Huggins Hospital Opening New State-of-the-Art Critical Access Facility

[mcdude]

Editorial from the Granite State News

This Saturday morning at 10 a.m., the trustees of Huggins Hospital will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony and then open the doors of a new, stateof-the-art medical facility for public tours and celebration. We will be there, and we hope you will take the time to see what years of planning and dedication by many people have accomplished. Building the new hospital was not a simple or an easy process. While the community has always treasured and supported Huggins – as the pullout insert in this edition amply demonstrates – making the major changes required to go from a small community hospital to a Critical Access Hospital were difficult for many to accept. The hospital had expanded before and even built a new facility in the past, but this time it was different. It was not simply a matter of adding wings and keeping everything else more or less intact. Instead it involved rethinking the facility and how care was best provided, and meeting new technological, financial and planning requirements. When we think back now on the objections that were raised during the zoning and site plan approval process,we see that the emotional element in the objections was rooted in a desire to preserve a simpler and more informal idea of the hospital, rooted in personal relationships and family memories. Sadly, the forces driving the need for change had already made that longtime model of a hospital unworkable. The growing complexity of medical treatment, the rapidlychanging technology required to deliver it and the profound shift in how the cost of medical care is financed pushed the Huggins trustees to a decision point: either adapt or fail. Other, larger
New Hampshire hospitals had failed and either been merged with another hospital or been taken over. To survive and stay independent, Huggins
had to change and build a completely modern facility. We are fortunate that the trustees, hospital administration and staff accepted the need for
change and stayed the course. While not everything has gone smoothly over the three years it has taken to plan and build the new facility, the
hospital has managed to address problems as they have come up and kept the hospital functioning and accessible during the construction process.
The opening of the new building is not the end of either the project or the transformation of Huggins. The hospital campus needs to be reconfigured
to provide parking and proper access, and that involves demolishing parts of the old facility, including the original main building. What to do with the 42,000 square feet of the present facility that was marked “mothballed” during the site plan review also needs to be addressed. Nonetheless, beginning this Saturday, the hospital and community will take a giant step forward. We congratulate the trustees, staff and administration of Huggins Hospital on their achievement and offer grateful thanks for the hard work and dedication that made this magnificent
new facility possible.
~ Granite State News

Huggins Sanitorium 1916

Huggins Sanatorium, as it was initially called, was a remodeled house that had belonged to the Rev. Theodore Jerome. It stood between what today is the 18th hole of the Kingswood Golf Club and the Kingswood High School. A dedication and opening reception were held the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, 1907, organized by the Ladies Hospital Aid which was created four months before the hospital opened its doors. The Ladies Hospital Aid has served as the foundation of more than a 100 years of enthusiastic community support of the hospital. The 12-bed sanatorium
(expandable to 16 beds in an emergency) sat on 11 acres of land. An early hospital inventory noted farm tools, hay, a cow, chickens, pigs and
a vegetable garden, as well as drugs, surgical supplies, and operating and sterilizing rooms. Fees in those days included 75 cents for a doctor’s office
consultation, $5 for minor surgery anesthetic, and $10 for a normal obstetric case. Wolfeboro doctors spent much of their time making house calls. In 1908 they charged $1 for a visit, plus 25 cents a mile if they
had to travel outside of “the central section” of town. The hospital was primarily a place to go for surgery. The first C-section in Carroll County was done by the young Dr. Fred Clow at Huggins in 1917. The local paper
also reported Dr. Curtis Cotton operating on a baby for a rare “abscess of the brain.”

* * *

[old coot]

Huggins closed their maternity ward last year, making Memorial Hospital in North Conway the only maternity ward left in Carroll County. I think that this will skew the Wolfeboro Area's demographics adversely in the years to come.

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by old coot

Huggins closed their maternity ward last year, making Memorial Hospital in North Conway the only maternity ward left in Carroll County. I think that this will skew the Wolfeboro Area's demographics adversely in the years to come.

How do you consider that will happen?

Franklin Regional Hospital is also a Critical Access Hospital and no longer has a maternity unit at the hospital.

For the record, when babies are born at a hospital the information going on their birth certificate is recorded then and there - including the town they are considered to live in when they are born. Babies born in Rochester or Laconia or North Conway who will be living in Wolfeboro will still be reported to the Wolfeboro Town Clerk as being born in Wolfeboro - the location of the hospital isn't a factor in those demographics.

[old coot]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

How do you consider that will happen?

Franklin Regional Hospital is also a Critical Access Hospital and no longer has a maternity unit at the hospital.

For the record, when babies are born at a hospital the information going on their birth certificate is recorded then and there - including the town they are considered to live in when they are born. Babies born in Rochester or Laconia or North Conway who will be living in Wolfeboro will still be reported to the Wolfeboro Town Clerk as being born in Wolfeboro - the location of the hospital isn't a factor in those demographics.

I think that Wolfeboro's lack of a maternity facility anywhere near its boundaries, will help make the town an unpopular choice of residence among young families of child bearing age.
oc

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by old coot

I think that Wolfeboro's lack of a maternity facility anywhere near its boundaries, will help make the town an unpopular choice of residence among young families of child bearing age.
oc

Hmmm.... I don't know about that. We move to Alton knowing that the closest hospital was Huggins but chose to have our baby at Frisbie Memorial in Rochester (only to get shipped to Dartmouth in Lebanon due to our baby being a preemie)... We had the second boy at LRGH. (This was in 2001 and 2005) When I talk with other moms, they've all gone many different places to have their babies - Portsmouth, Dover, Concord. Sometimes it seems like a status thing - who has the best facility will get the business.

Franklin Regional Hospital became a critical access hospital in 2004. They closed their maternity unit in 2005. They average between 105-115 births per year with no real decline...

[Lucky1]

We were at the Huggins ribbon cutting ceremony and enjoyed seeing the new facility. The physical plant seemed great! Many staff members and technicians were there too. Some expounded on many new capabilities of Huggins!

Personally I strongly support using University teaching hospitals for the more major procedures and treatments. There certainly are many other illnesses and procedures that can be done locally. Also sometimes hospitals save lives by being able to stabilize and move. Certainly Huggins is not trying to be a state of the art facility in all areas as that would not be cost effective.

Any improvements in medical care are to be applauded and greatly appreciated. There was also a very nice lunch with small sanwiches and desserts and cold drinks. Thank you to all who made this ribbon cutting ceremony and tour and lunch possible. There are boards for those who have made donations and it was a bit disappointing to not see more names. If any of the financially fortunate who have used Huggins are reading this and would like to make a donation, I am sure it would be greatly appreciated.

[Pineedles]

I'm sorry, I can't endorse Huggin's. To say more would be inappropriate. Please don't ask me any more.

[upthesaukee]

Originally Posted by old coot

I think that Wolfeboro's lack of a maternity facility anywhere near its boundaries, will help make the town an unpopular choice of residence among young families of child bearing age.
oc

The problem was that young families were already opting to go to Frisbie, Wentworth Douglas, Concord, and Lakes Region. This made continuing maternity care at Huggins cost inefficient due to the high cost of equipment, personnel, facilities, and the ever present huge cost of malpractice insurance for OB-Gyn. This forced the tough decision to be made.

[Lucky1]

Originally Posted by Pineedles

I'm sorry, I can't endorse Huggin's. To say more would be inappropriate. Please don't ask me any more.

Medical care for us is at Mass General and Brigham and Womens. Had the kids across from Children's Hospital. Needed emergency care for the youngest who was not breathing with the cord around her neck etc. Best to be in or near a good hospital just in case. I cannot recommend having a home birth as this child would not be alive today had she not been in a top hospital across from Childrens.

Went to Lakes Region for poison ivy and shingles as well as on an emergency 911 call. Went to Boston the next day on the advice of the neurologist. So far so good. Sister in law went to Huggins once and had a good result. That is our only experience there but for the ribbon cutting. I heard a tech say that they do stress tests so I asked if they do nuclear stress tests there. She said that they do them now. I then asked if they do cardiac caths and was told that they did not.

Nothing wrong in stating facts in my opinion, but I am not asking you for any more information since you perfer not to share more.

[BroadHopper]

In light of increasing health care costs and so called efforts to curb it.

In the past hospital buildings were built very practical and sanitary.

Today's hospital are built to rival the Taj Mahal!

What's up with that??????

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by BroadHopper

In light of increasing health care costs and so called efforts to curb it.

In the past hospital buildings were built very practical and sanitary.

Today's hospital are built to rival the Taj Mahal!

What's up with that??????

It's call grant money.

Also, HH will fall into a different status for receiving payment from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) now that they are a critical access hospital. Since they dropped their maternity unit, they will have less overhead cost (read: malpractice insurance costs).

Additionally, many of the improvements you see now are because of the safety standards and privacy laws that the hospitals have to adhere to now. It may seem "extreme" but if the hospital did not make these changes, they would no longer receive payment from CMS or possibly from other insurance providers.

[ApS]

Huggins Hospital has a large plaque indicating that "The Marriott Family" had donated the Emergency Room. I don't know when the plaque was put up, but it's new-news to me.

[Gearhead]

Originally Posted by Argie's Wife

How do you consider that will happen?

Franklin Regional Hospital is also a Critical Access Hospital and no longer has a maternity unit at the hospital.

For the record, when babies are born at a hospital the information going on their birth certificate is recorded then and there - including the town they are considered to live in when they are born. Babies born in Rochester or Laconia or North Conway who will be living in Wolfeboro will still be reported to the Wolfeboro Town Clerk as being born in Wolfeboro - the location of the hospital isn't a factor in those demographics.

I lived in Chichester when I was born but was born in Concord Hospital. I recently had to get a copy of my birth certificate at Concord City Hall, even though I didn't live there. Hardly pertinent here, but I think if you live in Wolfeboro and you're born in Concord, I think your Birth Cert still says Concord.

[Argie's Wife]

Originally Posted by Gearhead

I lived in Chichester when I was born but was born in Concord Hospital. I recently had to get a copy of my birth certificate at Concord City Hall, even though I didn't live there. Hardly pertinent here, but I think if you live in Wolfeboro and you're born in Concord, I think your Birth Cert still says Concord.

The location of the hospital, hospital name, and town your parents are living in at the time of your birth are all on a long form birth certificate. The hospital will send notice to the town clerk for that year's vital records. The vital records will also be shared with the local public school so they can anticipate future enrollment (some schools have an enrollment coordinator who does all of this.)

[Shedwannabe]

If you really want to have Wolfeboro on your child's birth certificate, there are several good midwives in the area!

[Heaven]

Or plan the birth as an emergency and have the baby at Huggins!