Franklin hospital pleas made

FRANKLINTON -- Critics continued on Wednesday to blast the partnership of Rex Healthcare and a Florida for-profit health care company for planning to move a hospital from central Franklin County to a location near Wake County.

Both sides in the controversy crowded into the auditorium of the Franklinton High School to plead their case to state regulators who must approve Franklin Regional Medical Center's proposed move.

In November, Rex and Franklin Regional asked the state for permission to move the 70-bed hospital 12 miles away to a planned $103.9 million building in Youngsville, two miles from Wake County.

"This is the worst thing that could happen to health care in Franklin County," said Robert Lee Swanson, chairman of the Franklin County Board of Commissioners. "This is a farce. This is an insult."

Shifting the hospital from Louisburg to Youngsville will move it farther away from what are the poorest parts of the county and where the largest portion of the aging population resides. Opponents say that goes against the mission of Rex's owner, UNC Hospital Systems, which calls for health care for all.

David Strong, Rex's president, compared the uproar over Franklin Regional's proposed 12-mile move to the uproar that preceded Rex's original move from St. Mary's Street to its current location near the I-440 Beltline.

"Just like that move was a wise decision, the decision to move Franklin medical center is wise," Strong said.

Franklin Regional doctors endorsed the move, citing the cramped location of the current hospital, which was built in 1951.

Dr. Will Fowlkes, the head of the Franklin Regional's emergency department, complained that emergency patients often had to be kept in the halls. He pushed for the creation of an urgent care center in Louisburg if the medical center moves.

"Ninety-seven percent of our patients can be treated in an urgent care setting," Fowlkes said.

Youngsville and Franklinton town leaders also spoke in favor of the move to Youngsville.

Rex and Franklin Regional supporters stood by the door and passed out stickers emblazoned with "70%," referring to a poll that Rex and Franklin Regional conducted, which said that percentage of county residents were in favor of the move.

According to the poll, most residents indicated they favored the new hospital site after learning the proposal included a new urgent care center in northern Franklin County, a physician practice and as much as $250,000 in paid transportation to the new hospital in Youngsville.

The poll was criticized by opponents to the move.

"I think my sheepdog answered one of those surveys," said Dr. Al Sayles, a general practitioner in Louisburg not affiliated in the hospital.

Sayles said the new location would be too far away from the poor residents of the county.

"Those are the people that are going to die on [U.S.] 401 going south to a hospital," he said.

Granville Medical Center joined with the town of Louisburg in opposing the move. "Granville health systems remains in opposition to the relocation," said Yancey Washington, a lawyer representing the hospital.

"Our policy is to remain in the center of the county. That role model should apply to Franklin Regional."