By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Mercy Health asked local citizens to share their visions for what health care might look like at the former McLaren St. Luke’s Hospital campus.
The first of Mercy’s nine public listening sessions Tuesday night didn’t have a large turnout, but the visitors weren’t afraid to share their affection for what St. Luke’s meant to them and their communities.
“St. Luke’s has been around for so long; I just think people are used to it being there. That location seems very vital to a lot of those smaller communities–Monclova, Waterville, Maumee, a lot of that area west of Toledo,” said Debbie Parish of Perrysburg. “They’ve lost a lot.”
In March, McLarens announced the difficult decision to close St. Luke’s Hospital and related outpatient services. Since the announcement, Mercy Health hired 410 McLaren St. Luke’s employees; assumed the sponsorship of the McLaren St. Luke’s physician residency program; and hired 22 WellCare Physician Group providers. Now as they start to plan for what’s next, Mercy Health leaders are seeking ideas for what the future of health care in the region might look like.
Bob Farley, founder and chair of Each Days a Gift, a local nonprofit advocating for individuals with mental health disabilities, shared his big idea for the former St. Luke’s campus. He would like to see the hospital turned into a mental health facility with short- and long-term residential beds for children and young adults dealing with mental health issues.
“My vision is for collaboration with every hospital in northwest Ohio and other mental health agencies to come together to make sure young people with mental illness get the treatment they need,” Farley said. Funding could come from than the hospitals and include support from the state department of mental health and area counties. He also suggested state education funds might be possible if the facility included schooling for children and teens who are in the residential program for a long time.
Paul Clemments, vice president for service lines at Mercy Health, assured the group that they were there to listen, yet added that Mercy has no intent or plans to run an acute care hospital.
“One of the reasons St Luke’s did what they did was – they shopped to other health care systems, but I’m sure it was just not financially viable. It’s a tough field to get into,” Clemments said.
BJ Fischer, a consultant from Strategy by Fischer and facilitator for the conversation, said that Mercy doesn’t want to come in like they know what the community wants. They want to listen to what the residents think they need and try to make it work. “But they have to do things that are fiscally feasible.”
The consensus among the small group of participants was that McLaren St. Luke’s closure left a gap in emergency room services.
“The ER plays an important role for the community,” Parish said.
Farley said the loss of St. Luke’s has impacted the work of first responders who have told him “they have seen an uptick in having to travel farther for services.”
He also included the need for a pharmacy within the emergency services to address medication needs for individuals experiencing mental health crises.
With access from the expressway and other connection points, St. Luke’s campus is an ideal location, Farley said. “It has been an anchor for Northwest Ohio for so many years.” Customers also appreciated the size of the hospital and the accessibility to and from the parking lots.
Ideas suggested for other types of services that could be beneficial to local residents included cardiac rehabilitation area, diagnostic testing and screening services.
Mercy is working toward providing some of the screenings and diagnostic services. Clemments said changing circuitry is one of the obstacles to getting some of the services up and running, but at the 5757 Monclova Road Building, he projects some diagnostics could be ready by September.
With Mercy being “a mission-driven organization that believes in contributing to the overall community,” Fischer asked if there were causes that Mercy should consider supporting. One participant mentioned St. Luke’s had a food pantry, which might be a project to continue. Other ideas included “shots for tots,” drug take-back events,
Some possible collaborations Mercy might want to consider would be with humane societies or Nature Nursery for a connection with animals and nature that can be beneficial to mental and physical health.
Outpatient surgical services for eyes, and cardiac or vascular procedures have been discussed, but the question remains if any of those would be economically feasible since they are offered at other locations in the region.
While there are some new cancer care centers in the area, chemo and infusion treatments could be a valuable service at the St. Luke’s location. Parish said if she ever needed chemo or infusion treatments, she would take advantage of those services at the more convenient location. ”Offering a courtesy van to assist with transportation is something the old St. Luke’s would have done,” another person said.
“We want to move quickly but also cautiously and do the right thing, so we are there for the long haul, not there and then have to close it again,” said Clemments.
“At least there is some hope that we will still be able to do something over there,” Parish said.
Mercy’s next steps
All of the comments provided at any of the nine sessions will be added to an online dashboard that will be available to the public to view what the redevelopment team is doing with the suggestions. Because the agenda at the sessions are identical in what is covered, individuals only need to attend one session. For those who aare unable to attend a session, ideas and input may be emailed to stlukesfuture@mercy.com.
The remaining eight Mercy Health listening sessions are scheduled on the following Tuesday evenings from 6-7.
- June 20 at Zion Lutheran Church, 22 N. 2nd St., Waterville
- June 27 at Sunshine Communities, 7223 Maumee Western Rd., Maumee
- July 11 at Perrysburg Way Public Library, 101 E. Indiana Ave., Perrysburg
- July 18 at Zion Lutheran Church, 22 N. 2nd St., Waterville
- July 25 at Toledo-Lucas County Public Library, Maumee Branch auditorium, 501 River Rd., Maumee
- Aug. 1 at Perrysburg Way Public Library, 101 E. Indiana Ave., Perrysburg
- Aug. 8 at Zion Lutheran Church, 22 N. 2nd St., Waterville
- Aug. 15, Location TBD
