SULLIVAN COUNTY  — A town hall-styled meeting was held with the help of Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther on Friday to discuss the Garnet Health Medical Center - Catskills (GHMC-C) as well as concerns and questions County residents had regarding developments with it.

The meeting started with a presentation given by Jerry Dunlavey, Chief Executive Officer of GMHC-C and Vice-President of Operations, which was divided into three parts. Dunlavey discussed the history of  Garnet Health - Catskills, their vision and where they were heading as an organization and how they’re one of the many organizations in Sullivan County looking to meet the healthcare needs of the community.

The presentation also included questions that residents were stated to have had in the form of slides.

“I purposely have a listing of our clinical service offerings because I do know that that is a point of concern from the community,” stated Dunlavey. “What I can assure you as we walk through that list is that there are none of those services that we intend to close at any point in the future.”

Among the highlights he discussed in the presentation was that Garnet Health  - Catskills was the sole hospital in Sullivan County.

He stated that this was a factor they did “not take lightly”.

“I keep hearing in the community from time to time that the hospital is going to close and that we want to close the hospital,” said Dunlevey. “One of the things that I want you guys to know personally is...I’m a growth-oriented healthcare executive.”

“I enjoy building programs, increasing clinical services, and that’s not what we plan to do in terms of any concept of closing a hospital.”

He also addressed another concern of thinking which was that if the hospital was closed, everyone would hypothetically be sent to Middletown.

“Well, Middletown is a 383-bed hospital that often has a census of 400,” explained Dunlavey. “They also often have an Emergency Department that will have 40 patients waiting for admission, 40 patients being seen in the E.D. and 20 patients in our waiting room. There is no capacity to close one hospital and force everybody to go to Middletown.”

Concerns raised  by residents

Assemblywoman Gunther, Kenneth Walter, and Dunlavey answered questions that residents were vocal about during the session.

One of the residents reported that she heard rumors that the hospital was going to be moved. Dunlavey clarified that they are in the process of what the right thing to do is.

“[We are deciding] whether or not we should renovate the existing hospital or build a new one,” explained Dunlevey. “It is all dependent on our ability to obtain funding to either renovate the existing space or to build a new hospital”

“The hospital was designed in the late sixties early seventies. It was built in the early seventies. The facility that serves as a hospital, it does have a limited life.”

He described the “contemporary” standards of what a hospital room should look like.

He also described adjacencies that are “critical” to efficiently operate a hospital.

He exampled the emergency department located on one end of the campus, with the MRIs on the opposite end.

“There are no private hallways that connect those two areas,” described Dunlavey.

Deborah Worden, the Executive Director of Action Towards Independence raised a question about her observations of everyone’s questions in the room.

As an agency that helps any individual with a disability, she alluded to a lot of her clients needing medical care.

“What I am hearing most from our clients - and we’re an agency for advocacy, we’re advocating for accessibility and customer service,” described Worden. “So many times we are encountering our clients who are not willing to call a physician in the hospital back because of how they were treated.”

She stated that what she was “feeling here” is a lot of frustration and a lot of angst about what is happening in the future.

“So back to Marty’s question: what is our collective ‘next action’ thing that we do? What are we all gonna do again, when are we all meeting again?” inquired Worden. “[Because] obviously there seems to be a little disconnect whether it be the rumors that people are hearing that the hospital is closing and it’s not. Information is power, and there obviously seems to be where we all need to share more information with each other.”

She stated that if people were conveying this much frustration with their own personal experiences just in one room, “imagine collectively the whole county and how everyone is feeling and not being heard.”

She applauded that Garnet Health - Catskills is trying to make roads and inway with that, but she’s focused on the solution with that or “what can we do more?”

Dunlavey addressed that the best thing to happen for her specific organization is for them to meet directly.

“That’s how you get things solved, you don’t get things solved in a large situation like this [town hall]”

He  stated that the “where do we go next?” question will be discussed between Walter and him when the meeting concluded.