Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 1993 TAG: 9305260104
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Three different Board of Supervisors motions Monday night before and after a 90-minute closed session ended in tie votes.
The hospitals seeking support from the governing body for establishing a radiology oncology treatment center are Pulaski and Radford community hospitals. Lewis-Gale Hospital in Salem also is seeking the center.
Christopher W. Dux, chief executive officer of Pulaski Community Hospital, appeared before the supervisors Monday night to plead his case.
"There is no doubt that a cancer treatment and radiation center is needed to serve citizens of the New River Valley," he said. "The proposed unit at Pulaski Community Hospital would be of higher quality, provide better service and its geographic location is centrally located in the defined geographic service area."
The area includes Montgomery, Floyd, Wythe, Carroll, Giles and Pulaski counties, possibly Smyth County, and the cities of Galax and Radford, Dux said.
Radford Community Hospital would build its center in Christiansburg.
Competition for the center started after Lewis-Gale applied for a replacement radiation-oncology unit to be added to its facility in Salem.
Radford Community and Carilion Health System, which owns several hospitals, then submitted an application for a cancer treatment center to be built within a half-mile of Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg.
Last month Pulaski Community Hospital submitted its application to the Virginia Department of Health.
Dr. Bruce Fariss, a member of the Board of Supervisors whose medical office is in Radford, said he did not care which hospital got the unit. He said the main criteria should be which would provide the best service to New River Valley residents.
Dux pointed out that placement of the unit in Pulaski County would be a plus for its economy.
"I'm sensitive on the tax base but I'm more sensitive to the needs of the community," Fariss said.
He attempted to get a motion passed stating that the board would support an oncology center at either hospital. A tie vote killed it.
Supervisor Ira "Pete" Crawford abstained from voting on Fariss' motion, saying he wanted to consult privately with Thomas McCarthy, the board's attorney. He met for a few minutes with McCarthy.
The board took up the matter in its closed session, as a legal matter and possible conflict of interest. But the executive session did not lead to any decision when the board reconvened in open session.
The equipment for the unit will cost $1.98 million, Dux said. Construction, installation and furnishings will cost about $800,000.
He said Pulaski Community could complete the new building by mid-1994 and have it open by August of that year.
by CNB