Debate continues on whether or not the building of a major regional medical center on Broadlands Boulevard, just off the Greenway, will help or harm healthcare delivery in the county.

A report submitted to the Board of Supervisors by the Loudoun Health Care Task Force in early July appeared to support plans by Tennessee-based HCA incorporated to consolidate the facilities of both Northern Virginia Community Hospital and Dominion Psychiatric Hospital on a new sixty-acre Broadlands medical campus.

The Health Care Task Force was established by the Board of Supervisors more than three years ago to provide ongoing objective advice about how best to address the health care needs of the fastest growing county in the United States.

Its July report has been at the center of controversy ever since its delivery to the Board. Data and data sources have been questioned. The objectivity of the Task Force itself and even the propriety of its submitting such reports has been questioned publicly by Republican State Delegate Dick Black and others. HCA, well-known as both a successful and very aggressive competitor for health care dollars finds itself pitted against Loudoun Health Care, currently the largest supplier of health care in the county.

For residents of western and southern Loudoun the key issue in the debate appears to be less a question of the value of the Broadlands facility itself, than genuine concern about it's impact on easy to access health care delivery in their parts of the County.

Of particular concern to citizens living west and south of Leesburg, is the possible impact of the Broadlands project on Loudoun Health Care's Cornwall facility in Leesburg, which currently provides both emergency-room and out-patient care. Loudoun Health Care wants to expand the Cornwall facility. The building of the Broadlands campus, some argue, might well require or compel the downsizing or closing of the facilities at Cornwall.

Given the debates over data and objectivity, doing the "right thing" remains a difficult task for everyone in a position of responsibility.

We believe that geography alone dictates that Loudoun Health Care's Cornwall facility should be preserved and expanded, even if that means delaying or canceling HCA's Broadlands project.