[ back ]
HUMC secures MICU
Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) led the bidding at the bankruptcy auction for the license for the mobile intensive care unit (MICU) that had formerly operated out of
Pascack
Valley
Hospital . Bids for the license reached a final price of $3.6 million, a price that proved too costly for several
North Jersey hospitals.
The license will allow HUMC to provide emergency paramedic services to 18 towns in the Pascack and Northern valleys. The hospital announced that service will begin at the end of November at the earliest.
Pascack Valley Hospital (PVH) officially closes today, after first declaring bankruptcy in September.
“We are thrilled to be able to provide the residents of the Pascack Valley Region,” said Nancy Radwin, a spokeswoman for HUMC. “We are confident that the 18 communities who we will service will receive outstanding paramedic services in time of need.”
An MICU is a non-emergency vehicle staffed by two paramedics at any given time and provide treatment for emergency, life-threatening situations. The paramedics will provide advanced life support to the community, in the form of defibrillation, creating airways, intravenous therapy, and the administration of medications. Once the paramedics stabilize the patient, he or she is then transported to the appropriate hospital.
Westwood officials had initially opposed the auctioning of the MICU, seeing it as a precursor to the piecemeal sale of PVH’s property. Borough Attorney Russell Huntington had appeared before Bankruptcy Judge Rosemary Gambardella to request that the auction be halted, for fear that the sale would discourage hospitals from acquiring and reopening the facility. “It would be the last nail in the coffin,” said
Huntington .
Auction proceedings were temporarily paused last week as per
Huntington ’s request. When bidding opened again, the judge added a clause to the license that requires HUMC to sell the MICU at cost to anyone looking to set up a community hospital on the PVH site.
With the added language in the license and the now-guaranteed emergency life support,
Huntington said, “We feel like we got the best of both worlds.”
Valley and
Englewood had initially offered a bid for the MICU for $240,000. The deal lacked court approval, however, and bidding resumed last Wednesday with representatives from other hospitals present. HUMC aggressively pursued the MICU throughout the auction.
Huntington added that HUMC’s eagerness to acquire the MICU was a “very strong indicator” that the hospital may have further plans to operate a community hospital out of Westwood.
In the meantime, PVH shuts its doors to medical services today, with a stoppage in emergency and obstetric services. A number of options for the building remain in planning stages, including a physician takeover of the hospital and a more modest free-standing emergency room that would be linked to
Englewood
Hospital .
Sarah Schillaci's e-mail address is schillaci@northjersey.com
[ back ]
