For quite a while, a lot of our attention has been focused on issues such as the war in the Ukraine, our midterm elections, the misadventures of politicians and national leaders and even the change of government in Great Britain. Here in northern Chautauqua County, I think that our attention should be focused on what I’ll call the “hospital crises.”

I join with Dr. Athanasia Landis in being thankful that the commission examining the Brooks-TLC System has deemed the new Brooks “essential” because it truly is essential to the future of the north county. But, in speaking and listening to residents, it seems that too many of us are either unaware of the hospital’s status or don’t seem to care.

While County Executive P.J. Wendel, Sen. George Borrello, Assemblyman Andrew Goodell and a few other leaders have been involved in the hospital issue there has been mostly silence coming from the elected leaders of the towns and villages in the north county that would be negatively impacted if we were without a hospital. Perhaps their attention has been more drawn to acquiring wind and solar energy farms, they think that the hospital will always be here, or they see it strictly as a Dunkirk-Fredonia issue that doesn’t concern them.

As I have written in the past, the hospital is no longer just a Dunkirk-Fredonia issue but one that concerns all north county residents. With no hospital where would we go if we had a heart attack or a life-threatening injury? Westfield perhaps, South Buffalo Mercy or Jamestown, maybe if we are lucky, but what happens if a snow squall has settled over the north county lake shore? What happens then?

I’m not sure I even want to contemplate that. Another factor making for the lack of concern on the part of residents could be the dismal record by the Brooks-TLC board in keeping the public informed on the status of the new hospital and on other issues. The board probably thinks that over the last five years it has been perfectly natural to push someone onto center stage or issue a press release assuring us that groundbreaking for the new hospital is just around the corner. These announcements are then followed by another year of silence.

Then there was the manner in how the closing of Lakeshore Hospital was handled. On Jan. 31, 2020, as equipment was being tossed in dumpsters or moved to Brooks and while some employees carried on with their duties inside and others rallied outside in support of the hospital, the board announced the abrupt closing of Lake Shore Hospital with no reason given or acknowledgement that the State Department of Mental Health had not yet given its approval to the closing.

The Brooks-TLC board’s approach to keeping the public informed that seems to depend on silence may have caused residents to tune out. When you are treated as if you don’t need to know or are too stupid to understand what the board is up to, you just stop listening.

But now we must care about the future of this essential institution. Dr. Landis said in an article following the June 4 rally that Brooks Hospital is just a shell of the one that recruited she and her husband 30 years ago. With some services no longer available and others limited she went on to say that Brooks “is closing in front of our very eyes.”

The $74 million awarded by the state is for a new building and not to bring the current structure up to date. The problems at Brooks stem from the current building. It’s just too big for our needs, cannot be adapted to accept new medical technology, and was designed for how medicine was practiced in the mid 20th century. Because the hospital has been running deficits for years in this outmoded building it has cut services, forgone the acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment and cut staffing. This leaves its dedicated staff in a position where they must do more with less.

The old Brooks no longer fits the needs of the public, the hospital staff or the physicians of the north county. We all need to get behind the new hospital, push our elected leaders to become more involved in the effort and demand the Brooks-TLC board keep us better informed because the hospital is truly “essential.”

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com