by Kristina Gabalski
Brockport Village Board members have passed a resolution opposing plans by Unity Health System to move into a new and expanded medical office complex in the Wegmans plaza. Trustees voted 4-1 in favor of the resolution during their regular meeting on January 24. The resolution was proposed at the January 10 Brockport Village Board meeting by Lakeside CEO James Wissler. It states that the board opposes the Certificate of Need (CON) application submitted to New York State by Unity Health System seeking approval to lease and occupy the $3.1 million building in the Town of Sweden.
The resolution states the Unity services would “directly compete with Lakeside Health System and thus will negatively impact our residents, our economy and our quality of life.”
“Clearly, we are all in support of Lakeside Hospital – it’s a pillar of the community,” Mayor Connie Castaneda, who cast the only “no” vote, said.
But the mayor asked trustees not to let their emotions get in the way and to be careful about any action that they might take at this point.
Village attorney Robert Leni advised trustees the village should stay neutral on the issue.
Mayor Castaneda proposed that the village consider a second resolution that could be drawn up with different language. “There is time for us to support a resolution with appropriate language,” she said.
Robert Leni said he had concerns over the use of the words, “Unity Health System proposes to offer to Brockport residents redundant medical services.”
He explained that the statement “redundant medical services” needed to be factually supported by data and that if the village was provided with such data more precise language such as “partially redundant” or “absolutely redundant” could be used.
Leni also advised trustees that in passing the resolution, they would be setting a precedent that “might stifle economic competition in other areas,” by discouraging new businesses from coming into the community.
Mayor Castaneda said citizens of the community should be allowed to have a choice in regards to their health care.
“I support Lakeside …. (but this resolution) could have a negative effect as well,” she said.
But the majority of trustees said they felt compelled to take an official stand against the proposed expansion by Unity.
“I think at a certain point in time you have to stand up for your community,” Trustee Carol Hannan said.
She said if Lakeside were forced to close, it would be gone forever. “It’s frightening to me that we might be looking at competition to drive (Lakeside) Hospital away.”
Trustee Kent Blair noted that the hospital is the second largest employer in the village (741 employees). “I took an oath to support this village,” Blair said, “I’m going to support this (resolution for Lakeside) one way or another and I’m going to do it today.”
Unity Health System officials have stated they are expanding their services in Brockport to make Unity more accessible to patients they already serve and to bring needed services closer to home for Brockport residents. Unity officials say that Brockport is designated by the federal government as having a shortage of health professionals.
