PHOTO BY SHEPLEY BULFINCH
An artist rendering of the proposed North Shore Medical Center building.
BY THOMAS GRILLO
SALEM — While the fate of Union Hospital hangs in the balance, Robert Norton is mapping out his vision to expand the North Shore Medical Center (NSMC).
But the president of the region’s largest hospital won’t say whether construction of the 118,000-square-foot building depends on the Department of Public Health’s approval to close Union Hospital and consolidate medical services at NSMC Salem Hospital. A decision from the state is expected in July.
Norton is expected to file a proposal for a $230 million facility on the Highland Avenue campus with the Salem Planning Board tonight.
“We are confident that this plan will move forward,” he said. “We think we’ve made a strong case as to why this is better for patients and that’s the ultimate the decision the state will make, even if it’s controversial and causes people angst, as change does. Will patients get better care as a result? I’m pretty sure they’ve determined that’s clearly the case.”
The two medical facilities are a part of Partners HealthCare. They have petitioned the state to shutter Union Hospital on Lynnfield Street.
Elected officials including Sen. Thomas McGee (D-Lynn), state Rep. Brendan Crighton (D-Lynn) and City Council President and state Rep. Dan Cahill, have opposed the plan to close the 126-bed Union Hospital.
Last year, Partners underscored their intentions when they revealed plans to move care from Lynn to Salem.
Norton, 66, said relocating the beds to Salem is in the best interest of patients.
“Given that the specialization of medicine continues at an incredible rate, the ability to have those specializing locations five miles apart just isn’t practical anymore,” he said. “This allows us to take a regional approach to care and make sure that specialists are present whenever anyone needs them, and to make it a part of a new wave of patient-centered medical care that has the primary care physician as the quarterback of your care.”
If approved, the new Salem facility would include a 64,000-square-foot emergency room, 55 private patient bays, 10 observation bays, a pediatric ER, spacious private rooms, six rooms for cancer patients and their families, and a dedicated space for mental health patients.
In addition, the plan outlines renovations to the former Spaulding Hospital for Continuing Medical Care North Shore which closed last year. Under the proposal, the space will be converted to the Center of Excellence in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. It will offer more than 120 beds to serve adult, pediatric, adult and senior mental health patients, as well as outpatient services for the region’s families.
Last year, the number of patients seen at Union Hospital totaled 22,084 including inpatient, outpatient, ER and services such as labs and imaging.
If the state gives a green light to shuttering Union Hospital, Norton said they will continue to serve patients for the next three years, about as long as construction will take.
And even if Union closes, they will continue to offer ER care until hospital management, in cooperation with city and state officials, determine where emergency services should be located.
“We fully understand that we have the obligation to continue to provide emergency care access to those patients,” he said. “And we are studying a variety of ways to do that.”
Still, Norton said he understands the opposition from elected leaders and the public to close Union.
“It’s not a surprise,” he said. “We have spent 100 years telling people their community hospital is the most important thing in their health care, and now when we say we’re taking your community hospital away, they say ‘We’re gonna die.’”
Thomas Grillo can be reached at [email protected].