The hospital Board has been engaged during the last eighteen months in the most thorough analytical and strategic planning process in its history. They’ve done this because the community needs planning that accomplishes the following goals: allows for a clear understanding of the population that the Hospital serves; creates a comprehensive plan to be implemented over the ensuing three to five years to position the Hospital to best meet those needs; creates a medical staff development plan that brings doctors to our area and provides necessary infrastructure to support them; and creates a master facility plan that results in improved care for the community.
The master facility plan contemplates state-of-the-art facilities to deliver care, and adequate housing for health care professionals. It includes plans to remove two to three houses for parking. The Board believes the strategic plan will create an environment in which the community can achieve excellent health care. Below you’ll find a more detailed description of our efforts and our thorough analysis at the root of those efforts.
First, it helps to know about the people we’re serving and how their needs have changed. Here’s a snapshot of growth over the last ten years:
Service
1998
2008
% increase
Inpatient admissions
4,195
4,693
12%
Emergency Room visits
17,112
21,480
26%
Outpatient visits
95,416
163,745
72%
Net revenue generated
$29,790,235
$66,630,296
124%
Employees
605
775
28%
Fifty-five thousand people live within our service area. St. Lawrence County has been designated by the Federal government as a health professional shortage area. If you’ve moved to the area within the last ten years, you know how hard it is to find a physician, particularly in primary care. An independent analysis confirmed that we need approximately 26 more physicians. Since the analysis, we’ve recruited ten physicians and seven physician assistants and nurse practitioners. We’ve identified others and we’re actively recruiting them. While they’ll help ease the shortage, they’ll also add more to the growth numbers you see above.
How do we manage the growth for the foreseeable future? Whether you’re in the hospital for an emergency, to deliver a baby, or to get inpatient care, hospitals are required by law—and by the standards of health care delivery—to have laboratory, pharmacy, anesthesia, respiratory, cardiac testing, CAT scans, MRIs, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, radiology, surgical services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy within close proximity to one another.
To support these services, hospitals also must have non-clinical services, such as registration, housekeeping, maintenance, schedulers, medical records, dietary services, case managers, quality and safety oversight, and other members of the health care team in close proximity. If an expectant mother has a breech birth, she and her family need to know that she’ll be rushed down the hall to the operating room immediately, and that she can be closely monitored in a nearby inpatient room following surgery. The essential hospital functions described above have to happen in one place.
That place is our main campus. We’re trying to expand it to meet the rising demand on our essential services. Unfortunately, as we’ve grown, a mixed-use neighborhood has also grown right around us. The neighborhood includes a large central school with brightly lit playing fields, large parking lots for students and faculty, and idling areas for busses. It also includes several absentee-landlord houses used as apartments, and some single-family homes.
We’ve been working diligently during the last year to craft a plan that recognizes the needs of all. Through several forums, meetings, and in letters and e-mails, the community has told us it wants continued high-quality health care, and it also wants attractive neighborhoods. Most people want parked cars off their streets. The Potsdam Village Planning Board recognizes that responsible planning means balancing these needs. The Director of the Planning and Development Office for the Village of Potsdam has developed a hospital zone that he thinks may be the answer. The zone would respond to neighborhood concerns by getting cars off the side streets and onto our lots.
The zone would also respond to the need for neighborhood improvement. The Hospital has purchased housing adjacent to the main campus primarily to provide affordable housing for hard-to-recruit health care workers. I was just recently talking to a physician we are actively recruiting and he wants to know if we have a house he can rent in close proximity to patients. Physicians and other members of the health care workforce expect to move into attractive, well-kept homes.
Some of the houses we own are in very good shape; with minor repairs and a new coat of paint, they’d make wonderful homes for health care workers. Others are in poor shape and, frankly, detract from the character of the neighborhood. Costly repairs might bring these structures up to code, but not up to the standards of surrounding homes. It would be irresponsible to spend funds on repairs when the results are not functional nor are they attractive to people we’re trying hard to recruit.
A vibrant hospital is one that can grow and change to meet the needs of multiple neighborhoods. Balancing neighborhood needs with essential health care services isn’t easy. The long-term plan to expand the ER, build new inpatient rooms, create a cancer center, and parking to keep employees close to their work and patients close to their care will be implemented over several years. As a responsible non-profit organization, we’re constantly mindful of our core mission: to provide high-quality, compassionate health care to all of the citizens of our service area, particularly the poor. We fulfill that mission by constantly balancing economic realities, the changing health care landscape, and the widely varying needs and viewpoints of all the people that we are here to serve.
Those varying needs include outpatient services located in communities across St. Lawrence County. We operate primary care clinics in Norfolk, Brasher Falls, Canton, and in the Primecare clinic on Elm Street in Potsdam. Outpatient substance abuse services are located in Norfolk and Richville. People living in and near Canton have access to a variety of outpatient services, an after-hours urgent care clinic, and physician offices at the E. J. Noble building. Those working in or near downtown Potsdam have access not only to Primecare, but also to medical staff in the renovated former Potsdam police station and in the NATCO building across from Maxcy Hall at SUNY Potsdam. Cancer patients can receive care at the Warner Cancer Treatment Center in the SeaComm Plaza. Patients can also access outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy in a former Clarkson building in the village core. We also operate a laundry on the outskirts of town.
In short, people who need our services can access them in a centralized location on the main hospital campus, and in decentralized locations throughout the service area. Some have suggested we build a new main hospital, but the cost is prohibitive: new hospitals cost between $75 million and $100 million (and that option would leave another vacant building in the village). Others have suggested we divide our services and locate them in renovated space elsewhere. To the extent that it makes sense for some outpatient services, we’ve done that and will continue to do it. But our most critical services—ER, inpatient care, obstetrics, surgery, and their supporting services—must remain together as a core.
The Village Planning and Development Director’s proposed hospital zone has raised concerns about preserving the Village’s tax base. In Pennsylvania, where I come from, it was possible for a hospital to redevelop properties formerly owned by taxpayers and keep monies flowing, in some form, to offset the local tax burden. I’m committed to finding a way to do this in our community. The Hospital is actively working with the Village of Potsdam on this issue.
We're also working to secure the former St. Mary's School campus in Potsdam as a medical office building. We've signed a letter of intent with the owner, negotiations are proceeding, and I hope to have more to announce soon.
Thank you for the opportunity to share our goals with you. I have heard from many in our community that they value our hospital highly. I hope you’ll let me know what your hospital means to you and how we can serve you better in the future.
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for medical care, and medical advice and services are not being offered. If you have, or suspect you have,
a health problem, you should consult
your physician.
Canton-Potsdam Hospital
50 Leroy St.
Potsdam, NY 13676
E.J. Noble Medical Building
80 E. Main St.
Canton, NY 13617
