{"id":18594,"date":"2013-02-07T19:33:27","date_gmt":"2013-02-08T00:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=18594"},"modified":"2013-02-07T19:27:08","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T00:27:08","slug":"edd-weiner-r-a-a-i-a-ceo-lehigh-acres-economic-development-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2013\/02\/edd-weiner-r-a-a-i-a-ceo-lehigh-acres-economic-development-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Edd Weiner, R.A.,A.I.A., CEO \u2013 Lehigh Acres Economic Development Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Edd Weiner, R.A.,A.I.A., CEO \u2013 Lehigh Acres Economic Development Board<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Edd Weiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today\u2019s (Feb. 5, 2013) headline in the News-Press\u00a0 – \u201cHospital eyes move, fresh start\u201d is an unbelievable slap in the face to the 90,000 + residents of Lehigh Acres, as well as, the residents from Buckingham, Alva, Gateway and our neighboring counties (Hendry and Collier) who may rely on their \u201clocal\u201d hospital for both emergency and acute care medical attention. Does HMA or their administrator, Joanie Jeannette, really think that an accident victim in Lehigh Acres (or the surrounding area), will ask to be transported to Lehigh Regional in a Lehigh Fire Rescue ambulance, only to be stabilized and transported to another facility in Lee County,\u00a0 incurring double fees from both transporters and hospitals? Are they serious when they say their \u201cnew\u201d facility \u201c\u2026will also likely be within 15 minutes driving time from Lehigh\u201d? And more arrogantly she says \u201c\u2026 a yet undecided site east of Interstate 75, between Colonial and Corkscrew Rd. I don\u2019t know what means of transportation Ms. Jeannette uses to travel, but there is NOTHING within15 minutes of Lehigh Acres. More arrogantly still, is the statement \u201c\u2026we will not abandon Lehigh. That\u2019s not what I do, and that\u2019s not what the hospital does.\u201d\u00a0 Ms. Jeannette started abandoning Lehigh Acres almost from the first moment she arrived. Whereas previous administrators had supported the community through Economic Development, Community Council, Rotary or Kiwanis, she decided these piddling organizations were not worth her, or her colleagues\u2019 time, effort or money to support. \u00a0With the encouragement of some of her Hospital Board, she was convinced everything is just rosy in Lehigh Acres, and the Hospital need not waste time trying to improve the community. Although the Hospital is a member of, and supports the Greater Lehigh Chamber of Commerce financially, some of her decisions as a member of the Board have been questionable. She even dismantled the Hospital\u2019s Wound Care Operation, as well as dismissing several doctors from the Hospital who provided unique services to Lehigh Acres\u2019 residents and members of the surrounding community.<\/p>\n

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services states that \u201c\u2026only 44 percent of patients last year would \u201cdefinitely\u201d recommend the health center to others\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Two previous administrators turned around the image of the Hospital that had been badly damaged in previous years. If only 44 percent of the patients would return, it strikes me as the image has again slipped. What would a restaurant do if only 44 percent of their customers returned to do business? What would a bank do if only 44 percent of their customers kept their accounts there? What would a CPA or Doctor do if only 44 percent of their clients returned?<\/p>\n

The Economic Development Board, the Community Council, the Lehigh Acres Community Planning Panel, will voice their strong objections to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, and not grant Lehigh Regional Medical Center a Certificate of Need to open another facility, and leave Lehigh Acres without a medical facility.<\/p>\n

We hope other members of the community will do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Edd Weiner, R.A.,A.I.A., CEO \u2013 Lehigh Acres Economic Development Board Today\u2019s (Feb. 5, 2013) headline in the News-Press\u00a0 – \u201cHospital eyes move, fresh start\u201d is an unbelievable slap in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}