New Hospital’S Life Depends On Feb. 2 Bond Vote Backers Aim To Pick Up 29 More Votes, While Opponents Fear Hidden Costs

It’s time for a second opinion.

After narrowly defeating an $11.85 million proposal for a new hospital on Bishop Boulevard, Pullman voters are being asked to cast their ballots on the issue again on Feb. 2.

Pullman Memorial Hospital’s governing board requested another election after the bond issue fell 29 votes short of passing in November.

With just weeks to go, supporters and detractors of the controversial measure are gearing up for a second bond battle.

“Because there was such a strong show of support in November we wanted to keep that momentum going and capitalize on all the information we’d already provided,” hospital administrator Scott Adams said on Friday.

An opposition group - Citizens for Physician/Patient Responsibility - claims a new hospital would duplicate services, hike property taxes and take on unnecessary financial risks that could leave the public with unmanageable debt.

The Rev. Armand Larive, the group’s treasurer, said a new hospital wouldn’t necessarily mean new services, and it could end up costing taxpayers more than they bargained for.

“The primary fear we have is the bond issue doesn’t equip the hospital. It builds the building, but doesn’t do much more,” Larive said.

Hospital officials have pledged to raise several million dollars more in private donations to finish the 22-bed hospital, which they maintain would improve parking and allow for an upgraded trauma center. It would anchor a medical care community that would include office buildings, a surgery center and an assisted living center.

The hospital has created a Limited Liability Corporation made up of private physicians, the hospital and others. Opponents say they want assurances that the hospital’s money-making services won’t be sucked into a profit-sharing agreement with physicians.

“If this ends up a private enterprise on Bishop Boulevard, just consider the door slammed in your face if you try to get financial data,” said Pullman activist Joan Honican, a critic of the bond issue.

The existing hospital, on the Washington State University campus, operates in the black and passes state inspections.

Administrators have warned that the hospital will need to be either rebuilt or extensively remodeled in a few years.

If the hospital moves, WSU has said it will still maintain most of the on-campus medical services it now offers students.

“I’m afraid we’re going to end up with two emergency rooms,” Pullman resident Pat Griffin said.

Doug Jacobsen farms wheat on the 41 acres proposed for the new hospital. The current hospital is fine, he said.

“And I really don’t like to see productive farm ground taken out for no good reason.”