After a year of meetings, revisions and public hearings, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors approved (7-1) the Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPAM) known as the Countywide Health Care Facilities Plan on March 8.

Prior to taking their vote, the BOS hosted the fifth public hearing regarding CPAM 2004-0017. Due to the overwhelming need for more accessible health care services in western Loudoun County, attendance at the hearing was tremendous. In fact, public interest ran so high that occupancy in the room actually became a fire hazard concern.

Included in the throng of healthcare-conscious citizens were Middleburg resident Lisa Patterson and Town Council member Eura Lewis.

Patterson read her prepared recommendation CPAM approval, citing concerns about having adequate healthcare close by for her infant daughter, Remy.

"I can tell you as a resident of Middleburg for 25 years, the distance to healthcare facilities may still be the same as the crow flies," said Patterson, "but the time to reach these facilities has increased dramatically and will continue to do so until new facilities are built."

Lewis addressed the Board to encourage them to affirm the CPAM. She provided them with support in the form of the Middleburg Town Council's May 2004 resolution to bring better health care to the citizens of Loudoun County.

"When and how health care facilities should be laid out in the county was missing from the plan," said Jim Burton, Blue Ridge District Supervisor. "We already plan where schools should go, where fire departments should go and where parks and recreation should go, it's only right that we include in the plan where health care facilities should go."

The needs assessment study, conducted by Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia (HSANV), clearly stated that the proposed Broadlands Hospital was not what the county needed and that it may, in fact, be detrimental to residents by increasing medical costs through competition with it's Lansdowne counterpart.

Loudoun Healthcare President and CEO Rod Huebbers speculated that this might be why the CPAM was not approved in its previous Board of Supervisors vote.

"Supervisor Scott York is in favor of the Broadlands project," said Huebbers, "and we just don't see eye-to-eye."

York, BOS Chairman at Large, confirmed that he was the dissenting vote on the Facilities Plan, citing hospital site specificity as his reason for opposing.

"I voted against the proposal because they made it site-specific," said York. "The Planning Commission did a great job, but when the plan came back they added a site in the Route 50 corridor."

York proposed including a site in the center of the Greenway, where, he said, the population has already severely increased and continues to grow. His plan was rejected, but York still favors having a new hospital closer to Dulles as opposed to one along the Route 50 corridor, where, he said, it could take up to 12 years before population growth in that area justifies a hospital.

The study did, however, state that a hospital in the Dulles South area would be of great benefit as it "would produce travel time reductions of about 10 minutes for Loudoun residents along the Route 50 corridor, including persons in Middleburg who are about 35 minutes from a hospital."

CPAM 2004-0017, which can be viewed at www.loudoun.gov/compplan/healthcare.htm, was finalized on February 28 and includes a 16-policy plan and plan incentives.

"I think it's a great plan," said Huebbers. "It puts a wonderful plan in place that has a good geographical balance."

LHI is currently working to add four new healthcare facilities in Loudoun County, to be operational by the summer of 2006. The new facilities include a health clinic located in Middleburg, as well as a 20,000 square-foot facility in Purcellville, another in Lovettsville and a mobile clinic at Dulles International Airport.

"This plan calls for greater access to such facilities in western Loudoun County," said Burton, "it's been something that was sorely needed for years."

The facilities planned by LHI have already found funding through the organization's merger with Inova Health System. The merger agreement included Inova's pledge of $200 million to be used for Loudoun Hospital upgrades, four new facilities, and construction of an urgent care center south of Dulles on Route 50, to be converted into a full-service hospital in the future.

Although the approval of the CPAM doesn't change Huebbers' plans, he stills sees the vote as a win for Loudoun County.

"It validates the plan that we set up a year ago," said Huebbers, "and it may even accelerate things a little bit. We're really moving forward, and fairly quickly, to bring proper health care into the Route 50 corridor."