Among the opponents: Barry Rabner, CEO of Princeton HealthCare System
By: Jennifer Potash
TRENTON For Trenton-based Capital Health System, which wants to build a new hospital in Lawrence, the move is critical for the health-care provider’s long-term survival.
But for Trenton residents, the loss of the century-old Capital Health System’s Mercer Campus hospital on Bellevue Avenue would drastically limit access to health services for the city’s low-income urban population.
These stark views were aired at a two-hour public hearing Wednesday, attended by a deeply divided crowd of several hundred people at the Trenton High School West Annex.
The hearing was part of the State Health Planning Board’s official review of Capital Health’s application for a Certificate of Need to proceed with the new 320-bed hospital off Princess Road, which intersects Princeton Pike south of I-295.
The audience seemed split between supporters and opponents of Capital Health’s plan. Many opponents wore white T-shirts with the slogans "Keep Mercer Hospital in Trenton" and "We Deserve Good Healthcare!"
Capital Health announced plans last year to relocate most of the functions of its Mercer Campus to a new, $291 million-hospital that would be built on a 32-acre parcel on Princess Road.
The other hospitals serving Mercer County did not support Capital Health’s application.
Princeton HealthCare System has announced it will buy 160 acres owned by FMC Corp. at Route 1 and Plainsboro Road in Plainsboro for a $350 million hospital campus to replace the University Medical Center at Princeton campus on Witherspoon Street.
Barry Rabner, CEO of Princeton HealthCare System, argued the Capital Health System plan is unrealistic for the area.
"The reasons for the proposed relocation as described in the (Certificate of Need) are driven by the hospital’s bottom line, not on the need for beds and not on the needs of the people in Trenton," Mr. Rabner said.
Mr. Rabner was also sharply critical of arguments made by Capital Health System in its application that the move is needed to retain doctors and patients, who are choosing suburban hospitals over urban ones.
"The premise that Capital has to close Mercer and move out of its Trenton neighborhood to attract a prestigious medical staff has no merit," Mr. Rabner said. "Doctors and patients from the city and suburbs will be drawn to a hospital no matter where it is located, if the quality is excellent and the campus safe and convenient."
Capital Health System CEO Al Maghazehe sat in the front row at the hearing, near the microphone, but did not speak.
Lawrence resident Richard J. Coffee, who lives in The Gathering, a senior citizen development near the proposed hospital, said the new building would create dangerous traffic conditions for residents near Princess Road and on Princeton Pike.
"Lawrence doesn’t want it and Lawrence doesn’t need it," said Mr. Coffee, a former state senator.
Patients care more about services the latest technology and the best health care over location, argued Dr. William Stanley, who has a private practice near Capital Health’s Mercer Campus and supported the proposed move.
"Although the politicians have been talking about the community’s needs, the community has ventured and it will continue to venture out if they can’t get the services they need here," said Dr. Stanley, a Trenton resident.
Promises by Capital Health to keep a full-service clinic and emergency room at the Bellevue Avenue location, and a neonatal intensive care unit at the Helene Fuld campus, did not satisfy Trenton residents at the hearing.
Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer said the loss of Capital Health’s Mercer campus would create a two-tiered system of health care one for suburban residents and another for urban residents.
"For urban communities like Trenton, access to health care is as important as the availability of the care itself," he said.
Mayor Palmer and many other opponents argued the loss of a neonatal intensive care unit at the Mercer campus would set back the city’s gains in reducing infant mortality and low-birth-weight babies.
"The most critical reason for my objections are crystal clear," Mayor Palmer said. "Closing Mercer Hospital will seriously jeopardize the care for our most vulnerable citizens high-risk pregnancy women and babies."
Stuart Meck, a Trenton resident and licensed planner, said Capital Health System’s proposal goes against the state Development and Redevelopment Plan that calls for locating regional institutions, such as hospitals, in urban centers.
The State Health Planning Board will meet June 1 to review the application, and is expected to make a recommendation to state Commissioner of Health Fred M. Jacobs, who will make the final determination on the plan.
The board may recommend to approve, approve with conditions or deny the application, said Judy Donlen, board chairwoman.
The June 1 meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the National Conference Center at the Ramada Inn, 399 Monmouth St., East Windsor. It will include an hour of public comment from people who did not speak at Wednesday’s public hearing, Ms. Donlen said.
Written comments on the application may be sent, no later than Tuesday, to the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Office of Boards and Council, Market & Warren Streets, P.O. Box 360, Trenton NJ 08625-0360.

