ST. MARY'S STIFFS NEIGHBORHOOD CLINIC

Saint Mary's hospital confirmed yesterday that it will no longer contribute funds to Catherine's Care Center, a clinic caring for impoverished and elderly patients in northeast Grand Rapids.  Saint Mary's contribution presently accounts for one-third of the Care Center's annual budget.  Helen Lehman, a leading board member of the clinic, states that they do not know how they will replace those funds but are committed to keeping the Care Center open without Saint Mary's backing.

I'm familiar with the good works of Catherine's Care Center because it is housed in the basement of St. Alphonsus Church, where I am a parishioner.  I have to tell you, I'm scratching my head over this one.  Saint Mary's annual assistance to Catherine's Care Center nets out to a little more than a hundred grand.  Not a large sum in the scheme of things; yet with that money, the clinic cares for 2,500 patients throughout Kent County who lack any other ready source for basic medical care.  It's one of the effective charitable missions in the local healthcare system.

Yet, Saint Mary's hospital, itself maintaining a non-profit status on the basis that it serves the poor of Grand Rapids, says it cannot afford to support the Care Center any longer.  However, Saint Mary's can afford to make its contribution as a one-quarter partner of the Grand Rapids Medical Education and Research consortium to the inflated lease that the players saddled that organization with to make the Boardwalk project a going concern.  (Yes, that Boardwalk of Toxic Towers fame, where MERC is the anchor tenant.)  Indeed, because of the rich rent Saint Mary's is helping MERC pay the Boardwalk over the next two decades, the Boardwalk's owners have put the property up for sale with an astounding price tag of $38.5 million dollars.

So, I suppose the Care Center's patients can take comfort in knowing that their loss will in some small way help to put a few bucks in the wallets of the needy owners of the Boardwalk including Fifth Third Bank, National City Community Development Corporation, Thomas Beckering, David Mehney and his wife, and James Dykema and his pal Scott McGregor.  Then again, perhaps these players who fancy themselves as concerned citizens will return some of their Toxic Towers largesse to help make up the deficit Saint Mary's has left Catherine's Care Center with?

Hmm, I'm not holding my breath either, dear readers.

Comments

[Andy Postema]

Its interesting how the "players" in town get their hands on all sorts of loot through building projects and suckers like the hospitals let them.

Andy

[The Executive Director]

Mr. Postema:

Your observation is a keen one, except that it is not that organizations like Spectrum Health and St. Mary's are suckers. Look at the boards of these institutions and you'll find that the key members are the players or the bankers and lawyers doing business with them. They then use their influence to tap into the hospitals, the colleges, municipal boards -- whatever -- like their own personal piggy banks to fund construction projects that keep them rolling in the dough either as builders, managers, or realtors.

It's slick way of self-dealing. It's also disgusting. Especially when the result is to deplete the reserves of a hospital like St. Mary's so that it must cut its assistance to worthwhile programs like Catherine's Care Center. Yeah, the self-dealers may then throw a few bucks back to the community, but look closely at those donations. See how much ends up right back in projects they or their associates will profit from.

All too often the end result is the shuttering of good works like the Care Center, Villa Elizabeth, etc., which is why these "public-private" partnerships we celebrate in town are actually the bane of River City.

Regards,
Bill Tingley
Executive Director

[Andy Postema]

Bill, thats a hell of an indictment about the way we do business in this city. It smells right but I don't know enough about who sits whose board to be sure. I have wondered about the connection between VanAndel donating money to build the arena and Devos running the concessions and teh teams there.

Andy

[The Executive Director]

Hi, Andy.

I don't have enough time at the moment to keep up this real-time discussion, but let me say you've got the gist of things with your suspicions about the arena.

Before I wrap up, I want to put the Catherine's Care Center problem in the context of the big picture. It is self-serving deals like the Boardwalk or the arena or the convention center that depletes the public till (which includes non-profits like the hospitals) so that small and mostly unnoticed but worthwhile public services get axed.

One of the things we are trying to do is show that connection wherever we can, like today with this story.

Regards,
Bill