Hospital Recommendations Has Kingdom Residents Outraged
More than two hundred people came out in support of North Country Hospital (NCH) and packed into the Gateway Center on Thursday night. The event was organized and held by NCH in response to the community’s response and expressions of fear and outrage. NCH CEO Tom Frank said that despite the grossly inaccurate data used in a recommendation from Dr. Hamory of the Oliver Wyman Consultation firm, NCH will remain open. The Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) requested an independent review of the healthcare system in Vermont, and through a series of community engagement forums, Dr. Hamory took data from hospitals throughout Vermont and made recommendations.
Those recommendations are to reconfigure NCH inpatient beds, to eliminate the labor and delivery unity, and convert the emergency department to an urgent care while also shifting birthing and other specialties to other hospitals. Frank said that it takes some people an hour just to get to NCH, let alone drive another hour or more to another hospital.
Dr. Hamory’s recommendation was to eliminate the OB services and shift birthing to Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury, except for emergency situations. NCH Pediatrician, Thomas A Moseley III MD told the Express that he was glad that a member of the GMCB and the executive director came to listen to the angry crowd, and he hopes that unlike their public meeting when they received the report, they will begin to ask some of the same questions that the people at the forum did.