Commission Peppers Architect with New Hospital Questions

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

Members of the Martha's Vineyard Commission last week raised
serious doubts about the wisdom of expanding the Martha's Vineyard
Hospital at its current Oak Bluffs site.

Hospital architects came before the commission Thursday night to
give an informal presentation on proposed building plans, and were
rocked by a series of questions and comments challenging assumptions
underlying the $42 million building project.

While commission members agreed that the hospital should be expanded
and updated, a number of them said the hospital should move away from
its site off traffic-clogged Beach Road. Given that they had raised
similar concerns at a meeting last October on the hospital plans, they
asked why those concerns still had not been addressed.

Near the conclusion of the two-hour session, commission chairman
Linda Sibley said pointedly that the questions raised by the commission
really should be addressed to hospital trustees and hospital chief
executive officer Timothy Walsh.

But neither Mr. Walsh nor any hospital trustees attended the
Thursday night meeting. The only spokesmen present were Ken Chisholm,
director of the Windemere Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, and
three architects with Thomas, Miller & Partners LLC, the firm in
Brentwood, Tenn. that is designing the new hospital.

"I would like them to come in and make a presentation to the
commission and convince us it makes sense," Mrs. Sibley said of
Mr. Walsh and the hospital directors.

The meeting marked the second informal discussion hosted by the
commission on the hospital building plan. The plan will eventually be
reviewed by the commission as a development of regional impact (DRI).

Marc Rowland, the Thomas, Miller partner in charge of the hospital
project, told the commission that renovating the hospital at its
existing site could save up to $29 million compared to moving the
hospital to a new location.

He said building the hospital and the nursing home at a new location
would cost $71 million. The hospital might realize up to $9 million on
the sale of the existing property, which he said would drop the cost to
about $62 million - still $20 million more than renovating the
hospital at its Linton Lane location.

Mr. Rowland said discussions between hospital directors and possible
donors revealed that the hospital probably would not be able to raise
$62 million, and that $42 million was a more tenable goal.

"The clock is ticking, and something needs to be done,"
Mr. Rowland said. "You're not in danger of losing your
hospital, but it's on life support. Our professional opinion is
the work must be done, and very soon."

In early July hospital trustees announced the launch of the $42
million capital campaign - by far the largest building campaign
ever undertaken on the Vineyard using private donations.

Mr. Rowland also said the hospital directors believe that finding an
appropriate site for the hospital would be difficult.

But commission members quickly zeroed in on a key assumption in the
hospital plan: that the nursing home must remain linked, both physically
and operationally, with the hospital.

Mr. Rowland stood by the assumption. "It does not stand on its
own. It's linked at the hip," he said, both in terms of
efficiencies and diagnostic services.

"If the hospital moved without the nursing home, that would be
the death of the nursing home," he added, reflecting what he said
was the sentiment of hospital trustees.

But commission member Dr. Martin Crane, a governor's appointed
member to the commission and a physician, said Windemere is a long-term
care facility rather than an acute care facility. As a result, he said,
Windemere patients would not need on-site access to the diagnostics of a
hospital, and could be transported as necessary to the hospital.

Mr. Rowland and Mr. Chisholm replied that Windemere's
connection to the hospital provides cost savings that has allowed the
nursing home to realize a surplus after years of losses. Mr. Rowland
said nursing homes on the mainland face financial challenges, and that
running a nursing home on an Island poses even more hurdles. Mr.
Chisholm said his time is shared between the nursing home and the
hospital, which saves money.

"This little system works very well together," Mr.
Chisholm said. "This allows 81 people to stay on the
Island."

Commission member Ned Orleans requested a copy of the report on
which the hospital board of directors based its decision. Mr. Rowland
said there was no report.

Mrs. Sibley quickly got down to basics. "I think they should
move the whole thing," she said.

"Our purpose in coming here tonight is to start a
discussion," Mr. Rowland replied. "We started with a
schematic design. There isn't anything cast at this point . . .
[but] the hospital board wanted to move forward on this site."

Vineyard Haven resident Harriet Barrow, who attended the meeting,
said keeping the hospital at its current Beach Road site made little
sense. Ms. Barrow said she had spoken with emergency medical technicians
on the Vineyard who were horrified that the hospital planned to stay in
its current location, given the traffic congestion emanating from the
nearby Five Corners intersection in Vineyard Haven.

Commission members went on to raise questions about the access road
and parking components of the plan. Mrs. Sibley also questioned the
proposed exterior of the new hospital.

"I don't recognize that," she said. "It
looks like a large hotel in the mountains. It doesn't look like
Martha's Vineyard," she said.

MVC executive director Mark London suggested that the Thomas, Miller
architects consult with Vineyard-based architects to come up with a more
Island-oriented design.

The current plan calls for demolishing a portion of the 1929 cottage
hospital and building the new hospital there. The hospital would stand
two stories tall, with medical facilities on the first floor and patient
rooms on the second floor. The plan also calls for the building to tie
into the Oak Bluffs sewer system rather than using its existing on-site
treatment plant. Mr. Rowland said the town system has the capacity to
handle the hospital's sewage.

Vineyard Haven resident Chris Fried asked about alternative energy
generation, such as solar power. Mr. Rowland said under state law a
hospital must have steady power, so the current plan calls for no
alternative energy source.

Dr. Crane asked Mr. Rowland what he would drop from the plan if he
could. "It's always difficult to work with an existing
building. If that constraint wasn't there, it would make our tasks
less challenging," the architect replied.

Mr. Rowland also said the $42 million budgeted for the project would
go considerably further on the mainland, where construction costs are
not as high.

Questioned about the state of the fund raising campaign, Mr.
Chisholm said the hospital had progressed a little further than the $20
million in pledges announced earlier this summer, but he declined to go
into detail. "Our feeling is that we will reach our $42
million," he said.

The commission is expected to schedule a third informal discussion
about the hospital plan for sometime later next month.

Reached by telephone yesterday, Mr. Walsh said family obligations
prevented him from attending Thursday's meeting. "I think
there was a little bit of a miscommunication on our part," he
said. "We didn't understand this was a full-blown meeting."