FULTON, NY – With an additional year to work with, the city of Fulton is considering the ways that it can lend a hand to A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital in its efforts to save health care services in Fulton.
A week ago, the state announced that A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital was granted a one-year extension to comply with the recommendations of the Berger Commission or negotiate a partnership agreement with another health care facility.
Three days before the state’s June 30 deadline to make decisions on the hospital’s conversion plan, Assemblyman Will Barclay and Senator Darrel Aubertine announced the Department of Health’s decision to renew A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital’s operating certificate through June 30, 2009.
“I’m still optimistic,” Aubertine said. “Making sure all of the people in Oswego County have access to the health care they need is a top priority of mine. … This gives A.L. Lee an opportunity to continue working toward an agreement with another hospital and provides enough time for each side to do their due diligence. Lee still has to submit a plan for closure, but this keeps the dialogue open.”
“I’m very pleased the State Health Department has shown its willingness to negotiate to the benefit of the community and has extended the hospital’s deadline,” Barclay said. “I hope A.L. Lee Memorial uses this opportunity to pursue an affiliation with Oswego Health, as I feel this is still in the best interests of both hospitals and of the residents of
this area.”
The Fulton Common Council discussed the matter this week and reviewed its options and opportunities to help in the coming year.
Third Ward Alderman Robert Weston said he recently spoke with Richard Abbott, chairman of the A. L. Lee Memorial Board of Directors, and encouraged him to keep constant communication going with the community to update the situation.
“I have confident… given that year, they can work something out,” Weston said.
Mayor Ronald Woodward noted that in the past month leading up to the June 30 deadline, it seemed that the hospital’s situation was emergent and looking grim. With the additional year in place to work out an arrangement, he said he is more optimistic that something can be done to save some health care services in Fulton.
“We should still take time as a group to analyze (the potential affects that the loss of services at the hospital would have on) Fulton and the surrounding areas,” Woodward said. He suggested that the city could take the lead on a report that could be presented to the decision makers.
Woodward pointed out that the city has a great deal of industries — such as Birdseye, Black Clawson, Huhtamaki and now Northeast Biofuels — that rely on Lee Memorial as close resource for emergency care.
“We certainly have a need from an industry standpoint for a hospital,” he said.
Combined with a heavy population of senior citizens and the potential economic affects of changes at the hospital, Woodward said that needs in Fulton become even more important. He pointed out that the location of the hospital was one of the factors considered when senior citizen housing such as Towpath Towers and the Fulton Mill Apartments, were created.
“A lot of (the seniors) don’t drive,” Woodward said. If ambulances have to travel more to Oswego or Syracuse, Woodward noted that the costs of emergency care will increase.
He pointed out that if lowering Medicaid costs was one of the reasons that the Berger Commission opted to make changes in Fulton, the increases Medicaid would see through transports would negate that effort.
“The charges will be a lot more,” Woodward said. Weston agreed.
“They will save money on one end but spending more on the other end,” Weston said, noting that Medicaid dollars will only be shifted from one hospital to another.
Weston suggested that the city arrange a meeting with the Lee Memorial board to determine what efforts are needed from the city in the coming months.
“I think we can move forward with some options,” he said.
Woodward said that while it is not likely that the hospital will remain status quo through an agreement, a compromise to keep some services is better than nothing.
“We’re not going to have what we’ve had but that would certainly be a little better than what they offered,” he said.
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