Letters to the Editor - The Millerton News - 10-13-22

Correcting the record

I would like to correct a statement attributed to me in an article published on October 6, 2022, entitled: Sharon Hospital: A rural hospital’s routine.

While I did say that Sharon Hospital has increased some of its methods of communication to the public, I did not “commend” Nuvance’s recruitment and retention of physician’s, let alone primary care physicians in particular.

In fact, Foundation for Community Health (FCH) has been sounding the alarm about the erosion of primary care access in our communities for many years.  This has included many direct conversations with whomever owned Sharon Hospital at any given time.   The lack of access to primary care and behavioral health services is the basis for our work over the past 15 years or more on establishing a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) presence in North Canaan.  We have invested well over a million and half dollars over the years on this endeavor to date and are excited to finally see it turn into a reality.  Community Health and Wellness Center of Greater Torrington (CHWC), under the leadership of Joanne Borduas, has been a great partner to work with on this effort. As of today, the land has been purchased and cleared (it is across the street from the North Canaan Stop n’ Shop) and bids are in the process of being collected and reviewed.  The State has also acknowledged the need and pledged $3 million in construction bonding funds.

What I actually shared with the reporter was that members of the Nuvance leadership have worked with Community Health and Wellness in offering space at Sharon Hospital to park CHWC’s mobile primary care van and that they have also been instrumental in trying to secure a federal Health Care Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designation for the area which can help recruitment and retention by making some benefits, like loan forgiveness and visa waivers, available for newly hired physicians.

Nancy L. Heaton, MPH

Chief Executive Officer

Foundation for
Community Health

Sharon

Nuvance Health’s Investments in Women’s Health

At Sharon Hospital, it is a priority to invest in the newest technologies to ensure our patients have seamless screenings and top-notch care. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, on average every 2 minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States.

October is commonly known as Breast Cancer Awareness month, but few are fully aware of the advancements made in breast cancer screening and related treatments.

Through investments in state-of-the-art screening technology, Sharon Hospital patients have access to early detection for many conditions early to patients receive the best possible care well into the future. This is just one way we are investing in preventative care services in the Sharon community and beyond.

Using advanced mammogram technology, we create detailed images of the breast to detect cancer as early as possible. A 3-D mammogram is advantageous in detecting breast cancer in some types of breast tissue because the 3-D image offer physicians a better look at areas of density.

Our advanced 3-D mammography technology means patients can stay local and receive advanced imaging services in their neighborhood.

By investing in your health, Sharon Hospital and Nuvance Health can provide guidance and supportive navigation to patients in their ultimate times of need.

Together, we are committed to caring for women throughout their lifespan and offer resources to help you live life to the fullest. We look forward to offering you advance mammogram services and other screenings this month and throughout the many years ahead.

Ken DiVestea

Sharon Hospital –Director of Imaging Services

Sharon

SH: The view of a family doctor

Like virtually every practicing physician in Sharon Hospital’s catchment area,  I am alarmed at the possibility that maternity and obstetrical care will no longer be available if Nuvance Health’s plan is approved.  As a family physician that has served northwest Connecticut and northeast Dutchess County for  37 years, there is no doubt in my mind that such a loss would represent far more than an inconvenience as Nuvance appears to be framing their justification for their plan.

There will undoubtedly come the day when a woman in a true obstetrical emergency that is threatening her life and the life of her baby arrives atthe door of the Sharon Hospital Emergency Department. There will no doubt come the day, if  obstetrical care is no longer available at Sharon Hospital,that a pregnant person or a baby will die. Might it be a frozen February night when transport over icy, hilly roads to Torrington or Poughkeepsie is simply too far, and the death occurs in an ambulance? Or in a family’s car who decides to make the dash on their own to a distant facility? The idea that  our Emergency Department physicians (Nuvance’s plan for obstetrical emergencies) might be called upon to manage a potentially devastating birthing complication like a shoulder dystocia or attempt some other non-operative emergency obstetric maneuver borders on the absurd. All local clinicians know this and see it this way. In the 21st century in a nation with the best health care in the world, we should not even contemplate  ED docs doing this. Aside from the sheer recklessness of the idea, talk about a lawsuit waiting to happen…

Beyond the discussion of the sheer dangers that would attend closing the maternity unit, the fact is that in ensuing years, hundreds and eventually thousands of families will be denied  care at Sharon Hospital’s…THEIR hospital’s… state-of-the-art birthing facility.  It  may now be underutilized but could one day be full.  All health care providers practicing “on the ground”  in our region  know that our patients, the residents of our community, don’t want this. Sharon Hospital’s mission is supposed to be, first and foremost, about providing essential health care services to the community. There is nothing more essential than being able to have a baby, safely, close to home.

The idea that some financial  losses from one particular hospital unit are unmanageable given the enormous budget Nuvance enjoys belies theunderstanding, in the world of retail (sad that we are talking business and not health care) of “loss leaders.” Supermarkets take losses on a sale item to get folks into the store and the revenue comes back in other ways.Nuvance, if it keeps maternity at Sharon Hospital, will  “get it back” by keeping  the trust of its health care providers and the residents of our communities…our patients…by proving  that it is acting in the best interests of all of us. Nuvance will lose far more than a few dollars if they are no longer willing to provide this vital function, which every community hospital ought to provide. It will have lost our trust and it willhave lost part of its humanity.

Robert Dweck, MD

(The views expressed here by Dr. Dweck represent his own and may not represent those of Sun River HealthCare.)

Millerton