Hospital move to Plainsboro applauded at state hearing

Vast majority of public testimony supports relocation

By: Courtney Gross
   Although the "just-around-the-corner" community hospital that has been nestled on Witherspoon Street for nearly nine decades might move, a vast majority of attendees at a State Health Planning Board public hearing Wednesday evening supported its relocation.
   Citing the need for expansion to keep up with state-of-the-art technology and industry advances, municipal officials, medical professionals and the public applauded the University Medical Center at Princeton’s proposed move to Plainsboro and urged the state to approve the hospital’s certificate of need application.
   The hearing left the John Witherspoon Middle School auditorium moderately packed with merely a handful of nearly two dozen speakers opposed to the hospital’s relocation.
   Princeton Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman joined both Princeton Township Mayor Phyllis Marchand and West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh in expressing support for the hospital’s move to Plainsboro — a site proposed for the corner of Plainsboro Road and Route 1.
   The Princeton mayors agreed that the current hospital site, which straddles the border of the township and the borough, is not suitable for the expansion needed to address increasing patient demand and standard quality of care.
   "I can assure you the replacement and relocation of the acute-care facility is essential," Mayor Marchand said. "I think anyone who would oppose it would be jeopardizing public health and welfare."
   If the hospital were to stay in Princeton, the Princeton mayors said, it would have to double in size and, in turn, spread into the surrounding neighborhood. This possibility was opposed by area residents and, through cooperation among municipal officials and hospital representatives, relocation was determined as the better option, they added.
   The expanded hospital in Plainsboro would decrease the number of acute-care beds by 34, creating a 269-bed facility that would incorporate an increase in single-bed rooms. Representatives of the hospital were asked by the state board not to speak at Wednesday’s hearing, because they will appear before the full board on Jan. 4.
   Princeton Borough Councilman Roger Martindell asked the board to approve the certificate of need contingent upon the inclusion of free, on-demand transportation for clinic patients in the township and the borough. The clinic provides medical care to the uninsured and underinsured.
   Referring to Princeton’s population that cannot afford health care, the councilman urged the board to recognize the vulnerability of this group and consider its ability to get to a new clinic approximately 3 miles away. He also suggested incorporating in an approval the addition of an information center with bilingual capacity in the neighborhood currently occupied by the hospital.
   "(The) certificate of need application states in generalizations about how this population will continue to be served if (the hospital) relocates," Mr. Martindell said. "I accept those generalizations as statements of good faith. But in considering the (application, the department) must do more than simply accept generalizations," he noted.
   Hospital officials previously pledged to provide both transportation and an information center.
   Medical professionals from the hospital also turned out Wednesday citing the need for new and updated facilities — some even inviting the public and the board to inspect clinic rooms currently the size of "matchboxes."
   But despite overwhelming support from those in attendance, a few still had their doubts.
   Longtime borough resident Mary Ellen Marino said the hospital’s move was a waste of millions of dollars in both construction costs for the new facility and road improvements needed to create better access along the congested Route 1 corridor.
   But other speakers suggested the hospital’s relocation to the busy highway would boost the economic vitality of neighboring industry, while possibly decreasing the highway’s current 20 percent business vacancy rate.
   From here, the state board will recommend a decision on the hospital’s application to Department of Health and Senior Services Commissioner Dr. Fred M. Jacobs at its next meeting in January. Public comment at that meeting will be limited to an hour, board members said Wednesday. The commissioner will then have 120 days to make a final decision.
   The public also has until Wednesday to submit written comments to the board. Comments should be sent 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.
   Copies of the hospital’s certificate of need application may be reviewed at Princeton Public Library, the New Jersey State Library in Trenton and the offices of the state Department of Health and Senior Services in Trenton.