Broadlands Hospital Is Sorely Needed

Article Tools

Share This +

Sunday, October 19, 2008

As a registered nurse and resident of Ashburn Farm, I am writing as a representative of Nurses for Broadlands Regional Medical Center. We are nurses and residents of Loudoun County who think the proposed hospital for Broadlands is needed and welcomed where it is currently proposed.

The Virginia state health commissioner’s approval of Broadlands Regional Medical Center’s certificate of public need echoes what we already know as professional health-care providers in Loudoun. On a daily basis, we deal with Loudoun residents, especially in the Ashburn and Broadlands area, who need greater access to health care and a wider choice of providers.

Through my experience as a nurse providing home care to patients recovering from surgeries and illnesses, I know that minutes matter when it comes to emergency care. In neighborhoods such as Broadlands, Brambleton and Ashburn, it takes longer than five minutes to reach Inova Loudoun Hospital in Lansdowne. When patients need immediate health care, the faster we can get them to a hospital, the more we improve their chances of survival. The county staff said Broadlands Regional Medical Center’s location “is central to the regional population and provides an additional choice of medical care services.”

Nurses want the best outcomes for their patients. Currently, 50 percent of Loudoun residents leave the county for their hospital care. We have only 0.62 beds per thousand people, vs. a national average of 3.01 beds per thousand people. A facility such as Broadlands Regional Medical Center will help increase our health-care access and create better outcomes.

Bringing another hospital to Loudoun won’t mean fewer health-care options. It will instead offer opportunities for more services, better technology, more medical staff and much more. Since the announcement of the Broadlands Regional Medical Center proposal, we have seen an increase in Inova Loudoun Hospital services of the kind the center had in its application.

This type of competition will add choices and specialties to Loudoun and keep residents from having to travel outside the county. An example of this is Broadlands Regional Medical Center’s planned partnership with Children’s National Medical Center, which will enable families to get adolescent medical services closer to home.

Anab Ali, Ashburn

Tagged: Letter to the Editor, opinions

Comments:

Note: LoudounExtra.com does not necessarily agree with comments posted below — responsibility lies with the relevant reader alone. Peruse our reader agreement and privacy policy

When I lived in Broadlands it only took 7 minutes, and that was before they put the overpass in. You are fear-mongering sir.

No where else I have lived were there so many choices on Hospitals. When I lived in Westmoreland county, va the nearest hospital was 60 minutes away and that was okay, because the vast majority of boo-boos are not lethal. If any market has such saturation of hospitals one thing is bound to happen, closure of existing hospitals, like the one HCA closed in Alexandria to build this one in a much wealthier neighborhood.

Posted by bschweiker (anonymous) on October 20, 2008 at 11:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Dont have an account? Sign up!