Holy Cross Hospital Clears Another Hurdle

Maryland State Board of Public Works unanimously approved a $7.95 million, 90-year lease agreement for Holy Cross Hospital in Germantown.

The new site would be at Montgomery College’s Germantown campus, anchoring the college’s Science and Technology Park. A new hospital is intended to address the needs of Montgomery County’s densely populated, though underserved Upcounty region and would be the county’s first new hospital in 30 years, officials said during the meeting.

Because the hospital would be at Montgomery College, the lease needed approval by the state’s three-person public works board, which includes Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, who sat in for Gov. Martin O’Malley.

 Pending site plan approval from the Montgomery County Planning Board, construction would begin in the fall and would be completed in the first half of 2014, said Holy Cross spokeswoman Yolanda Gaskins.

In the meantime, the debate over whether the hospital should be built closer to Clarksburg instead of Germantown continues. In January, the Maryland Healthcare Commission voted unanimously (9-0) to approve Holy Cross’s proposal for a $202 million 93-bed hospital in Germantown, over Adventist’s $177 million 86-bed facility in Clarksburg.

“The main growth now is heading up towards Clarksburg and in Frederick County, down from Urbana,” said state Sen. Jennie M. Forehand, D-17th district, during the meeting.

Forehand also noted that the planned Holy Cross site would be about a half mile from Shady Grove Adventist Emergency Emergency Center.

“If a hospital comes, they will go out of business because [Holy Cross has] lots of emergency rooms?” Forehand asked during the meeting.

Also, representatives from state and county women’s rights groups made another attempt to dissuade officials from moving forward with the hospital plans, their main argument being that the range of reproductive services would be limited because Holy Cross is a Catholic hospital. They also felt the state’s involvement blurred the lines between separation of church and state.

Holy Cross Cross CEO Kevin Sexton said the reproductive services that the hospital didn’t offer available elsewhere, often in outpatient settings.

 Montgomery College President DeRionne Pollard said the new hospital would give Germantown nursing students the chance to complete their clinicals in Germantown. Pollard said that nursing curriculum was determined by the college and not by Holy Cross. Nursing students currently rotate between 25 hospitals throughout the Washington, D.C., metro region, said Montgomery College’s Health and Sciences Dean Angie Pickwick.

“It’s not book learning, memorizing answers and taking written tests,” Pickwick said of the nursing program. Clinicals are when the students work along side other doctors and nurses in hospitals, after they’ve completed many hours of lab work and have already taken general coursework at the college.

 There are currently about 400 students enrolled in Montgomery College’s nursing program, said Montgomery College spokeswoman Elizabeth Homan.

Holy Cross has agreed to give Germantown nursing students exclusive access to clinical seats. But even if the hospital were built, the main campus for the nursing program would still be at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus, Pickwick said.

“We’re not duplicating any of that anywhere because that would cost the taxpayers more money,” Pickwick said.