Residents object to closure of hospital access road

By KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

OLD BRIDGE — The sudden closure of the emergency access road into Raritan Bay Medical Center (RBMC) concerns residents of Maher Manor and the Chuck Costello Complex.

The 160 or so residents who live in Maher Manor are age 62 and older. The Chuck Costello Complex, which is comprised of more than 100 units, is an independent assisted living facility for those with disabilities.

“They locked us out,” Doreen Grant said of RBMC’s decision to close the emergency access road with a locked metal chain between Maher Manor and RBMC on July 20.

Grant, along with fellow residents, attended the Township Council meeting on July 27 to express their concerns.

Prior to the council meeting, Mayor Owen Henry and Ward 5 Councilman Richard Greene visited Maher Manor to hear them out.

Henry said he has been told that the decision to close the road with a chain came as a result of safety concerns and issues with service trucks utilizing the access road to and from the hospital.

Henry and Greene said the township fire marshal has access to the locked chain. Greene said he learned local Emergency Medical Services do not have access.

William Distanislao. RBMC vice president of Operations, when contacted this week, said a plan has been developed to provide safe access to the hospital for residents.

“Together we have come up with a solution to not only provide safe passage for residents but also for vehicles in our visitor parking lot, as well as the emergency and medical transport vehicles coming to and from the medical center.

“We will install an open sidewalk adjacent to the access road to Maher Manor and the Chuck Costello Complex for residents, including those on motorized chairs, to safely enter the medical center’s grounds. We anticipate this installation will be completed in August, and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused residents,” he said.

Distanislao said the medical center installed the chain blocking the access road to help keep pedestrians safe and prevent vehicular accidents from occurring in the parking lot, which includes traffic from residents, visitors, emergency vehicles and first aid squads.

Grant said the residents of the facilities have been using the access road to get to doctor visits at RBMC as well as to reach the New Jersey Transit Access Link bus stop.

“Access Link does not come on private property and only has a [pickup] stop at the hospital,” she said.

NJ Transit Access Link, according to its website, is a public transportation service for people with disabilities who are unable to use the local fixed route bus.

Grant said the emergency access road, which runs in back of Maher Manor into the parking lot of RBMC, has been open to the residents since the buildings were erected about seven years ago.

She called the closure a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a civil rights law that protects the rights of people with disabilities.

Residents said with the emergency road closure, a trip to the hospital that was a mere 100-yard distance is now a 10-minute or two-mile “dangerous” trek by foot, car and/or wheelchair/scooter.

“There are no sidewalks,” Grant said. “A young man was traveling to the hospital and fell in the middle of Ferry Road in his wheelchair last week.”

Grant said the residents of Maher Manor and the Costello Complex are essentially prisoners in their own homes.

“Unless we take our chances playing Russian roulette on Route 18 … someone is going to get killed,” she said.

By vehicle, residents now have to make a right turn out of their facility onto Route 18 north, which is two lanes, quickly merge into the left lane of traffic and make a U-turn onto Route 18 south. At the light, one must turn left on Ferry Road to get to RBMC.

Maher Manor resident Virginia Mc- Carthy said the locked chain defeats the purpose of immediate emergency medical treatment. Currently, the chain has to be unlocked for a vehicle to pass through the road.

“This can take critical minutes away from the response time to the patient,” she said. “To use the public road would take far more time. Any extended time in reaching the patient may result in death or a more serious progression of the medical condition of the patient.”

McCarthy noted that many residents of Maher Manor do not drive.

“In the past, many have used the shuttle bus to RBMC at the times it is scheduled to run,” she said. “Some have chosen to walk over or to use a scooter/wheelchair to get there.”

If there is no shuttle bus service, it creates a hardship for residents needing to access RBMC.

“It is difficult to walk over or impossible to use a mobility device [around the chain],” McCarthy said.

She said non-drivers cannot avail themselves of same-day surgery or laser eye surgery scheduled in the early morning hours.

“They cannot visit friends or relatives in the later afternoon nor have supper in the cafeteria,” she said. “They are not able to participate in a sleep study since they are to report to this study at or around 9 p.m.”

Maher Manor resident Richard Sarno said the closure of the access road has created a big problem for those who are wheelchair bound and must catch the MCAT (Middlesex County Area Transit) Shuttle at the Old Bridge Division of RBMC.

Henry said he understands the plight of the residents; however, he said the emergency access road should have never been left open.

“The purpose of the road was for emergency access,” he said.