Council seeks Rx for Union

LYNN – The Lynn City Council decided Tuesday to hold a public hearing to discuss plans by Partners HealthCare to eliminate medical care at Union Hospital.The hearing, which was prompted by a petition with 164 certified signatures stating opposition to Partners’ plans, will be held Aug. 11 in the City Council chambers. The number of signatures is nearly 10 percent more than is necessary for a public hearing.”Aug. 11 will be an opportunity for the community to voice its concerns,” said Council President Daniel F. Cahill.Councilors agreed that eliminating medical care at Union Hospital would be “terrible news for the community” and that many people “don’t want to see it happen.”Making sure that the community is safe and has ample access to health care will be a major concern to be considered by the council.If Partners’ plans are approved by the state, patient services would be moved to Salem Hospital, though the emergency services will temporarily still be available.The council members stressed that they are looking forward to the public hearing.In addition, the council decided to go ahead with a public hearing next Tuesday, July 21, on whether to have a preliminary election in September in advance of the November final.The reason behind the question is that not enough candidates are running for the preliminary election to effectively eliminate any of them for the final vote in November.Time, effort and money would go into the election even if the results would not change, Councilor at large Gordon “Buzzy” Barton said.”I think it would be a great thing (not to have it),” he said. “Anything that saves the city money that you can use in other places is a good thing, especially if everyone who’s on the ballot now will still be on the ballot in November.”