A battle of the opposing two hospital owners has been against each other for the right to build a new location with one big potential loser the community of Lehigh Acres.
One of these options on the table means Lehigh Regional Medical Center shuts down and that would leave Lehigh Acres without a hospital.The law only allows so many hospital rooms in a certain area, so only one hospital can be built. The owners of Lehigh Regional, HMA, have been looking at the Alico corridor as Lee Memorial, the other hospital system in the county, told the state today that they would like to build in Estero.According to LMHS officials, the LMHS wants to cut that time in half for those living in Bonita and Estero.
Today Lee Memorial filed a letter of intent with the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration to build a brand new, 80 bed hospital on 33 acres of land next to the Coconut Point Mall.
Lee Memorial says it would move unused rooms in other hospitals to the new Estero Location, but not close any facilities.
For HMA to move its allotted rooms, they would close Lehigh Regional, except for the emergency room.
That would leave another part of the county without a hospital.
I sent a reply before this article appeared, and as I see it we (the people of Lehigh Acres) will be screwed in the name of profit vs.the most needy.The argument of we will not abandon Lehigh, to me is like the snake saying it will ony hurt a little TRUST ME
you can read Mr. Patterson’s Letter o the editor at http://thelehighacresgazette.com/news/the-great-hospital-war/
Have used LHRM several times. Only one bad event. HMA needs to pull up its bootstraps and put some of their effort into really improving the service and image of LHRM. True the hospital is small and does not have many of the services that the larger hospitals have but there is a definite need for their services here. People from Lehigh are not the only losers if they move or close the hsopital. Many come from Clewiston, LaBelle, Felda, Immokalee and other remote areas around here. Have a heart HMA, help clean up the hospital reputation and consider the families you are serving.