THE MRMC PROPERTY #B

This is #2 in a series:

If you were to ask me if I believe that there will be in the near future a functioning health care center including an inpatient facility on the MRMC site my answer would be an emphatic NO.

Why? Politics for one thing. JFK was able to dump Muhlenberg and absorb its paying clientele because MRMC's Governors had given them the property control years ago. They had a legal lever to use with the Corzine and Democratic administration in Trenton to close the hospital. The public never had a chance.

Rahway's hospital which was at one time in worse shape and an inferior facility survived by working out an agreement with Robert Wood Johnson. If one reviews the enabling factors used as an excuse to close Muhlenberg and compare with Rahways physical location vis-a-vis other area hospitals it is obvious that every stated fact was more applicable to Rahway than Plainfield yet it was Plainfield that got the shaft.

Hospital executives talked about "their competition"; Muhlenberg and JFK were direct competitors and never should have been united in an agreement especially one that made JFK the senior institution. And it should have been obvious that JFK/Solaris wold never permit even a limited inpatient facility to fill the a MRMC site.

That is water long under the dam. There are many factors why we can not expect any reestablishment of a inpatient facility in the MRMC site:

The first is that our local powers have never aggressively pursued any viable options; certainly none of the public who had any expertize were ever involved. No attempt was made to look into non-profit possibilities and/or a commercial operation.

The second is that even if they had with the passage of time there would have been no core here to build on. The quality physician resources had switch alliance to other institutions, therefore a complete new medical staff would have to be assembled.

Plainfield's reputation as a gang-ridden dangerous community to which inhabitants from surrounding communities tend to avoid would -present a negative impression to a commercial group who would fear that the beds would not be occupied by paying (insurance covered) patients.

Without local specialists available a paid staff would be needed. High quality specialist in all parameters expect appropriate to their specialty compensation. This is a materialistic world This coupled with the above would in effect eliminate a non-profit even if such a group could raise the funding.

Economics is the main reason that we will not be able to attract the only possible replacement hospital

For those that say I am being a bigot; just compare our downtown business district which was once the greatest in Central Jersey, with that of Westfield.
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Until we get a hold on the overall conditions in Plainfield and develop a society that as a whole will make an effort to upgrade living conditions here which include the educational system; this city is doomed to its inadequate health care facilities.

The sad fact is that from the many vicious anonymous comments we receive; we bloggers as a group have the impression that there is a substantial body of residents that are happy with the status quo. Such individuals not only would resist any change but castigate and even threaten those who would suggest such ideas much less work to accomplish a better city.

Irregardless, I can not conceive how the Planning Board or the Zoning Board in good conscience can approve of the requested zoning changes. To approve would forever kill any possibility of someone reviving a hospital. It would also solidify Solaris' theft of Plainfield's physical and fiscal assets repesented by the property and the trust funds.