TOWN COUNCIL:
When Hospital Leaves, Locals Face Bridge-Tunnel
By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
December 17, 2012
When Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital moves out of Nassawadox, ambulances serving Cape Charles and points south will not be driving all the way to Accomack County. Instead, they will transport emergency-care patients across the 17-mile bridge-tunnel to Virginia Beach.
That’s according to Cape Charles Mayor Dora Sullivan. She and Town Manager Heather Arcos met November 9 with the Northampton County Board of Supervisors and other local mayors and rural health representatives to discuss ways to bring emergency care closer to the area.
“Our number-one priority is quality health care,” Mayor Sullivan stressed at the December 13 Town Council meeting.
Sullivan subsequently raised another complication with the Wave: bridge/tunnel closures. In cases when the bridge is closed, usually due to high winds, an emergency vehicle would nevertheless be allowed passage. But after delivering a patient to the hospital, the vehicle would no longer have an “emergency,” and would be forced to wait until the bridge reopened to return to the Shore.
Sullivan told Town Council that Cape Charles has received at least four offers of land to build a free-standing emergency department.
Regional elected and rural health care officials continue to meet, and Sullivan hopes that a plan can be announced in January.
“We need good-quality emergency health care for this town to grow,” Sullivan maintained. [Read more…]
THURSDAY 12/20: Coastal Research Center Open House in Oyster
The pubic is invited to attend a Holiday Open House 4-8 p.m. Thursday, December 20, at the Anheuser Busch Coastal Research Center in Oyster. [Read more…]
