West Creek Medical Center
At last, a hospital will come to Goochland.
The announcement that state regulators approved plans for a hospital in West Creek is good news on many fronts.
First and foremost, state of the art medical care will be closer and more accessible to county residents. This will save many lives by simply reducing the length of the trip to reach an emergency room.
Modern hospitals are indeed the site of daily miracles, but only if they are reached quickly. The sooner a sick or injured person reaches the healing sanctuary of hospital, the better. Indeed, those in the emergency medical service contend that if a patient reaches an emergency room within 60 minutes of onset of illness or injury, called “the golden hour,” the possibility of a successful recovery is far brighter.
The hospital will be good for Goochland and beneficial to the region. It will be the only hospital in the area with a direct connection to a limited access highway. Clogged surface streets that must be traveled to reach any other hospital in the area can steal previous seconds from that golden hour. Anyone who has crawled along Horsepen Road trying to reach either St. Mary’s Hospital or Henrico Doctors Hospital Forest campus understands just how long it can take to travel just a few miles.
Then there is the economic benefit.
In addition to creating many jobs, both in construction and when the hospital is in operation, the county will realize badly needed new revenues. Hopefully, the hospital will spawn associated medical offices and create small business opportunities.
That seems to be what detractors of the new hospital fear.
Rumors that the affluent and influential people who live in the River Road corridor, sometimes referred to as Goochland’s “gold coast,” worked to discourage approval of the hospital are troubling. These may be the same people who made sure that Johnston-Willis Hospital wound up in Chesterfield instead of on Patterson Avenue decades ago.
It is unlikely that the West Creek Medical Center will be the catalyst for Chesterfield-like development here. Goochland does not have unlimited water and sewer capacity to fuel such growth and the economic tides may be turning against never ending home construction.
There has been way too little economic development in West Creek. While no one expects West Creek to be built out any time soon, right now it resembles a nature preserve more than an office park that is supposed to be the economic engine to lighten the local tax burden on property owners.
As the Watkins Center just south of the James River is bursting out of the ground full of economic promise, the possibility that West Creek will be left in its dust is all too real. It’s time for Goochland to get serious about economic development on all fronts from corporate headquarters to mom and pop operations.
Approval of the hospital is just the beginning. County leaders need to make sure that they do nothing to stand in the way of its success. — S. E.Warwick
2 comments:
The Goochland Branch Library of the Pamunkey Regional Library would certainly interested in supporting the new hospital with our Books for Babies program. The program is currently offered through the Health Department to parents of newborns to support them in developing their child's literacy skills. Another way the hospital benefits the community.
Linda Gosnell
Supervising Librarian Youth Services
Pamunkey Regional Library
I find it hard to believe that anyone would oppose a hospital being built in West Creek Business Park. What an exciting and comforting idea for both citizens and providers of emergency medical care in our county, to have a closer hospital and emergency room. Talk to any of our volunteers in Goochland Fire-Rescue and you’ll realize how often our ambulances get re-routed because of over-crowded emergency rooms. When hospital emergency rooms become overcrowded they are allowed temporary closures called “diversions”. During these temporary closures, which can come with little warning, ambulances are forced to find the next closest hospital. They must drive longer distances, which delays care for their patient, but also delays their response to a new incident.
That’s why our Goochland Fire-Rescue brochures always had the caption “Minutes Matter”. A closer hospital is a very good thing.
Hopefully medical offices and medical equipment supply companies and other support services will follow. Another really nice Nursing Home and Rehab Center in Goochland wouldn’t hurt my feelings either.
I’m sure most of you have either read in the paper or watched on television , discussions about the healthcare crisis that we face in this country. The aging baby boomers are going to put a lot of stress on the medical system and I congratulate anyone who has the foresight to plan ahead. The population in our county may not be growing by leaps and bounds, but it is growing and it is aging. The ugly fact is that the older we get, the more medical care we will need. So overcrowded hospitals and emergency rooms putting ambulances on “diversion” is only going to get worse. In fact, the nature of growth in this county has actually made us an “older” population. Because there are no apartments or condos to rent, and few affordable houses for singles, young couples or families, our young people are forced to go elsewhere to live.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not a big fan of growth in our county. I’m one of those who likes it rural. I don’t want to see Rt.6 or Rt.250 look like Broad Street does in Henrico and Richmond. If we must have growth, I’d like to see well planned, concentrated areas of offices, retail, light industrial and apartments with a beautiful designs , just like West Creek. And if growth is inevitable, then I don’t see how any business or industry coming into our county could be any more welcome than a hospital. This is a business that will directly serve our citizens and provide an incredible service, as well as employ many people, and also spawn more businesses that will provide other much needed services, that will again employ more people. I only hope that this new hospital is including an option to build on at a later date since 97 beds is a very small facility. So I hope they anticipate the need for future growth.
What better place for this new hospital than West Creek Business Park. If we have to have development, then I hope all business parks are designed and developed as beautifully as West Creek. The design is respectful of the overwhelming desire of the citizens to have as little impact as possible on surrounding residential areas, and to have an almost park-like setting with trees and greenery. This 3500 acre business park includes 650 acres of natural reserve. The park was built with ample buffers of trees and greenery that give it that park-like feeling. The ingress and egress routes couldn’t have been planned any better, with access from Patterson, West Broad Street or 288.
The following groups should be really excited about this new hospital: anyone with babies or small children; adults caring for aging parents; the elderly, and the aging baby boomers. What a minute ! I think that just about covers everyone in the county, doesn’t it? I would certainly think we would all welcome having an emergency room and hospital facility as close by as possible ! And there’s no more ideally suited than West Creek.
As usual, an insightful and well-written article by Sandie. Keep up the good work !
Linda Wise
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