“Dear Petition Signer:
Thank you for sending me the change.org petition by Concerned Citizens of Oneida County & City of Utica in support of the construction of the new hospital for Mohawk Valley Health System on the existing St. Luke’s Campus.
In addition to acknowledging I received this petition, I wanted to let signers know that while I appreciate their opinion, hospital planners and architectural experts have told me building on the St. Luke’s Campus would be very challenging and simply is not the best location for a state-of-the-art medical campus.
As you may be aware, 12 potential sites were extensively reviewed by the hospital design team before three contenders for the new project were selected. The proposed downtown site has a number of advantages for this project, compared to the existing St. Luke’s Campus.
There are many issues with building a new hospital on the St. Luke’s Campus. One complication is that the best place on the Campus to construct a new hospital is where the current hospital is located. The existing hospital will need to continue operations until the new hospital opens; therefore construction in the ideal location is impossible. Additionally, the new hospital is being designed from the inside-out, allowing for the building to meet the care needs of the community and the staff providing care. Placing the new hospital in the land not taken by the St. Luke’s and Center for Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Services (CRCCS) buildings would force a design that is less than optimal for providing the care this community needs and deserves.
Another issue with constructing a new hospital at the St. Luke’s Campus is the need to maintain services at the current St. Luke’s and CRCCS buildings. Construction of a project of this magnitude would create a disruption that would significantly impact the patients trying to heal as well as the staff’s ability to provide a healing and safe environment.
It has been suggested the renovation of the St. Luke’s building would be a better solution. The core of the building is more than 60 years old, with as many as 12 additions made over the years. The current facility does not allow for the changes and advancements in medicine and technology. It is not feasible to make the number of changes that would be needed in order to bring the building to the standards of today’s medicine and where the medical field will go in the future.
The downtown site will allow new construction of a healthcare facility that will serve the needs of the community for the rest of this century.
Those in favor of the St. Luke’s site often point to the possibility that a new hospital will create traffic problems downtown. The State Department of Transportation has worked closely with hospital planners, and in fact have revised plans for the improvement of Oriskany Street that take into account traffic from the hospital and from nearby Utica Auditorium events. The MVHS Board selected the downtown site because it is a central location for a modern healthcare campus, easily accessible through public transit and major highways for the people who use it the most.
In addition, a downtown hospital supports economic development. Having 3,500 employees, patients and visitors at a new integrated healthcare campus downtown on a daily basis will benefit existing hotels, restaurants and retail businesses nearby, as well as create an opportunity and need for more small businesses to set up shop in downtown Utica. Finally, partnering with the Masonic Research Laboratory will allow researchers to work next to medical doctors.
Unfortunately, opponents of the new hospital have spread much misinformation about this once in a lifetime project and have made it difficult to distinguish facts from fiction. That’s why I encourage you visit the MVHS New Hospital Q & A to get the facts about the project: http://mvhealthsystem.org/a-new-beginning-for-healthcare-in-the-mohawk-valley/new-hospital-qa
I appreciate your taking the time to discuss your views on this very important project.
Sincerely,
Anthony Brindisi
Member of Assembly”
