When PeaceHealth announced its decision to move its main urgent care facility from the heart of Eugene to the blossoming outskirts of Springfield in early September, Eugenians reacted with dismay and an overwhelming sense of unabashed anger.
Local opinion pages have been filled to the brim with whining columns and searing letters, blaming either the city of Eugene for not doing enough to keep the hospital in town or accusing PeaceHealth of planning the move all along. Unfortunately, no amount of bellyaching on either side of the argument will make the hospital change its mind, and the city of Eugene must now come out of denial and accept the implications of the decision.
Many Eugene residents may believe Springfield is not exactly a mecca for free-thinkers or upper-crust professionals. When Eugenians think of their closest neighbor, Kip Kinkel, pick-up trucks with monster wheels and a mall whose flagship store is Target come to mind. Of course there is resistance to the beloved Sacred Heart Medical Center moving to such a place.
Now we will all have to come to terms with the fact that future generations of newborns will bear the shame of having “Springfield, Oregon,” printed on their birth certificates. Students and residents with medical emergencies will have to wait for a longer response times from ambulances fighting through I-5 traffic. Eugene has lost its lifeline to downtown health care, and the reasons why are buried in inside politics.
After the hospital’s announcement to move, there was a lot of speculation on whether the hospital had deceived the city of Eugene by making large monetary and zoning demands while scouting the Springfield site. The city was unable to supply the demands, which included six additional downtown blocks for construction and $35 million. The county’s largest private employer needed to expand and had a site near Crescent Avenue and Coburg Road in mind, but the city council kept setting up roadblocks to keep PeaceHealth from moving out of downtown.
Ultimately the council and the hospital could not reach an agreement. The damage has been done, and now it is time for the community to refocus and create some solutions to the impending implications of the move. Depending on community support, perhaps Eugene can encourage another private hospital to take root in the city. The most urgent problem is that of the forthcoming lack of emergency care to a city which claims more than 130,000 residents, including more than 18,000 University students. Perhaps the University Health Center can be funded to handle more urgent care cases. Maybe Sacred Heart could still offer some urgent care services, even if scaled back. Whatever the case, we need to look for solutions now.
Springfield may not be the utopian glen that is Eugene, but it is PeaceHealth’s choice. Eugene is experiencing the seven stages of grief, and after all the drama of the summer, we must now accept the decision and try to find a way to cope.
Eugene healing needs to begin
Daily Emerald
September 30, 2001
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