Dr. Jerry Askew, Mercy Sr VP for External Affairs, was kind enough to visit with the Oakwood Lincoln Park's neighborhood association (OLPNA) tonight. He will be making the rounds to the other 'hood organizations in the near future. He said he expects the new hospital to be a full-service hospital (except if you happen to want birth control), as will the north and west campuses. Specialties of various campuses TBD. He expects new hospital to build up, which minimizes folks' walking distances inside. Most buildings will probably come down, except for the portion which is only 12 years old (maybe the tower, I was not clear on that).

Regarding the St Mary's site (my concern), he thinks it will take 5 years for new campus to be built and move from St Mary's. Five years, he says, to find a new and good use for St Mary's. NOT low-income housing as reported by the N-S, who also stated that such housing was "compatible with the neighborhood" (grrrr). He said he had no idea what they were going to do at this time. They are open to suggestions for uses; an attendee suggested a new middle school or some coordination with Fulton. Other ideas are UT grad (not undergrad) housing, a senior center, a health services college. These are just ideas, but interested folks should probably begin thinking and scheming. Councilman Becker and Commissioner Harmon have both met with Dr. Askew regarding St Mary's site. He says that St Mary's has invested for many years in the surrounding area (true) and vice versa, and therefore they have no intention of promoting a use of the site that is incompatible with or detrimental to the area. He appeared to be quite open and honest with us, and took questions until all were answered (~1 hour total).

Baptist couldn't make a go of a hospital on that location and I don't see how a new multimillion dollar facility would make it any different, particularly as their physician groups migrate to west and north campuses.

At one time, Baptist had the areas premier heart surgeons and the premier eye group and they still couldn't make money. Don't see how the sisters of mercy are going to outfox a location that has struggled for 15 years before they closed it anyway. It's a bad location, it can't survive just on patients from South and East and I really don't see anything substantive down there for another 10 years at least.

You can't let a location die and then expect people to flock back to it in droves. It just doesn't work that way.

Rachel

Which channel?

Thanks.

Found it. WBIR. I have alerted the neighborhood. Thanks.

And to turn around and spend $250 million at a location that has failed as a hospital, I really don't see any logic to putting the flagship on the location where a major ship sunk 10 years ago.

Currently, Baptist is operating well below 50 percent capcity at the downtown location, the physicians aren't going to put anymore patients in there that aren't there already, so with the debt service of a downtown monster pulling on the profitability of the big suburban medical centers, why put the network back in the same mess that it is already in?

This has to be a pr maneuver to get the topic off the job losses (and there are a lot of them) and the related write down of these facilities, which nobody else could operate in the black for some 10 years now.

The sisters of mercy in Cincinnati are a whole lot smarter than that, they won't stray from a good thing and they've got it good out of Broadway.

The big guns at St. Mary's Abercrombie Radiological and KOC will not move their base of operations downtown, no way.

was the location the problem w/ Baptist or was it other things? i'm thinking that the location was a happenstance in the mix. No, I don't know that, but Baptist was a good hospital for a very long time. I think that location was probably good, but other things in the mix weren't. No, I can't give you details. mostly it's just the way i see it.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

I wonder if the huge investment to expand over in West Knoxville hurt them.

Surely not. Turkey Creek is the closest mere mortals can come to God's shining city on a hill...or swamp, wetland, whatever...

My grandmother spent the last year of her life in and out of, but mostly in Baptist hospital. When the hospitalization wasn't an emergency, we put her in the far West hospital. It wasn't closer or easier to get to, but it was cleaner. More than that, there was very little wait time in admitting and the doctors and nurses were happier and nicer. A month before her death she caught one of the super germs at the downtown hospital. It wasn't treatable and sped her death up considerably. Baptist chose to focus on the far West branch at the expense of the downtown facility long ago.

Personally, I think that the West Knoxville operation spread them too thin. They should have concentrated on upgrade and improvements at the downtown location.

Pam Strickland

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." ~Kurt Vonnegut

"I wonder if the huge investment to expand over in West Knoxville hurt them."

You just hit the nail on the head.