It was a match between the white T-shirts and the black ribbons.
Hundreds of supporters and opponents of a new Harford County hospital packed the auditorium at Bel Air High School on Thursday night, carrying placards and wearing their colors.
Those favoring Upper Chesapeake Health System's proposal to build a new facility wore white. Others donned black to oppose what they called the "death of Harford Memorial."
They came from as far away as Baltimore and Rising Sun in Cecil County.
4 Hissing, booing and cheering marked the evening.
The public hearing was conducted by the Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission to give residents and others an opportunity to respond to Upper Chesapeake's hospital proposal and the company's request for an exemption from a state certificate of need for its consolidation project.
Upper Chesapeake, a nonprofit medical-management group, is the parent company of the county's two hospitals, Fallston General Hospital and Harford Memorial Hospital in Havre de Grace.
Its proposal calls for building a $44.8 million, 150-bed hospital in Abingdon; closing Fallston Hospital; and reducing the licensed beds at Harford Memorial from 275 to 100.
Harford Memorial would lose its pediatric and and obstetric units to the new facility. Also, 25 of its beds would be for psychiatric patients. The state already has granted permission to transfer Fallston's psychiatric unit to Harford Memorial.
The plan would nearly cut in half the number of licensed beds in the county, from 494 to 250. The commission is expected to make a recommendation on the proposal at its Sept. 13 meeting in Baltimore, which is open to the public.
The most vocal opposition Thursday came from residents in Harford Memorial's area, including Havre de Grace and western Cecil County.
'Save our hospital'
Holding a sign saying, "Save Our Hospital," Gardner McCullough of Havre de Grace was worried about losing the pediatric and obstetric departments. "We use the hospital quite a bit," said Mr. McCullough, who was accompanied by his wife, Pam, and 5-year-old son, Gardner.
"We're 30 years old. We might have another baby," he said. "Now it takes us five minutes to get to the hospital. [With the new hospital], it would take half an hour."
Barbara Gilden of Perryville, in Cecil County, fears that the 83-year-old hospital eventually would be eliminated.
"I'm in a panic. I have my mother living with me," Ms. Gilden said. "If anything happens to her, I would have to go to Union Hospital in Elkton, about 15 miles away."
Constance F. Row, president and chief executive officer of Upper Chesapeake, assured the audience that the health system has no intention of closing Harford Memorial. "We intend to keep Harford Memorial the wonderful facility that it is," she said.
"I'm planning to retire from Harford Memorial," said Beth Cyr, chief technologist in imaging, who was wearing one of the many white T-shirts inscribed, "I Support Harford's Hospital."
Regarding the transfer of child services to the new facility, Mrs. Row stressed demographics. "We need to be where the younger families are," she said of the growing Route 24 corridor.
The new site would be on 26 acres at Box Hill South Parkway and Route 924. Upper Chesapeake, affiliated with the Johns Hopkins Health System, has acquired an option to purchase the property.
"It is the kickoff to a 143-acre, commercial, campus-style setting," said James Lambdin, president of Art Builders Inc., which is jointly developing the property with Ward and Lambdin. The land, owned by Box Hill South Corporate Center, already is zoned for that use.
Chuck Peacher of the Constant Friendship neighborhood in Abingdon said that "there is a need to consider the quality of life of the people who live in that area."
"If I wanted to hear sirens all the time, I'd live in Baltimore City," he said.
James W. Terrell, chief of emergency operations in the county, said he projected 5,600 emergency transports to Fallston Hospital this year.
"I live practically behind the site. The roads are the worst in the county," said Michael Lazarus, who spoke holding his 2-year-old daughter, Lauren. "I'd hate to see an ambulance waiting for Christmas shopping traffic going to Wal-Mart and BJ's [Wholesale Club]."
The stores are at Route 24 and Tollgate Road, across the highway from the Route 24-924 intersection.
"The usage [for the new hospital] is less intense on traffic than the property is currently zoned for," said Mrs. Row, adding that the new hospital would be located across the road from Constant Friendship Shopping Center. "There will be nothing coming through [Route 924] that is not coming through there now."
Fallston closing supported
The one aspect of the plan that did not draw criticism was the closing of 20-year-old Fallston Hospital. "I feel very strongly that we need a hospital more centrally located in the county with up-to-date equipment," said Linda Michel, a Fallston nursing supervisor.
"We need a new facility in this area," agreed Pam Bassett, an operating room nurse at Fallston. "But we need a certificate of need."
If Upper Chesapeake is granted an exemption from the certificate of need, it could proceed immediately with the project, officials say. The targeted date for completion is 1997.
If the exemption is not approved, the commission would hold an evidentiary hearing, at which Upper Chesapeake would have to justify the reorganization and document the needs of current and projected area populations.
"I urge you not to grant the exemption," James Forsythe, an attorney representing the Riverside Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, told the commissioners. "One thing is abundantly clear: You are being asked to grant an exemption that redesigns the entire health care system in Harford County."
Hearings sought
"This magnitude of a program should be subjected to evidentiary hearings," said Eli Silverstein, a Havre de Grace department store owner and a spokesman for the Save Our Hospital (SOH) group of about 150 concerned citizens.
At Thursday's meeting, SOH -- in a dramatic presentation led by 85-year-old Lucille Beards of Havre de Grace -- gave the health commissioners a petition containing more than 5,600 signatures urging them to keep Harford Memorial a viable operation.
Mr. Silverstein also gave the commissioners a memo dated Aug. 4 from Mrs. Row to Upper Chesapeake staff members. There are about 1,140 full-time employees for both hospitals.
It stated: "A large turnout for this meeting is critical to showing the Planning Commission that we are supported in our efforts. Tee-shirts and buttons will be available starting at 5:00 p.m. at the Bel Air High School auditorium for those attending this event."
"That hearing . . . was stacked against us with Upper Chesapeake employees," Mr. Silverstein said Friday, referring to the large gathering of hospital workers in the audience of about 800.
"There was no coercion," asserted Mrs. Rowe. "You heard the hissing. The employees really resented the implication."
"We weren't forced," said Mrs. Michel. "We're here out of support."
"Considering meetings of this nature, this was definitely considered a big success," Richard Coughlan of the health planning commission staff said Friday. "We heard many different viewpoints."
Those who still wish to address the health commissioners have until Aug. 31 to send written comments. The address is: Maryland Health Resources Planning Commission, 4201 Patterson Ave., second floor, Baltimore, Md. 21215.