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April 16 2004Munson to close Northport facilityByRecord-Eagle staff writer NORTHPORT - With 31 years in, Shirley Alpers figured she would finish her career as a emergency room nurse at Leelanau Memorial Health Center. But Alpers, along with 150 other workers, just learned Munson Healthcare will scuttle its LMHC operations by Dec. 31, citing financial losses, increased competition and dwindling patient numbers. "It was a total surprise to me, although you hear rumors," she said. "I work in emergency and heard it would close, but I never thought they would close the whole thing." Munson officials and the LMHC board of trustees set a July 1 deadline to develop transition and closure plans for the 47-year-old facility. Munson Healthcare, which took over the hospital in 1997, made the decision Wednesday after the LMHC board projected it would lose $5.5 million over the next four years. Munson Healthcare President and CEO John Rockwood estimated at least another $5 million would be needed to fix infrastructure at the hospital and its long-care facility. "It is not a fun day for anybody. It is a difficult decision, but the right decision," he said. Since 1997, Munson contributed nearly $5 million in subsidies to support the hospital, but it continued to operate in the red, losing $400,000 last year and projected to bleed $1.1 million more in 2004. "The reason it has survived this long is from the donations people have given us, the volunteer help that we get and the dedication of our staff," said John Erb, chair of the LMHC board of trustees. "There really isn't more that we can ask them to do. With the magnitude of these losses, it is unrealistic to think the township or village have access to this kind of money." The Leelanau board's analysis concluded residents are already obtaining much of their health care elsewhere. In 2003, only six acute care in-patients were admitted at LMHC, compared to 275 people admitted in 1994. The hospital has also seen the average daily number of emergency room visits drop from 4.4 a day in 2001 to a projected 2.7 this year. But Northport residents, with a high senior population, will have to rely on private facilities in Suttons Bay or travel roughly 30 miles to Traverse City if a new health provider doesn't step in. That's not good enough for Sarah Robinson, whose 83-year-old mother regularly uses the Pool and Fitness Center constructed through donations from the David H. Warm family. The facility, which has 440 members and 27,000 visits a year, is losing $200,000 a year, according to Munson officials. "It is a long way, probably 45 minutes, to another hospital," said Robinson, who lives just a few blocks from LMHC. "This community is about to take off and they are leaving town just prior to that. It is a poor choice. ... As it develops, seniors are settling up here and are the ones that need it more than anyone." The long-term care facility has also been competing with two newer area facilities, a high Medicaid patient base and outdated buildings. Munson spokeswoman Barb Gordon-Kessel said the ideal situation would be for a private long-term provider to emerge. "It is more viable with a private provider than a nonprofit, because we are obligated to take all the Medicaid patients that come our way. ... A private provider could have a better balance." Northport is a community of about 600 residents. Village administrator Greg King and several community members met with hospital officials Thursday morning. "It is a hit in the gut. A tough one," said King. "What are you going to do? They've done all they can do and our village will do all it takes to get some services here for our citizens. But when you lose that many jobs, it hurts." Gordon-Kessel said the hospital's 150 employees like Alpers could be absorbed into the Munson system or with other health care providers, although she said no plans have been made.
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