CLEARFIELD – Residents are looking to the Lawrence Township Supervisors for help saving a local hospital.
At Tuesday’s meeting, resident John Sughrue spoke to the supervisors about concerns residents had regarding recent changes to Penn Highlands Clearfield, formerly known as the Clearfield Hospital.
Sughrue presented the supervisors with a petition containing nearly 1,200 signatures of people wishing to speak out against what has been happening at the hospital, along with a six-page letter, outlining the specific concerns the residents had.
Sughrue said he will be visiting all the elected officials in the area, and that he has already spoken to the state senators and representatives. Sughrue said there were “serious problems” with the way Penn Highlands has been handling the operations of the hospital, which could be the life or death of the community.
Sughrue said the local hospital board has no power and that the decisions regarding the Clearfield branch of Penn Highlands is made by the corporate board. He said with the Intensive Care Unit closed, the hospital can no longer admit seriously sick patients. He said Penn Highlands has submitted applications on two separate occasions to have all surgical procedures shut down by 3:30 p.m. Sughrue said this means that if someone has surgery earlier in the day and complications arise, surgeons would not be able to address the problem after 3:30 p.m.
“They pick and choose what money we get and what money we don’t get,” Sughrue said. “Everything is being done in secret. When I got involved, I couldn’t believe how secretive they’re being and they’re making decisions that affect the whole community. There’s been all this push lately about economic development, but how will you sell a town without a core hospital?”
Sughrue said that Penn Highlands has been conclusively dismantling the hospital in Clearfield.
Supervisors Ed Brown and Dan Mitchell said they will read Sughrue’s letter and that they share his concerns. Supervisor Bill Lawhead was absent from the meeting.