A community listening session sponsored by University of Maryland Shore Regional Health was held at the Rock Hall Fire Department on Saturday.
This is the first in a series of eight meetings to be held throughout the five counties mid-shore region; the sessions are designed to listen to and evaluate community health care needs—from access to healthcare to transportation issues and community education programs.
Shore Regional Health President and CEO Ken Kozel introduced the meeting.
“Our job today is to listen to you and to incorporate your ideas, suggestions and concerns into our plan. The Board has not voted on a plan yet, and one of the most critical elements is to listen to our communities, ” Kozel said.
The meeting quickly focused on resident’s fear that University of Maryland Medical System’s strategic changes in healthcare delivery on the Eastern Shore would leave residents without access to local diagnostic services and inpatient care at the Chestertown Hospital.
About 45 Rock Hall and Chestertown residents attended, some wearing armbands reading “Save Our Hospital.”
Several predominant themes emerged during the session echoing a March meeting in Chestertown
The following videos offers a selection of those representative concerns:
• If Chestertown Hospital inpatient and diagnostic services are reduced, supporting a family member or loved one 90-minutes away in Easton would be a hardship.
• In an aging demographic heralded as a premier retirement area, it is economically counterproductive to reduce local health care services.
• The concern that property values will decrease if the area is less attractive to retirees.
• The difficulty of attracting new physicians to the area.
• Any reduction in local healthcare services could impact Washington College enrollment.
• The concern with the UMMS transparency and trust.
• How can the underserved get information about healthcare services and are there possible transportation solutions to help them out?
• Several speakers, including local physician Dr. Gerry O’Connor and District 36 Delegate Jay Jacobs said that they believed patients seeking diagnostic care were being deflected from the Chestertown Hospital to Easton Hospital to make the Chestertown Hospital appear less utilized and, therefore, less apt for funding.
Margery Elsberg says
Please! Please! Please! Come to the “Listening Session” at Kent County High School at 5:30 pm on Thursday, April 14. And come to the Football Stadium 45 minutes early (at 4:45) so you can be part of a great photo-op. “Save the Hospital” is going to unroll the petition more than 5,500 people signed, urging the Shore Regional Health System board of directors to maintain inpatient services in Chestertown, and to restore and improve the range of medical services.
Instead of restoring and improving our services, Shore has just written a strategic plan that advises the Board to vote for more cutbacks in Chestertown. One would eliminate joint replacement surgery here. What? Dr. Cumiskey and Dr. Ghosh do a great job at our hospital. Come to KCHS and tell Shore the cutback strategy is mean-spirited and bad medicine.
wayne benjamin, M.D. says
I urge every concerned citizen to attend the meeting on April 14th. If you believe, as the medical staff and many concerned citizens, this community would be devastated without a community hospital which serves our citizens with basic quality health care, please attend. Although we have been assured an inpatient service for the next six years, we have not been assured SHS will not continue to fail to replace retiring and exiting physicians. Dr. Aquilla, othalmology, has retired. Dr. Ghosh, orthopedics, will retire 12/31/16. Several primary care physicians are nearing retirement. We need SHS to start recruiting for THIS community. Without recruitment, you won’t need an inpatient hospital! So please avail yourself to your hospital, your community and attend these “listening” sessions and make yourself heard.