I finally need to say something about the hospital situation. I have been reading and hearing all that has gone on now for the past several years and not once have I heard anyone from the hospital group mention maybe we should have taken another look at Lake Shore.

I know it won’t make some happy, but I thought the health and welfare of the community is more important then having your name on a new building.

Lets start. Real estate, the foot print of the Lake Shore campus is large. It has multiple buildings already in place for all the needs. At this point it is too large for the initial plan, but there are further thoughts.

Location, right off of a state 4 lane highway with easy access in and out, Large parking area for all employees and visitors. Emergency room access is open and easy to maneuver. No new roads need to be built to accommodate traffic. Also it has plenty of room for helicopters which has been proven.

Building. The original building was built in the 60’s, I know old to some of you but it is all one floor and improvements can easily be made. You have several adjoining buildings that can be used for other purposes. You have a separate billing and accounting building, you also have offices for doctors and whatever the needs are.

Before closing, several million dollars were spent on a state of the art emergency room, also an addition was built to house a cat scan machine.

Water. A big issue. It is supplied by Erie county water a dependable source, where the new location is, where is it coming from? Dunkirk or Fredonia’s reservoir which has multiple issues. A hospital does not need to worry about water.

Updates can be made to this building I am sure a lot cheaper than having to build new.

You don’t need to use the whole place at once. But how about this. The 3 story nursing home can be leased or sold off for a senior housing or developmental housing. Maybe contacting the outfit that wanted to rebuild the old main street school would re-look at this. It has elevators to accommodate seniors. The front building maybe can be used as a store front for housing. If you don’t want to open the whole facility, lease out the other parts for day care, learning rooms.

There is so much you can do with this facility. Why did the State not ask that question?

Part of the Brooks building can be used as an emergency center to stabilize someone if needed then transfer. You just spent millions on updating that part.

The new proposed location, Has anyone asked how are you going to coordinate traffic when school lets out and change of shift at the hospital? Are you now going to have to build a new road to accommodate traffic at certain times a day? Can an Ambulance get into the facility easy during those busy times? A helicopter landing zone?

I know people from the Dunkirk/Fredonia area will not like what I am saying, but let me ask you this. Does it matter where it is when you need help? You need to get there without traffic problems.

I know what you will say now, They sold it. You know what, buy it back! The possibilities are endless for that campus and why the State did not push it, we will never know.

I am sure that the executives will tell me about how all this is wrong and only a new facility will fix it. They will say all that it needs but I say you have the building, you have the out buildings, the foot print is there, traffic, water and basic needs are already in place, I am not worried about your legacy that you were behind the new beautiful hospital, I just want to see some common sense and if we needed that hospital so bad, why did you ignore what you had?

For the money that the state wants to spend, which by the way is our tax money, they should sit down and ask was this the right choice for our taxpayers?

ANTHONY BORRELLO,

Silver Creek