It would appear from the town meeting held to discuss the future of the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center (UMSMC) at Chestertown that there are only two alternatives:
Plan A: Continue running the center as a full-service hospital, maintaining an appropriate number of inpatient beds and the medical specialists and laboratory services needed to serve the region.
— OR —
Plan B: Continue depleting the hospital of services and staff until it is diminished into another regional emergency room/distribution hub for shipping patients to the University of Maryland Medical System’s flagship hospitals many miles away.
This seems very short sighted for an offshoot of one of the world’s leading research universities with a primary mission to “provide excellent teaching, research and service.” As a land-grant university, the University of Maryland (UMD) received more than $480 million in annual state appropriations from Maryland taxpayers in 2015. Though it is home to more than 8 percent of Maryland taxpayers, only 3.4 percent of UMD’s college classes are offered on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, an area that makes up nearly one-third of the state.
Its only campus, UMD Eastern Shore, is located south of Salisbury, more than two hours from Chestertown. UMD’s only other Eastern Shore educational presence is its Eastern Shore Higher Education Center located at Chesapeake Community College — a minuscule advisory service that “serves transfer students from Chesapeake College and local military and civilian students who need advising or other student services.”
The counties of the Upper Eastern Shore are not receiving from UMD the educational services that they pay for.
How does this relate to the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown? UMSMC at Chestertown is part of the University of Maryland Medical System, which shares a strong working relationship with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland School of Nursing. Though the University of Maryland Medical System was spun off from other University of Maryland entities in 1994 as a separate nonprofit corporation, it shares the same lineage and therefore, the same debt of obligation to Maryland taxpayers for its very existence.
Plan “C”
Since UMD is primarily a land-grant university — not a state-funded hospital system — it seems that UMD would better comply with its educational mandate and stated mission by transforming UMSMC at Chestertown into a teaching hospital. The large, existing hospital facility could house both patients and student interns.
UMSMC at Chestertown could prove an excellent size for an intern program. UMD’s own website laments that “as emergency departments across the world have become busier, teaching faculty have found it increasingly difficult to take time to teach.” The recently upgraded and expanded emergency department at UMSMC at Chestertown would provide an excellent teaching facility without the frantic pace of UMD’s large urban emergency departments.
This educational potential would extend through the entire patient care cycle by maintaining a modern intensive care unit (ICU) and ongoing inpatient care, along with a full suite of doctors, medical specialists and laboratory services. Such a robust facility would be a rich educational asset for UMD students as well as a vital resource for area residents. A side benefit of having student interns in our community would be as aspirational role models for Eastern Shore youths considering college and career choices.
Another symbiotic fit would be with UMD’s highly rated adult-gerontology nursing programs and the research studies conducted by its Division of Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine. The number of residents over 55 in Kent County is projected to exceed 40 percent by 2019. And Kent County ranks second highest among all Maryland counties for homeowners with no mortgage, which reflects the financial resources of the thousands of highly educated professionals who have chosen to retire in Kent County.
This may be why the University of Maryland Medical System operates a “comprehensive, 98-bed health care facility providing skilled and intermediate care and rehabilitation services” here in Chestertown — the University of Maryland Shore Nursing & Rehabilitation Center at Chestertown. Maintaining a fully functioning hospital nearby is as critical for its patients as it is for those at Autumn Lake Healthcare of Chestertown, another local nursing and rehabilitation center.
Also nearby is the highly regarded Heron Point retirement community, located one block from the hospital. Its 66-acre riverside campus includes 91 cottages and 101 apartment homes with over 300 current residents and a waiting list of another 150. And a new senior community is on the drawing board as part of the 70-acre Stepne Manor property. The new development concept was included as part of the Chestertown Public Arts Master Plan. This plan consolidates Chestertown’s well-preserved historic community, scenic waterfront and thriving Arts & Entertainment District into a robust economic development model. Already under way, the plan will not only increase the local population, it will further enhance the area’s reputation as an attractive destination for tourists, vacation home buyers and retirees.
Leveraging the teaching potential of the UMSMC at Chestertown emergency department and the research potential afforded by local demographics will enable UMD to fulfill the obligations of its charter as a land-grant university while ensuring a financially sound business model for our local hospital.
The community could help too. Washington College, only one block away, benefits from its proximity to the hospital and is well situated to form a strategic alliance with UMSMC at Chestertown. Since maintaining two cafeterias one block apart constitutes a costly redundancy, UMSMC at Chestertown could save by contracting with Washington College for its food services. UMSMC at Chestertown personnel could coordinate food acquisition services with Washington College’s kitchen staff an then pick up the meals and serve them to patients. Washington College would benefit by amortizing their kitchen overhead over a larger pool of paying customers. And it might also benefit by having a continuing demand for its services, uninterrupted by holidays, spring break and summer vacation.
Kent County also could help by providing transportation for patients to and from the hospital who could not otherwise access its services. The vehicle could be based at UMSMC at Chestertown and free of charge to Kent County residents. The vehicle also could be used to transport additional patients to UMSMC at Chestertown from surrounding counties in order to expand the center’s outreach and keep the facility fully utilized. Providing such a service could also help to free up local emergency medical services personnel who are often called for non-emergency assistance.
Plan “C” is just one option to consider. It is crucial that all the decision makers involved in determining the fate of UMSMC at Chestertown take the time needed to think beyond alternatives “A” and “B” — that they explore every option available through the many educational and healthcare entities that wear the The University of Maryland brand — and join forces with our community to preserve this vital resource as an exemplary institution of University of Maryland Healthcare System.
Stephan Sonn says
The Chestertown facility is too small for the combination of uses suggested but there is enough illness
among locals to keep the facility in the black. This writer does however document the social, fiscal and linkage
to justify current use as a hospital.
Stephanie Thomas says
The only way you are going to bring young families to use the hospital is if you have doctors that are equipped to handle pediatrics in the hospital. At this present time that is not the case. The past two times I went to the hospital with my son I was criticized and told that I wasn’t dosing my child right for a fever but when I went to follow up with my pediatrician he informed me that the hospital gave me the wrong dosing and that I was over dosing my child with fever medication. I had a nurse apologize to me for how the nurse practitioner on the one occasion treated us because it was that bad. A friend went in the hospital the other night with a infant with a high fever and was asked if she even bothered to give her daughter fever medication and when she told them yes they criticized her as well. This is not the way to keep young families like ours from wanting to use the hospital that is only 10 minutes from our home if we are going to be made to feel like horrible parents. The nurses are great and friendly but when you see a nurse practitioner or doctor you want to be treated the same way. I want to save the hospital because we need it and I will use it myself but at this point I will not take my children to the Chester River Hospital, I would rather driver an hour to go across the bridge for care for them. They need to add Pediatrics back to the hospital and OB.
Liz Clark says
Well-constructed argument and terrific idea. Thanks!
Linda Hall says
Zane Carter is the first one to clarify this problem for me and I think it is an inspired plan. It would make this area a wonderful expansion of a teaching arena.He has certainly done his homework and I apauld this article and hope that the powers that be, read and listen to this wonderful proposal. Linda hall
Marti Hawkins says
Zane, thank you for thinking outside the box and offering a creative, viable solution to our hospital closure. Your extensive research suggests a strong basis for further exploration. Let the voices of our community be heard at UMMS.
Mary Fielding says
Excellent idea! I hope all parties will consider this, and approve it!
Elizabeth Hill says
I would like to remind readers that the University of Maryland Extension has offices in every county in Maryland as well as Baltimore City. We offer education programming for youth (4-H), agriculture and natural resources, nutrient management, family and consumer sciences, nutrition education and home horticulture. The Kent County UME office is located at 709 Morgnec Road in the Kent County Public Works Complex. We have a wonderful partnership between the University and Kent County government. No, we are not the medical side of the University, but we are here to serve Kent County citizens with resources, research based information and educational programs. We invite everyone to visit and see what we can do for you. Thank you.
Janice Dickson says
Having lived in Chestertown since 1971, we decided to remain in place upon my husband’s retirement from Washington College. We liked the town. The hospital’s ER saved my husband’s life when he had a heart attack; although we did have to self-transport to UM hospital in Baltimore for stent placement. As time passed it became clear that Dr. Joseph Aquilla, the first to raise a red flag, was correct in his forward-thinking about the hospital’s future. Unfortunately he was sidelined by vicious attacks, rumors and gossip. Spring forward and see some of those who maligned Dr.Aquilla taking up the cause he first opined. For us, the handwriting was unfortunately on the wall: in the early 2000s after one of us contracted a near-fatal hospital-caused infection, we decided to relocate to a Colorado community that has superb medical care. After more than 30 years, we left friends and the feeling of community and place behind with regrets, but we believe we made a good move, especially as I read articles and letters in THE SPY. Keep up the good fight people of Chestertown, Kent Co. and Queen Anne’s Co. to keep and return to its previous level of service the Kemt & Queen Anne’s Hospital, as it was known before all this chaos.