Slow rides to hospital feared

LYNN – Partners HealthCare must provide a fully operational Union Hospital emergency room or face the prospect of heavy traffic slowing a patient?s ride from Lynn to Salem Hospital, said state Rep. Donald Wong.?It would be devastating if something were to happen,” he warned.Wong and other local officials and Lynn merchants are continuing to scrutinize Partners? plans, announced in October, to alter medical care at Union Hospital as part of a major plan reorganizing several hospitals north of Boston.Partners plans to move psychiatric care from hospitals in Medford and Salem to Union and shift surgical care now located at the hospital to Salem Hospital.Wong said Union Hospital is a central location for Lynn residents, and people living in other communities who need hospital care and emergency medical services.?It?s more accessible to other communities,” he said.Partners spokeswoman Laura Fleming said hospital representatives have evaluated Lynn-Salem traffic and patient transportation.?We?ve talked with emergency medical services about travel times. With lights and sirens, they are not worried about traffic,” she said.Partners executives in November said their plan will provide more care for patients in Lynn and other communities by maintaining specialty care programs at Union Hospital, including diabetes care, while maintaining rapid-response cardiac care at Salem Hospital.?You?re four miles from a ?Top 50? heart hospital,” North Shore Medical Center chief cardiologist David Roberts said during the Nov. 12 meeting.Ward 1 City Councilor Wayne Lozzi said he wants Partners to make changes to its Union Hospital plan before submitting it to state officials.?We don?t want medical services replaced with psychiatric,” he said.Wong and other Lynn legislators met with Partners Chief Executive Gary Gottlieb following the November meeting.?We?re still talking,” Wong said Tuesday.Fleming said the health care firm will not submit detailed reorganization plans to state officials for review until the end of January and said the plans will mostly focus on construction work planned at Salem Hospital.City Council President Timothy Phelan said a state public health official will be invited to a council hearing scheduled for Dec. 10 to discuss the determination of need process involved in reviewing Partners? plans.?We want someone to give us an accurate description of what the process will be and what type of public input, if any, will be required,” Phelan said.Hospital executives are discussing Union Hospital changes on Dec. 11 with Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce members, said Fleming and Chamber President Leslie Gould.?It?s an opportunity to meet and discuss exactly what is going to happen. Our biggest concern is always job loss,” Gould said.But she said hospital security and how people will view Lynn in the wake of the proposed reorganization are topics chamber members want to discuss.?I think the perception is that this could potentially be a negative image for the city. The chamber is very sensitive to that perception,” Gould said.