What Should the Hospital Do? One Opinion

The Stranger asked what Children's Action thinks the Hospital should do. That's easy-- we ask the Hospital to consider additional alternatives. But which alternatives? Certainly the ones the Community Club has proposed (see this post).

Beyond these, this author advocates a farsighted, creative approach:

The Hospital’s leaders must think broadly and inclusively about how to meet the needs of kids across its entire service area. While it plans for growth, the hospital needs to figure out how to make top-notch, inpatient facilities accessible to kids beyond NE Seattle. Perhaps this means partnering with one or two existing hospitals and opening pediatric wings? Perhaps it means opening a second campus? The hospital expects demand to increase linearly beyond even the planned build-out, so it must be pro-active.

If our region needs to increase pediatric capacity, it should take advantage of a golden opportunity to simultaneously broaden access to pediatric care. We should make this an opportunity, not a crisis.

Personally, I believe the hospital’s focus on a single site will prove even more harmful to the broader Puget Sound community than to my immediate community.

Many families do not and will not have the time or resources to travel to a centralized pediatric facility. Their kids won't receive the right care at the right time. This is the real and grave consequence of the Hospital’s single-track thinking. This is the story in this mess, not just 240' towers in Laurelhurst.