Morning Call – October 12, 2005

St Luke Quakertown Hospital Update Strength

Dear Friends,

Good morning. Quakertown community leaders paid close attention as David Woglom gave a thoughtful summary about the progress, which St. Luke’s Quakertown Hospital has made in just 10 years. The Quakertown Borough Manager is also the hospital’s local board Vice Chairman. About 30 attended a progress report at St. Luke’s Quakertown Hospital on October 4. It turned out to be a pep rally.

“Ten years ago, there were rumors that the Quakertown hospital could close or it might be turned into senior housing,” Woglom began, referring to the perilous shape of the institution. Fortunately in 1995, St. Luke’s took over the ailing local hospital and spent $33 million on improvements and expansion. St. Luke’s saved the day.

Edward Nawrocki is the hospital’s local President. Last year he succeeded the popular Fred Sprissler as its chief. Nawrocki, 40, told the group that St. Luke’s Quakertown Hospital made a $355,000 profit for the 2005 fiscal year and has budgeted a $750,000 profit for 2006. Things are going very well at the local hospital, which is celebrating its 75^th year.

Nawrocki expects that the hospital will increase its beds within five years. “We can add 25 to 30 new beds by building a third floor,” he said. “One of my goals is to grow the present $500,000 endowment to $3 million.” That would have been unthinkable a decade ago.

“Our hospital is in the 99^th percentile for satisfaction in Pennsylvania hospitals,” Nawrocki continued. “We cared for 15,000 patients in just one year. The average hospital stay is 3.6 days. Our Emergency Room is so efficient that we get people in and out within two hours. And, we’ll have an ambulance at your front door within 5 ½ minutes of a 911 call.”

Thanks to modern technology, it takes less than 48 hours for physicians to access outpatient tests. We were fascinated with a new scanner, which replaces digital heart catheterization at a fraction of the cost. Instead of paying $3000, the scan delivers the same information for $300. We saw Nawrocki’s heart beating on a TV screen. The coronary arteries were clear as a bell. He’ll live to be 100, I’m sure.

Nawrocki told us that America’s hospitals have shrunk from 6,500 to 5,000 in 15 years. And he believes that malpractice cases have made medicine more defensive. Physicians order more tests to protect themselves from suits, he said.

He addressed malpractice caps on awards. “America is facing a dilemma,” Nawrocki observed. “Do we want caps to preserve hospitals and doctors for the sake of one person’s perceived damage? Will one law suit end up closing a hospital,” he wondered?

Why don’t the 5,500 hospitals band together and create their own malpractice insurance companies, I asked. “It’s too capital intensive,” he replied. “Hospitals have tried it unsuccessfully.”

I was glad to see the older generation of well-respected community leaders at that meeting. When a James Ebbert, Richard Hoch, or Philip Miller attend a 7:30 morning session, you know that the Quakertown area cares about its hospital. That’s one of the common denominators, the glue, which holds a community together…its hospital, school, YMCA, and yes, its newspaper. The newspaper is the community’s historian, conscience and cheerleader. Its role is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable…but that’s a subject for another day. (26)

“Our primary purpose is to deliver outstanding care at the local level,” Woglom concluded, “Small town care but big city technology and medicine.” That’s the motto of St. Luke’s the parent in Bethlehem…“Big city medicine; hometown care.”

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith