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News Feature

Blue Hill
Originally published in The Weekly Packet, October 11, 2012
Blue Hill Memorial Hospital commits to keeping Parker Point properties intact

by Faith DeAmbrose

“We hope this sends a message that we are listening; we hear you and we are responding,” Blue Hill Memorial Hospital CEO Greg Roraff said of public concerns presented at a recent community meeting, as he announced the hospital would not tear down two Parker Point Road properties purchased in August.

“In response to a key concern raised by the community, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital officials, together with architects and planning consultants, have determined that its facility objectives can be met without tearing down the recently acquired buildings on Parker Point Road,” Roraff said in a prepared statement dated October 9. “We believe we can make the campus footprint, along with some of the land located behind the Parker Point Road homes, work for redevelopment, renovation and expansion.”

Following the release of the statement, Roraff said via telephone that the hospital is working to establish a Neighborhood Advisory Committee that will “address issues brought up at the community meeting.” While Roraff did not say who specifically would make up the committee, he said approximately 12 people will be asked to join.

“We will ask neighbors and others who spoke out at the community meeting, as well as a local architect and local business owners,” he said. The first meeting is expected to take place “toward the end of October,” said Roraff.

According to Roraff, the Neighborhood Advisory Committee will meet regularly, discuss varying subjects related to hospital expansion and make recommendations to the hospital’s Facilities Committee, which is charged with developing the master facilities plan. All of the hospital’s committees and councils are overseen directly by the local board of trustees.

To guide the Neighborhood Advisory Council’s work, a mission statement has been created, said Roraff, with its prime purpose of facilitating “the hospital’s desire to be a good neighbor and to serve as a bridge between the Blue Hill village community and the hospital board regarding the planning of the master facility strategy.”

In terms of the master facility plan, Roraff said that he expects to have “conceptual plans” by the end of the year. The plan would first be brought to the board of trustees and the employees for review before being finalized and released to the public.

The hospital also plans to hold another public meeting sometime in early to mid December, said Roraff.

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