Kennedy, Phelan want meetings on hospital changes, fed oversight

LYNN – Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy said the United States Department of Justice could become involved in determining if Partners HealthCare’s proposed changes for Union Hospital meet Lynn residents’ needs. Kennedy said a community-wide petition she has initiated to protest proposed changes in the hospital’s operation announced Wednesday will be brought to Justice officials.”I think these proposals may cause Union Hospital to fall below minimum requirements of the Justice Department,” Kennedy said.She said hospital executives have assured her a “full emergency department” will remain at Union Hospital. That’s a start – but not enough, the mayor said.”I’d like to have a full-range hospital. We deserve more,” she said.In announcing a three- to four-year plan to move 83 surgical beds from Union to Salem Hospital and expand psychiatry care at Union to more than 100 beds, Partners, in a statement, said the changes “help to address the region’s needs.””This plan offers increased access and better care at lower cost while maintaining vibrant facilities in both Lynn and Salem,” stated North Shore Medical Center President Robert Norton.But City Council President Timothy Phelan, who is running for mayor against Kennedy, said “jobs, available health care and neighborhood concerns” are at the heart of local objections to Partners’ plan.He wants hospital executives to attend a public meeting on Oct. 15 to discuss Partners’ proposed changes.”The people of this city have a lot of questions and a right to know what’s going on,” Phelan said on Thursday.Kennedy hopes hospital executives will agree to hold a meeting residents can attend during the week of Oct. 21, with the hospital as the meeting’s ideal site.A labor union leader representing hospital workers questioned how Partners’ plan tying in services provided by Hallmark Health impacts workers in other hospitals in north Boston suburbs, not just Union and Salem.”Healthcare workers are concerned that the Partners plan and its Hallmark acquisition may in fact increase costs for consumers while reducing jobs for caregivers and services for patients,” Service Employees International Union Local 1199 vice president Veronica Turner wrote in a statement.Hallmark owns Melrose-Wakefield Hospital in Melrose and Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Medford where Norton said an existing psychiatry unit will be moved to Union Hospital under Partners’ plan. The Salem Hospital psychiatry unit will also move to Union, expanding the 38-bed psychiatry unit in Lynn to more than 100 beds.Medford City Councilor Robert Penta said he heard rumors of changes planned for Lawrence Memorial during the summer, but said he did not hear details until councilors, at Penta’s request, called hospital executives to appear before them on Tuesday.Salem Ward 3 Councilor Todd Siegel said Salem Hospital’s locked psychiatric ward has never prompted calls or complaints from ward residents.”I don’t even think a lot of people know it’s up there,” Siegel said.Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said he anticipates discussing security plans for Union Hospital’s expanded psychiatry department once plans take shape. Maintaining an emergency room in Lynn is important to police who interview crime victims at Union Hospital and make other frequent trips to Union.”If we have to send officers out of town, that’s taking officers off the street,” Coppinger said.Longtime local mental health advocate Patricia Lawrence said changes in how Partners delivers psychiatry services provides a chance to talk about deficiencies in mental health care.She said cuts in state tax dollar support for mental health programs has reduced housing opportunities for patients and medication research.”The whole system needs to be revamped,” she said.