The following is a memo from Bon Secours in response to the City of Norfolk’s withdrawal of support of the new DePaul Hospital. We wrote about that withdrawal in our June 15, 2008 article.
BON SECOURS HAMPTON ROADS
INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUMDate: June 13, 2008
To: Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System
Board of Directors
Mary Immaculate Board of Directors
Bon Secours Maryview Foundation Board of Directors
Bon Secours DePaul Health Foundation
Board of Directors
BSDMC Medical Executive Committee
BSMMC Medical Executive Committee
MIH Medical Executive Committee
BSHR Leadership Team
BSHSI Executive Management Team
From: Richard A. Hanson – CEO, Bon Secours Hampton RoadsCc: Sister Pat Heath, SUSC – Sr. Vice President,
Sponsorship, Bon Secours Hampton RoadsRe: Article in today’s Virginian Pilot
Below is the letter to the Editor that was submitted in response to the article in today’s Virginian Pilot. Please feel free to share with your colleagues and contact me if you have any questions.
Bon Secours Hampton Roads Health System is very disappointed to learn that the City of Norfolk has rescinded its earlier support of our project for a new replacement hospital for Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center and is publicly questioning the integrity of our financial management. We want to assure the City and our community that Bon Secours has invested extensive time and resources developing a new model for DePaul Medical Center. Our plan ensures DePaul’s vitality and its continuation of the mission to care for the Norfolk community, regardless of insurance status.
Bon Secours has demonstrated its commitment to the community’s needs, especially the uninsured and underinsured, time and time again. We are presently collaborating to provide a consistent source of care for our patients at Park Place Medical Center in Norfolk. And last year, the Maryview Foundation Healthcare Center saw nearly 12,000 patients who had no insurance or ability to pay.
While we are helping people in all parts of the region, Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center has provided the most charity care to the community (as a percent of our revenue) than any other hospital in the region. Fundamentally, DePaul is struggling to cope as the safety net for the City’s population that is at risk, perhaps in part due to generations of neglect by state and local government in the area of health status disparities. We hope that the community will not interpret our proposal for a smaller Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center as anything less than our vision of a better way to serve Norfolk.
We are continuing in our application process to build a right-sized DePaul and to bring greater choice in health care providers to Virginia Beach and Suffolk. On behalf of our remarkable employees, our talented physicians, our hundreds of thousands of patients and all the residents in Hampton Roads, we will continue to serve this community with integrity. We hope others will join us.
Submitted by:
Wayne K. Sawyer
Chairman, BSHR Board of Directors
Wards Corner Now - Wards Corner, Norfolk, Virginia 