Presentation/Discussion on New Hospital Nearby

Many of us have been anxiously awaiting news of the planned new hospital literally down the road (map), 1.8 miles from the Clocktower, near the Largo Metro stop, at the intersection of Lottsford Road and Arena Drive..  Outside view and street view here.

At 2:30 PM on Thursday, in the Auditorium, sponsored by the Health Services Committee,  Lisa Jackson Esq., Manager of the Intergovernmental Relations Division in the office of the County Executive,  will give us an update.

This is obviously our opportunity to input into the process, to see what we can do to help keep the process on track, to show how much we care, and indeed, to show how much the Collington community could be a resource for making this the model hospital that the county and its partner the University of Maryland Medical School want it to be.

Among the topics that some of us have talked about are:

• the possibility of encouraging them planners to develop a triage system that takes special care of the urgency of the needs of seniors, given possible domino effects of waiting,
• the possibility of developing integration between our health services and their ER, meaning that information would get to the ER before the patient (look at this study of heart attack data communication and outcomes),
• how our community of researchers, policy folks, and academics, might be of use in making the new hospital particularly attractive for students, researchers, and medical academics,
• how the enormous range of experiences our residents have from living in other countries, particularly with those countries public health and medical systems, might be a resources for helping the new hospital incorporate best practices and ideas from all over the world,
• whether our clinic might become much more integrated into the hospital,
• whether our population, with its higher need for specialists such as neurologists, might be part of the core demand source that would help justify the hospital investing in the development of strong such departments

There are a lot of possibilities.  So, please make an effort to come and participate, and do encourage others to do so.  It should be well worth it.