"Tis" Not to Blame

Contrary to some individual’s opinion I am not “blaming the Council” for our loss of MRMC. It is true that I have spent a great deal of wasted effort being critical of Plainfield’s governmental inertia and the apparent complete lack of concern over the Solaris plan to close Muhlenberg Hospital.

Although the Mayor and the Council have the fiduciary responsibility of protecting the welfare of Plainfield’s residents, it appears that in this incident they have abrogated that responsibility. How can they justify their inaction, or their elected office? We are due an explanation.

What has happened was not a sudden turn of events, but rather a well orchestrated plan;
• The encouraging the high volume surgical patient physicians to transfer operations to JFK.
• The 2007 dividing the Muhlenberg “campus” into separate lots
• The passage in 2007 of Senate bill #2790
• The transfer of the Diabetes Center to an Edison site inaccessible by public transport. Plainfield’s has a high ethnic proportion of diabetic susceptible individuals, many who are dependent on Medicaid or uncompensated medical care.
• Commissioner Howard’s statement before even a formal procedure on the CN took place that MRMC must go to preserve JFK.
• The absence of public access to Solaris financial data which would justify its claims.
• Solaris’s delay in filing annual federal financial reports.
• The 2002 sale of the busy and should have been profitable SurgiCare center in Watchung to the very physicians who also used Muhlenberg’s Same Day Surgery facility. Then complaining that these doctors were sending their patients to a place they owned rather than the hospital. That is either the height of management stupidity or diabolic planning. Take your choice.
• The list can go on.

With all these warning signs Plainfield’s political leaders buried their collective heads in the sand and boasted of a generalized protest resolution as being an answer to the inevitable. The Mayor does not act without her mentor's advice. The Council only acts on resolutions and ordinances originating in various administrative departments. I can not recall when any individual Councilman has introduced a substantive resolution for action although they do have that prerogative..

No, the Council most likely could not have stopped the juggernaut, but it could have and still may be able to take action that will counteract Solaris’s coup, which may still not be irreversible.

To that end we must have a cooperative effort by every one. Individual ego centric agendas and the desire to be "THE (WO)MAN" can only result in complete defeat. POP has the political savvy, the energy, and expert legal advice. Olive Lynch has the contact with a potentially viable replacement for the Solaris operation of Muhlenberg. The civic government has a legal authority which is invaluable.

The pooling of public and government resources, human as well as monetary, is essential for any possible success. With the use of all of our individual expertises and adequate funding there can be a reasonable chance to emerge from this crises with a rationally acceptable local hospital.