Attendees filled the Flagstaff City Council meeting room to watch the seven-plus-hour meeting. Tuesday was the board’s first reading of proposed amendments to a project-specific plan and zoning map proposed by Northern Arizona Health Care (NAH), but action on the item has been postponed to his May 16th. I was.

Over the final two and a half hours of the conference, 50 attendees gave public comments on the project (all but four met in person), with 31 agreeing and 19 dissenting or debating. asked the council to vote against it.

Each commenter was given 3 minutes to give their opinion, and those representing at least 10 other meeting attendees were given 10 minutes to speak. Several read letters on behalf of other residents during comment, but these individuals were not given additional time.

Most of the people who supported the project had some connection to NAH, either as a medical practitioner or through their involvement in the project itself. These included nurses and people working for groups such as Children’s Health Center and Flagstaff Emergency Physicians.

“Flagstaff is growing and will continue to grow. “Progress is part of that growth, and with that progress comes great responsibility. We’ve been reusing what’s available to us, but it’s never enough, and our community deserves to do better.”

Representatives from the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Arizona Leadership Alliance, and the Northern Arizona Economic Community also spoke of the potential benefits of the project and asked the City Council to vote in favor.

Alex Castillo read the letter on behalf of Joette Walters, CEO of Tuba City Regional Healthcare Corporation.

“The demand for health care services at FMC has outstripped NAH’s ability to provide needed care. because there is no space in hospitals to accommodate ,” she wrote. “This means we have to send our patients to hospitals far from home. Instead of driving 1.5 hours to Flagstaff, our patients and their families can travel to Phoenix and beyond. Facing a drive of more than 4 hours, this distance is enough to get necessary family support if a patient is undergoing serious life-saving surgery or needs essential life-saving care that TCRHCC cannot provide. It is a cost burden that can not be done.

“NAH has grown beyond its current medical center campus and cannot scale to meet the growing medical needs in our region. It will be an important investment in healthcare, allowing patients in northern Arizona to receive high-quality, state-of-the-art medical care close to home.”

Other supporters included residents of Flagstaff and Cottonwood who cited the need for better medical care in the area. But they believe this was because they needed better facilities. Flagstaff resident Molly Munger was one of them, and said she waited six hours in the FMC emergency room for a bed to become available.

“All employees apologized and tried their best, but there were no beds available,” she said. We cannot keep up, or be in an environment where we might have been able to keep up.We have to invest in the future now.”

Kate Summer Ellis read a statement from longtime NAH volunteer Steve Vargas.

“Imagine what we would be like today if we tried to provide quality healthcare from our original little old building on the west side of Beaver Street,” Vargas wrote. Well, we weren’t going to do this, we knew it wouldn’t make sense, it wouldn’t work, but today this is exactly the decision we’re making, starting from an already bankrupt institution. We are trying to provide high quality healthcare and cannot provide the same quality of care that we want and need in our thriving communities.”

Three members of the County Oversight Board (Geronimo Vazquez, Matt Ryan, and Chair Patrice Horstmann) were among the first to comment at the meeting, seeking further NAH cooperation on the project.

Potential issues they referenced were traffic analysis, funding for public transit expansion, plans for the Purple Sage Trail, and NAH’s expectations for noise from events at Fort Tuthill.

They also asked for more information about the impact of having the hospital and county parks next to each other. Horstman said they sent NAH a letter about the project in December, but only received a reply and a map of the proposed development last week.

“We need meaningful collaboration, meaningful decisions, and meaningful agreements,” Horstman said. “You can’t live by saying, ‘Hey, I’ll sit down and be your partner someday.’ We need to have meaningful discussions about what this means for communities near the site. prize.

Flagstaff resident Pat Ellsworth said he understood the need for the new hospital, but asked for a carbon footprint analysis of the project, in addition to other analyzes already included in the plan. rice field.

“This is the missing piece in the analysis of the project,” she said. “If you don’t have your own analysis of your carbon footprint, how do you know how much different design options will reduce your carbon footprint? They are closely related, but both are health issues for this community.”

Charles Securist, the grandson of the hospital’s founder (also named), who has worked at the hospital for 38 years, asked the council to consider its role as “custodian of this property.”

“It was my grandparents’ wish that the FMC be a community hospital,” he said. “Whatever you decide, keep it in mind. You are the custodian of the wonderful gifts my grandparents gave me.”

Two representatives of Friends of Flagstaff’s Future spoke and asked for an assessment of community health needs and information on more comprehensive sustainability implications before moving forward with the plan.

“As NAH states, would the proposal to move the FMC from its current location to the edge of town be good for the health of our community? We believe we cannot know,” said Marilyn Weisman. Applicants should not be solely relied upon as a source of information … moving hospitals from their current location will affect thousands of people in several aspects of their health care. We need a needs assessment for communities that don’t have.”

Similarly, Stefan Sommer, Director of the Northern Arizona Climate Change Alliance, requested more information from NAH on the project’s environmental impacts (especially its carbon footprint) and additional commitments to sustainability measures. asked the council to do so. He used a planning and zoning commission question about solar power in a parking lot and the subsequent incorporation of solar panels into his NAH’s garage as an example.

“Without knowing the carbon footprint of that project, there is no way to assess how this project will or will not help the city achieve its goals,” he said. “We should ask NAH to provide a footprint for the construction, operation, and all associated impacts of this new hospital.”

Only one commenter, Dr. Douglas Mapel of Northern Arizona Lung Associates, asked for additional speaking time given to those representing the group of attendees. When the City Council asked for his representatives, most of his two lines in one half of the chamber stood.

He expressed various concerns about the project and asked the council to consider it in its decision.

Like Weissman, Mapel emphasized the need for community health assessments, which he said would provide insight into the real needs of new facilities in cities and the impact of projects.

“Ten years from now, without research, there’s no way of knowing if this experimental village approach has actually benefited us,” he said. We need to know exactly what we are getting out of our investment.We need to know as accurately as possible the health of our people.”

NAH and city officials were given 10 minutes to respond at the end of their comments, but neither were full-time.

Colleen Maring, NAH’s chief legal counsel, said she wanted to address two specific items raised in multiple comments. Health Needs Assessment for Credential Holders and Community. She said the certificate holders are still an advisory group that meets with the NAH bimonthly, and some commented anonymously at the meeting. It said it is conducting community health needs assessments and the latest assessment will be completed in 2022.

Tiffany Antor, on behalf of city officials, said the statement was even shorter and could address any additional questions the council might have.

Meeting recording available onlineDiscussions on concrete plans and amendments to the zoning map will begin 1 hour and 15 minutes after recording, and public comment will begin approximately 4 hours and 10 minutes later.