" targeted by the hospital following extensive information-gathering from residents, community leaders, physicians and hospital staff.
"Each citizen of this town has very strong opinions, ranging from leaving it as it is to building a city," Mr. Sturges said. "I am very, very impressed with the long-range planning process that Barry Rabner has conducted, and the way he seems to have been able to touch base with a good sampling of the community."
Princeton Future’s Michael Mostoller described hospital planning as "a momentous decision of one of the major institutions in town" that will "reverberate through all its facilities."
Calling future moves by the Medical Center "a moving target at the moment," Mr. Mostoller said he and members of Princeton Future were appreciative of Mr. Rabner’s candor and openness.
"It’s a very fluid situation," he said.
Earlier this month, Mr. Rabner updated the Master Plan Subcommittee of the Princeton Regional Planning Board on the hospital’s ongoing strategic planning, which has determined in part that a major outpatient campus is needed to accommodate growth needs.
If financially feasible, the campus would be located in the Princeton area and would be large enough to support relocation of the hospital’s primary inpatient facility on Witherspoon Street if needed, Mr. Rabner said.
Mr. Rabner has said he could make a formal recommendation on future planning actions at the hospital board of trustees’ June 23 meeting.

