Hopsital argument holds no water

With reference to recent letters and the Centegra advertising blitz, consider the following.

First, we have to live with the grievous mistake of approving the transfer of Sherman Hospital to the west edge of Elgin and the overcapacity this causes. This translates to higher costs for all of us. Adding another hospital a short distance away would compound this error.

Second, considering the close access of I-90 to Huntley, current access to hospital care is closer now for them than is true in a majority of communities. If Huntley has a “right” to a neighborhood hospital, to paraphrase the argument of those in favor of the Centegra proposal, why not Marengo, Union, Genoa, Harmony, La Fox, Hampshire and Elburn, to a name a few? To carry this argument of a right to its logical conclusion, we would need thousands of hospitals and the only ones who would benefit by this are the hospital building and equipment industries. If Centegra was driven by humanitarian motives, they would be seeking to build in an underserved area and not play on the fears and passions of an adequately served population to get their piece of the pie.

Finally, the arguments raised remind me of the person who purchases a house near an airport and then complains of the noise. Everyone in Huntley, which has had explosive growth in the last few years, had their own personal wants and needs as they comparison shopped the housing market. In each case they were aware of the good and the bad of each community and made their own personal compromises as to what was important to them. None of them listed a hospital as a deal breaker or we wouldn’t have this issue today.

Raymond Bellock

Sleepy Hollow