A.l. Lee Memorial Receives 1-year Extension

Oswego Palladium Times

After a year of uncertainty for Fulton's A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital, it was announced Friday that the New York State Department of Health (DOH) has granted the hospital a one-year extension to meet the criteria set forth by the Berger Commission.

Since receiving the Commission's recommendations in June 2007, local officials, residents and employees have rallied to keep the facility open. Friday's extension were a reflection of their efforts, and will allow for a much more lenient time frame in which the facility can attempt to reach an agreement to form an affiliation with another hospital.

The deadline that was originally set forth for some type of deal to be made would have forced the Fulton hospital to eliminate all of their inpatient beds and services this upcoming Monday. Public outcry and  the efforts made by area public officials who continued to fight to keep the doors at Lee Memorial open may have played a large role in the extension, considering numerous other facilities across the state have already either closed or entered into an affiliation based on the Berger recommendations.

Richard Abbott, chairman of the Lee Memorial board of directors, was very happy to receive the news by letter on Friday. "We are all very pleased with the news. The letter they sent us says that we now have a year on our operating certificate, with a new expiration date of June 30, 2009," Abbott said.

Friday, State Sen. Darrel Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, said he hopes this extension will eventually lead to an agreement that would comply with the Berger recommendations. Aubertine, who has been an integral player in talks to keep Lee Memorial open in recent months stated, "I'm still optimistic. Making sure all of the people in Oswego County have access to the health care they need is a top priority of mine. This gives A.L. Lee an opportunity to continue working toward an agreement with another hospital and provides enough time for each side to do their due diligence. Lee still has to submit a plan for closure, but this keeps the dialogue open."

Assemblyman, Will Barclay, R-Pulaski, has been a leader the fight to see the hospital remain open since the recommendations first became public. With the extension given, Barclay noted that he would like to possibly see talks rekindled between Lee Memorial and Oswego Health on the subject of affiliation, despite their talks reaching a halt last week.

"I'm very pleased the state health department has shown its willingness to negotiate to the benefit of the community and has extended the hospital's deadline," Barclay said. "I hope A.L. Lee Memorial uses this opportunity to pursue an affiliation with Oswego Health, as I feel this is still in the best interests of both hospitals and of the residents of this area.

"One year will give both hospitals the time they need to carefully review the terms of an affiliation, to complete due diligence and to ultimately serve the residents of this region and provide the health care the area needs," Barclay concluded.

While he did not wish to offer a comment regarding Oswego Health, Abbott did note that there are affiliation talks on going with two Syracuse hospitals. "We are currently focused on St. Joseph's and Crouse hospitals in Syracuse," he said. "We are actively pursuing affiliation talks with these two hospitals."

Abbott was very grateful for the swell of public support received on behalf on the hospital. In a release Friday he said, "Once again we want to express our thanks to Sen. Aubertine for his efforts to work with the Department of Health to find an alternative to the mandate of the Berger Commission."

He also addressed the Fulton residents and the surrounding community, saying, "We know that we enjoy the tremendous support of the Fulton community. Hopefully, when they see this news coming out there will be some type of gratification for them." He continued, "We are appreciative to all our employees, our medical staff and everybody else who has supported us ... Hopefully, we will extend past this new deadline, too."