Pushback in Lynn heightens as Partners readies hospital plan

LYNN – Partners HealthCare Tuesday underscored its intent to maintain Union Hospital emergency services, but city councilors and a recently formed organization are challenging changes Partners plans to outline in a state filing this month.Partners – a regional health care provider that owns Union and Salem hospitals and other medical facilities – will outline $188 million in changes planned for Salem Hospital in a Determination of Need document submitted to the state Public Health Council.”We’re wrapping up a few minor details,” said Partners spokesman Kevin Ronningen.Changes planned for Union Hospital will be submitted in a separate document “should the Salem DON get approval,” Ronningen stated Tuesday by email.The Union filing will detail Partners’ plans for “any operational changes to the Union campus,” stated Ronningen, including the firm’s plans for emergency services at Union.Partners’ announcement last November stating intentions to move surgical beds from Union to Salem Hospital and add psychiatric services to Union Hospital raised concerns among area residents and elected officials, including ones focused on continued emergency services at the Lynnfield Street facility.Vocal opponents to Partners’ plan include Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Lozzi, who won council support on June 24 for a motion directing city inspectors to scour city records to ensure Partners met city permit requirements on all projects it undertook in recent years at Union Hospital.”Mike Donovan (city Inspectional Services director) and the Law Department will be looking into it, including if their proposal is in violation,” Lozzi said.Kennedy told Lynn Area Chamber of Commerce members last week that Partners has been reviewing construction cost estimates for its plan, and she repeated her opposition to Union Hospital changes.”I don’t think it’s good for the city. How does a community with 90,000 people get left with an emergency clinic? They are starting to realize that will shortchange the city,” Kennedy said.Ronningen acknowledged Partners “had to go back to the drawing board” to fine-tune its construction budget for the Salem project, adding, “Emergency services are to stay at the Union campus.”Exactly what emergency services the hospital will continue to provide is a question members of Union Hospital Advocates are asking. Group founder and candidate for state representative Katerina Panagiotakis Koudanis said the group launched a petition signature-gathering effort “to maintain acute care at Union” and reinstate medical services stripped away from the hospital.”We want services essential to an emergency room,” she said.Legislative candidate and Councilor Brendan Crighton said Partners’ plans for Union must preserve the hospital’s “current level of service.””We’re all waiting to see their plan,” he said.Legislative candidate and School Committee member Charles Gallo said Union Hospital’s service and employment levels must be maintained.”Lynn is a big city – it needs a full-service hospital,” he said.Union Hospital Advocates is distributing “Save Union Hospital” signs and bumper stickers and plans to hold its next meeting on July 9, 6 p.m., in the Wayne Alarm community room, 424 Essex St.