Published in the Courier News, Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Solaris, leaders talk about hospital closing
By CLEM FIORENTINO
STAFF WRITER
PLAINFIELD — Solaris Health System on Tuesday opened to community leaders for a free-wheeling discussion of issues stemming from the announced closing of the acute-care facility at Muhlenberg Medical Center.
Solaris in February announced its intent to close the facility by the end of the summer, citing overwhelming financial losses, such as an estimated $17 million in 2007. A satellite emergency room would remain at the Muhlenberg campus, along with its school of nursing and imaging center. About 1,000 jobs would be eliminated although Solaris hopes to retain about one-third of them at other Solaris locationS.
Tom Casey, vice president of public relations and marketing for Solaris, said representatives were in the Muhlenberg board room to help the community "better understand the dire economic circumstances that are forcing the closure of Muhlenberg, as well as to discuss any questions or concerns you may have on behalf of your constituency."
Representatives from the Plainfield Health Center; Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs; Jim Uffer, president of the Plainfield Chamber of Commerce; numerous local clergy and social service agency administrators; and Lawrence Hamm, chairman of the People's Organization for Progress, attended the meeting.
Upon learning of the meeting, People's Organization for Progress organized a rally outside the medical center while the meeting was in progress.
About 70 protesters stood at the corner of Park Avenue and Randolph Street presenting their four-part agenda:
- They want Muhlenberg to stay open as a full-service hospital.
- They want an immediate halt to the transfer of services and departments to other hospitals.
- They want the status quo maintained until the process of the Certificate of Need for closure is completed.
- They want Muhlenberg to adhere to the process required by the Commission on Health and Senior Services, including a total community needs assessment before the hospital is closed.
"This is the first time in my life I asked for the maintenance of the status quo," Hamm said.
Online story here. Archived here.
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(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Published in the Courier News, Friday, March 7, 2008
[MRMC] Task force formed to study alternatives to Muhlenberg
By BRANDON LAUSCH
STAFF WRITER
PLAINFIELD — A day after City Council members unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the continued full-service operation of Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, Assemblyman Jerry Green said Thursday he convened a task force to address the impending closure.
Meanwhile, residents and community groups continued to organize additional protests aimed at pressing officials to find a way to keep Plainfield's largest private employer in business.
"It is vital to have all of the health-care providers in the area at the table, working together, to develop alternatives and options for our most vulnerable residents impacted by the closing of Muhlenberg," Green said in a statement. "We have set an aggressive agenda that will produce specific recommendations by May 2008."
Green said the first task-force meeting included, among others, Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs, executives from Muhlenberg and its parent company, Solaris Health Systems, as well as representatives from surrounding hospitals that will likely see an influx of patients following the closure.
The Democratic Assemblyman said the task force will identify priorities that area hospitals and health centers need to address, such as adequate transportation options for local patients who will need to travel elsewhere for service.
Muhlenberg's financial crisis, officials have said, is the result of declining patient volumes, competition from free-standing outpatient surgery centers and millions of dollars in losses from underfunded charity care the facility must provide to uninsured patients.
The medical center is expected to shut its acute-care facility by the end of the summer, leaving only a satellite emergency room and school of nursing operational. The closure could equate to the loss of 1,000 jobs, according to officials, who said they will work to retain employees at other medical centers.
Included in the city's resolution supporting Muhlenberg are paragraphs lauding the hospital as a "beacon of health" for the region for more than 130 years that has "rightfully earned a reputation as a consistent provider of emergency, acute and long term health care."
Medical-center employees and members of the public told officials as much during passionate testimonials Wednesday, when a parade of residents implored City Council members to save the hospital or rallied each other to keep up the fight. Many residents also told stories of how Muhlenberg personnel saved their lives or those of loved ones — some more than once.
Plainfield's chapter of the People's Organization For Progress, which has coordinated a curbside rally in front of the hospital, will hold another organizational meeting in the ongoing campaign against the closure at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the duCret School of Art, 1030 Central Ave.
The group has scheduled a second protest for noon March 15 at the corner of Randolph Road and Park Avenue.
For more information on the rally, call Steven Hatcher, chairman of the Plainfield branch of People's Organization For Progress, at (908) 731-1518, or state Chairman Lawrence Hamm at (973) 801-0001.
Brandon Lausch can be reached at (908) 707-3175 or blausch@c-n.com.
Online story here. Archived here.
(Note: Online stories may be taken down by their publisher after a period of time or made available for a fee. Links posted here is from the original online publication of this piece.)
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Published in the Courier News, Sunday, November 18, 2007
4 police brutality protesters arrested
People's Organization for Progress members charged with unlawful assembly.
By JARED KALTWASSER
STAFF WRITER
PLAINFIELD -- Four men protesting police brutality were arrested Saturday and charged with unlawful assembly.
Now leaders of the group that organized the event say they plan to hold a news conference at 3 p.m. today at City Hall to stand up for their constitutional right to assemble.
"This really is a question of the rights of citizens," said Lawrence Hamm, state chairman of the People's Organization for Progress, which led Saturday's demonstration. "Is the Bill of Rights still in effect?"
The demonstration began at 11 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of E. Front Street and Park Avenue. The group was protesting violence in the area, specifically recent murders in Plainfield and Elizabeth, and the fatal police shooting of an 18-year-old mentally ill man Monday in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The four protesters marched in a circle holding signs that read "Stop Police Brutality" and called for peace on the city's streets.
Shortly after the protest began, a police officer arrived at the scene.
"He told us we were not really allowed to be there without a permit," said Steven Hatcher, chairman of the Plainfield branch of the organization, and one of the four men arrested Saturday. "He didn't tell us to leave, he just told us we weren't allowed to be there without a permit."
Hatcher said that at that point, the group stopped marching and chanting but stayed on the corner. Then, at about 11:40 a.m., a handful of officers returned to the scene. An officer asked to see identification from the four men. When one refused, the officer arrested him, then the other three.
Hatcher said he and the three other men were taken to police headquarters, fingerprinted, photographed and questioned. He said he was charged with unlawful assembly and given a Dec. 3 court hearing.
Police at the scene refused comment.
Police Chief Edward Santiago had not seen the arrest report when he was reached for comment Saturday, but he said that, in general, groups have the right to demonstrate on public property as long as they have a permit.
"You would tell them you need a permit," he said. "If they fail to disperse, then you have an arrest situation."
He said sometimes police will ask a group to move to a different location for safety reasons.
Santiago said he was familiar with the People's Organization for Progress.
"And they've always been above-board," he said.
Hatcher said the group, which is opposed to U.S. military operations in Iraq, regularly protests in front of armed forces recruiting stations in the city, with permits.
But Hatcher said he didn't think Saturday's event required pre-approval from the city.
"If he said we were wrong to not have a permit, that may be one thing," Hatcher said. "But do you have to get a permit if you've got four people standing on the corner?"
Hatcher said he has a good relationship with Santiago, and he said the group previously has stood on the same corner, without a permit, to mark the deaths of Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King, and nobody was arrested.
Hatcher thinks this time it was their pointed message that got the group in trouble.
"Only because we have signs saying 'Stop Police Brutality,'" Hatcher said. "It seems like this is the wave of the future. You can't speak truth to power anymore."
Jared Kaltwasser can be reached at (908) 707-3137 or jkaltwasse@gannett.com.
COMMENT
The irony of this situation is the message that was directed at this act of citizen mobilization. Yet it as an act that ends with the arrests of four men for "unlawful assembly". It seems that the police had a amicable relationship with the People's Organization for Progress and that organization seems to have some right to assemble, but because they assembled over controversy directly related to the police force the Plainfield police decided to utilize the illegality of "unlawful assembly" to arrest the four men who joined the small protest. This is how the story reads to me.
Yet at play here we also have the right to assemble which is a historically relevant position, groups have a right to assemble as long as it does not damage etc...Yet permits are a way to control and prevent damage or chose which voices can be heard...that is a problematic in our society we have to live here. I'm on the fence.
But what I want to point to is the action of a PEOPLE'S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS in Plainfield is crucial, because groups of citizens, call me utlitarian or utopian if you wish, can change, reshape, redirect activity and energy in this town. Voices should be heard, lawfully, but groups need to organize for progress, in conjunction with the govenment, with the police, with each one that cares in order to create a better Plainfield.
I am not standing on a soapbox preaching good morals and good will (okay I am a bit Smile; however, I do see the potential in the city of Plainfield and as a resident I think an active citizenry, involved in groups like organizations for progress, can help that potential grow. Progress is necessary. So right on there!
But as a historian, I see blinders here: I see a group of young Plainfielders being dispersed from a Park which sparked days of looting and violence. And I'm not sure if we're there, and you can argue that the dynamics are different and I will argue with, not against you. BUT stimied voices are dangerous to any society nonetheless.
Just my 1.75 cents
Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:32 pm
Link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
Published in the Star-Ledger, Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Protesters arrested for lack of permit
PLAINFIELD: Police arrested four members of an advocacy organization Saturday, saying they staged an anti-violence protest without a permit.
But the Newark-based group, People's Organization for Progress, say the four men arrested during a sidewalk protest against police brutality were tar geted because of the issue the group was publicizing, which included the shooting death of an unarmed teenager by police in Brooklyn.
The city's public safety direc tor, Martin Hellwig, disputed that assertion.
"The four were chanting, marching in a circle and holding signs at East Front Street and Park Avenue, said the Plainfield chapter chairman, Steven Hatcher, who was one of those arrested. The group stopped chanting but did not disperse after police officers said members couldn't protest without a permit, he said.
A few minutes later, while the four were standing on the sidewalk, police returned and arrested them, Hatcher said. He said the demonstration was a last-minute decision, adding he didn't bother to apply for a permit because turnout would be low.
One of the signs the four were holding read: "Stop Police Brutality," Hatcher said, which he believes contributed to the arrest.
Hellwig said the Plainfield People's Organization for Progress regularly stages protests in the city on a variety of issues. Whenever it does, the group has applied for and been issued a permit, as city law requires. The police have maintained a good relationship with the group, Hellwig said, a point Hatcher did not dispute.
Also arrested, Hatcher said, were Zacharia Jackson, Stuart Rosenberg and Jeff Hitchcock. All four were charged with unlawful assembly and are expected to appear in Plainfield Municipal Court Dec. 3, he said.
Link to online story. Archived here.
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff and Clippings have no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor are Plainfield Today, Plainfield Stuff or Clippings endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)
