Lynn residents rip hospital plan

LYNN – North Shore Medical Center?s president came under heavy criticism from Ward 1 residents Wednesday night who said they would not stop protesting until the center dropped proposed changes that would move 100 psychiatric beds from Salem to Lynn. Despite Robert Norton?s insistence that the regionalization of services and specialized medical centers, like the pediatric and cardiology centers in Salem, would provide better patient care, many of the more than 100 Lynn residents and city representatives who packed the hospital?s cafeteria for a forum said they wanted to keep their general hospital.?The city of Lynn is the largest city in the state that doesn?t have a full-time hospital in their city – and that?s just wrong,” said City Council President and mayoral candidate Timothy Phelan.State Rep. Donald Wong, R-Saugus, received loud applause when he said he was angry at what he called the lack of communication between Partners HealthCare, the hospital?s parent company, and city residents.Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy asked Norton the same question that many in the room appeared to murmur in agreement: Why not a more balanced approach for Lynn and Salem??If you are limiting services, how are you still able to provide the same spectrum of care needed in the community?” Kennedy asked.One by one, residents stood up to the microphone. Among worries of traffic jams and crucial time spent sitting in traffic during a medical emergency en route to Salem, residents said they were concerned about the security breaches that might occur with an expanded mental health unit.North Shore Medical Center Psychiatrist Dr. Mark Schechter said that in seven years, there had been only two incidents of escaped patients. But when prompted by Ward 2 Councilor William Trahant, 12 people from the audience said they had encountered escaped patients. One woman said a patient had stolen belongings from her doorstep; another man said an escaped patient was captured by police on his front lawn.Schechter assured residents the facility would be helping the community with anxiety, depression, eating disorders, suicidal thoughts and bipolar disorder, among others, but would not be a forensic unit for the criminally insane.?(The patients) are people from the community. This will not be a place where someone was violent and sent here from the court system,” he said.Though the facility would care for patients with substance abuse linked to their disorders, Norton promised there would never be a methadone clinic on the campus.At the demands of why Lynn residents were not present in board meetings, Norton pointed to Terry McGinnis, a board member and Ward 1 resident who had many personal connections with the hospital. McGinnis said the hospital simply couldn?t afford to provide world-class facilities in both Lynn and Salem so close to each other.?We had to make hard decisions,” said McGinnis. “We want the best healthcare for Lynn residents but we had to do it in a cost-effective manner.”Phelan said he gave McGinnis credit. “He came out and said it – it?s all about the money,” he said.Norton said the process was far from over. “All we?ve done so far is put a plan together and start a dialogue,” he said. The plan is still subject to a review by the state.A meeting for the broader Lynn community will be held Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. at North Shore Community College.