HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005-06-29 Hospital Development Commitee Minutest~ ,
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Hospital Development Committee Meeting
June 29, 2005 ~j
The meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room, 16 Lowell Wtreet,
Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Bruce Cerullo, Task Force Members Nelson
Burbank, Neil Sullivan, John Daly, Bob LeLacheur and Colleen Seferian. Also present were
Donald Bellefeuille, Vice President of Development for Hallmark Health, Darian Newnhouse
from Reading and Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner.
On motion by Burbank seconded by Sullivan, the Minutes of May 26, 2005 were approved
by a vote of 6-0-0.
Chairman Bruce Cerullo noted that if we do a health needs assessment, there are two options: A
detailed assessment or a "shot gun" assessment. He raised a question with the Committee as to
whether or not we need to do some kind of needs assessment. He felt that we needed to do an
assessment to show that we've done due diligence to determine what the community needs are.
Colleen Seferian noted that we needed to do an assessment because everyone has their own
biases.
Nelson Burbank felt that we have the capability to know our own needs. It may be desirable to
do a health needs assessment for political reasons. He felt that the MAPP Program had too large
a scope.
John Daly thought that we should take advantage of the hospitals for their knowledge.
The Town Manager felt that we needed to do the health needs assessment because anything else
would be viewed as self serving by others, we need to know our needs for legal reasons and as a
community, we don't really know what our health needs are.
Bruce Cerullo posed the question as to whether or not he's against doing the health needs
assessment. He is not. If the assessment is focused on "the uses in Reading," then we can do a
very focused study. If it's broadened, we will end up with a few things that are "nice to have"
versus things that we "need to have." We may choose to focus on the needy.
Nelson Burbank felt that we could combine the two. He had discussion with the head of the
Food Pantry and thanks the U.S. Post Office for additional donations to the Food Pantry. They
are able to service 80 families.
Bruce Cerullo felt that we do need to do a needs assessment. He felt that we should focus on
gaps in the social safety net. We could focus on medical, well being, insurance, health, safety
issues. He noted that the focus of the Hospital Trust was to help a broad segment of the
community but, in the meantime, help the needy. He felt that the vast majority of Reading has
wonderful access to a broad array of medical services.
Hospital Development Task Force Meeting - June 29, 2005 - Page 2 .
Bob LeLacheur noted that perhaps we should focus on emergency services - nobody is happy
with emergency services. Is there a need for urgent care? If we do a cy pres agreement, we
would be revisiting this issue every five years or so. The structure should be kept broad so that
the community may change the focus over time as needed. We should develop the methodology,
encourage others to contribute and keep flexibility.
Neil Sullivan noted that the role of Trust Fund Commissioners is fiduciary. They should
delegate the operations to Town social service agencies.
Colleen Seferian felt that we should meet the needs of the needy and other community needs.
Nelson Burbank noted that we should be able to meet emerging needs - drug problems seem to
be the need right now.
Bob LeLacheur asked who should determine how long any particular program should last. Is the
intent that the entirety of the principle of the Trust Funds will be preserved.
In summary, the Committee agreed that:
1. Yes, we need a needs assessment.
2. We should be focused around a safety net and also anticipate that a needs assessment will
identify other needs. Other needs could be health, well being and medical.
There was discussion on how to find out the needs through the survey. Thoughts were that we
could get information from the schools, the police, from social services and from medical
professionals. The City of Weymouth did a study which was very comprehensive but very
expensive.
The Committee considered inviting in some who are involved in providing medical services to
the community including Winchester Hospital, the VNA and Hallmark Health. That would
produce an outline of what's around and how to access it.
The Committee agreed that at its next meeting, there will be discussion on the proposals that
were submitted, and determine how to do a needs assessment by inviting one or two additional
consultants in who do needs assessment.
The next meeting will be August 10, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. We will need to do a report to the Board
of Selectmen.
On motion by Burbank seconded by Daly, the meeting of June 29, 2005 adjourned at 8:38
p.m. by a vote of 7-0-0.
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary