Changing the World in Eugene, Oregon

(Long Version: 1600 words)

Roger Hite (Sept. 8) and Don Tykeson (Sept. 13) have each recently offered opposing opinions in The Register-Guard regarding the PeaceHealth commitment at Sacred Heart Medical Center / University District. While Hite is financially prudent at one end, Tykeson is daring at the other. But Tykeson’s “big plans” miss a greater opportunity to solve some local dilemmas while also making Eugene the global leader in rural medicine.

Imagine this:
> PeaceHealth, the University of Oregon, and Oregon Health & Science University partner, and OHSU gives control of its graduate program in rural medicine to the UO, which then makes that program world-class in its reach and stature.
> PeaceHealth sells the SHMC/UD land and facility to the UO, which relocates its Health and Counseling Center there along with establishing that site as its campus teaching facility for the rural medicine program.
> The UO then locates the MD / PhD medical research program it is already establishing with OHSU in its old Health and Counseling Center Building across East 13th Avenue from Oregon Hall, which is at the east end of the UO science buildings complex that runs west to University Street.
> PeaceHealth buys the Civic Stadium site from Eugene School District 4J, and builds the world’s best rural medicine teaching hospital there with an ongoing commitment to always keep that facility at the very cutting edge of what is possible in rural medicine hospital technology. Consequently, the UO program with its unequaled PeaceHealth teaching hospital will become the world’s premiere institution for rural medicine education.

The term “rural medicine” is generally defined as that medicine which is practiced in communities with a population of fewer than 50,000 people. It is “hospital / general practice” medicine, not “medical center / specialist” medicine.

There are 35 rural hospitals in Oregon. The nearest ones to Eugene are the PeaceHealth hospitals in Cottage Grove and Florence. But the most helpful cooperation could come from the competition: Community Health Systems, the owner of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield, altogether owns, operates, or leases 131 hospitals in non-urban markets in 29 states across the United States. The experience and expertise CHS has in rural medicine hospital practices could hugely benefit the UO program.

The Oregon-based business partners for the UO program could include Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Jeld-Wen, and Les Schwab Tire Centers. Add in Washington-based Weyerhaeuser for good measure. The business partners would do two things for the communities where they employ people: 1) help establish and support local hospitals, and 2) fund scholarships to the UO program, which means: physicians and hospital administrators would be sent to the UO from all over the world by Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Jeld-Wen, and Weyerhaeuser, and from eight western states in the U.S. by Les Schwab Tire Centers. The UO program could succeed on its own, but the business partners could quickly catapult it to national and world renown.

The big reason why we should do it is because it is doable, and that should be reason enough to change the world by becoming the center of the universe for something very big and very important. Smaller reasons would include: 1) two dedicated streetcar loops that hub at the teaching hospital site connecting north-south to downtown Eugene and connecting east-west to the UO would create a thriving economic corridor from East 5th Avenue to East 20th Avenue between Willamette Street and High Street, and 2) the UO would become eligible to receive medical research grants from federal and private sources, which would pump millions of dollars into the local economy, create hundreds of jobs, and add a significant number of highly educated professionals to our community.

Geographically, the UO program facility would be located 1.2 miles (4 minutes) away from the world’s best rural medicine teaching hospital, 5.7 miles (10 minutes) away from the largest medical center on the West Coast between San Francisco and Portland, and 10 blocks away from the science buildings complex of a world class public research university. Where else in the world is there such a place? Answer: Nowhere.

Call it the UO International Graduate Institute of Rural Medicine & Rural Hospital Development, and comprise it of five institutes:
1. Institute for Rural Hospital Development
2. Institute of U.S. and International Rural Hospital Law
3. Institute of Rural Hospital Architecture
4. Institute for Rural Hospital Computer Systems Development
5. Institute for Waterborne Disease Prevention
and four schools:
1. School of Rural Family Medicine
2. School of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine
3. School of Toxicology
4. School of Rural Epidemiology
And eventually put names to all of those. For example, “Steve Jobs Institute for Rural Hospital Computer Systems Development” would be great!

The current Fact Sheet for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation reports “Funding from 1994 to Present” (June 2011) in the category of “Global Health” at $14,742,000,000, which is the foundation’s highest funded category. That magnitude of committed funds in Global Health is likely to be ongoing for many decades.

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/Pages/foundation-fact-sheet.aspx

Tykeson quoted Daniel Burnham, but then called on us to stay on the same path in the same woods with a hope that a new horizon might appear. I think Burnham would be disappointed by the smallness of that thinking. “… Make big plans; aim high in hope and work.” should be a call to change the world — a call in which hope is transformed into the resolve that fuels determined work.

But one matter needs a credo, and that is the matter of Civic Stadium. What is it that we believe as a community? And what legacy has brought us to that belief? Though Civic Stadium was actually built as a football stadium, many wrongly believe that it has always been a baseball stadium. So let us talk baseball in this final analysis.

Baseball is a game that mirrors life, but is not life. It is at once a live theater that emotes heartfelt audience participation and a pondered nuanced philosophy, but it is that in the timelessness of nine innings and in an ethic that demands a winner, not in an eternity. Baseball is where it is played when it is played; it is real, not something imagined. Baseball is something American, but its true memories are in times and places of the mind and in revelries both big and small, not in a place — not even in The House That Ruth Built — not even in the backyard where I first played catch.

They tore down the Yankee Stadium that Babe Ruth built in New York City, and we will certainly tear down Civic Stadium in Eugene. That is the truth of the matter, but where is the credo in that — the statement of guiding belief that somehow keeps faith with our community ancestors? The legacy we have is not a piece of land, nor is it a building, nor is its purpose defined by any particular activity, especially not by watching baseball being played by professional athletes! The legacy is much grander than something that is merely tangible: it is a good will to the common good — an ongoing need met — a lasting presence that supports and encourages best efforts — it is a cheering section filled with great-great-grandparents and with every parental generation since.

Our use of the proceeds from the sale of Civic Stadium to PeaceHealth is what will finally write the credo of civic-minded thinking that our ancestors intended, and that alone is what will keep the legacy of Civic Stadium alive for future generations.

I propose the following declaration:
Whereas the need for athletic fields in Eugene has been fully met by local schools and by the city, be it resolved:
> that Civic Stadium and its land be sold to the highest bidder (PeaceHealth);
> that all of the proceeds from the sale be used by Eugene School District 4J to establish The Civic Stadium Trust Fund, which will be dedicated solely and exclusively to the purchase, maintenance, and ongoing upgrading of the student-used computer systems in Eugene’s public schools;
> that the establishing principal of the fund be invested into perpetuity and only the investment returns be spent as needed on at least an annual basis;
> that The Civic Stadium Trust Fund be welcoming to citizens, organizations, and foundations wanting to make contributions to “the establishing principal” in name, so the true legacy of Civic Stadium can grow to include the goodwill of current and future generations in a real and meaningful way;
> that the District 4J School Board be responsible for approving and overseeing the fund’s expenditures;
> and that any computers replaced by District 4J in the upgrading process be given free of charge to any Lane County school districts in need of such equipment.

That declaration keeps faith with our community ancestors, and every public school district in America will envy Eugene and The Civic Stadium Trust Fund if we do it. Even so, I expect District 4J administrators will fight the idea in order to fund a temporary need. We live in desperate times, which are not unlike the desperate times when Civic Stadium was built in 1938. But do we have mettle? Do we have foresight?

The world needs what I have proposed. Yes, it creates the oddity of a local “rural hospital” for the residents of South Eugene, but that oddity will pump millions of dollars into our economy every year for as long as rural medicine is practiced in America and the world, which will likely be for the next 70 years or so, which was the lifespan of dear old Civic Stadium.


Steven A. Sylwester first recommended that a new hospital be built at the Civic Stadium site on September 1, 2005, and then did so again on September 24, 2009. See:
http://steven-a-sylwester.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-eugenes-civic-stadium-should-become.html

* * *

(Short Version: 800 words)

Roger Hite (Sept. 8) and Don Tykeson (Sept. 13) miss the greater opportunity at Sacred Heart Medical Center / University District.

Imagine:
> PeaceHealth, the University of Oregon, and Oregon Health & Science University partner, and OHSU gives its graduate program in rural medicine to the UO.
> PeaceHealth sells SHMC/UD to the UO, which there relocates its Health and Counseling Center and establishes its rural medicine program.
> The UO locates the MD/PhD program it has with OHSU at the abandoned Health and Counseling Center Building, which is at the east end of the UO science buildings complex.
> PeaceHealth buys Civic Stadium from Eugene School District 4J, and builds the world’s best rural teaching hospital there with a commitment to always keep that facility at the cutting edge of rural hospital technology. Consequently, the UO program becomes the world’s premiere institution for rural medicine education.

The term “rural medicine” defines that medicine which is practiced in communities with a population of fewer than 50,000 people. It is “hospital / general practice” medicine, not “medical center / specialist” medicine.

There are 35 rural hospitals in Oregon, including the PeaceHealth hospitals in Cottage Grove and Florence. But helpful cooperation could also come from the owner of McKenzie-Willamette Medical Center in Springfield: Community Health Systems, an organization that owns, operates, or leases 131 hospitals in non-urban markets in 29 states across the United States. The expertise CHS has in rural hospital practices could hugely benefit the UO program.

Business partners for the UO program could include Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Jeld-Wen, Weyerhaeuser, and Les Schwab Tire Centers. The business partners would do two things for the communities where they employ people: 1) help establish and support local hospitals, and 2) fund scholarships to the UO program, which means: physicians and hospital administrators would be sent to the UO from all over the world, including from eight western states in the U.S.

Other benefits: 1) two dedicated streetcar loops that hub at the teaching hospital site connecting north-south to downtown Eugene and east-west to the UO would create a thriving economic corridor from East 5th Avenue to East 20th Avenue between Willamette Street and High Street, and 2) the UO would become eligible to receive medical research grants from federal and private sources, which would pump millions of dollars into the local economy, create hundreds of jobs, and add a significant number of highly educated professionals to our community.

Geographically, the UO program facility would be located 1.2 miles away from the world’s best rural teaching hospital, 5.7 miles away from the largest medical center on the West Coast between San Francisco and Portland, and 10 blocks away from the science buildings complex of a world class public research university. Where else in the world is there such a place? Nowhere.

Call it the UO International Graduate Institute of Rural Medicine & Rural Hospital Development, and comprise it of five institutes (Rural Hospital Development, U.S. and International Rural Hospital Law, Rural Hospital Architecture, Rural Hospital Computer Systems Development, and Waterborne Disease Prevention) and four schools (Rural Family Medicine, Nutrition and Preventive Medicine, Toxicology, and Rural Epidemiology). And eventually put names to all of those. For example, “Steve Jobs Institute for Rural Hospital Computer Systems Development” would be great!

But one matter needs a credo: Civic Stadium. What is it that we believe as a community? And what legacy has brought us to that belief?

Our use of the proceeds from the sale of Civic Stadium is what will write the credo of civic-minded thinking our ancestors intended, and that alone is what will keep the legacy of Civic Stadium alive for future generations.

Our declaration should be:
Whereas the need for athletic fields in Eugene has been met by schools and the city, be it resolved that:
> Civic Stadium and its land be sold to the highest bidder;
> all proceeds from the sale be used by Eugene School District 4J to establish Civic Stadium Trust Fund, a fund dedicated solely to the purchase, maintenance, and upgrading of the student-used computer systems;
> the establishing principal of the fund be invested into perpetuity and only the investment returns be regularly spent as needed;
> Civic Stadium Trust Fund be welcoming to contributions from all sources so the legacy of Civic Stadium can include the goodwill of all generations;
> the District 4J School Board be responsible for the fund’s expenditures;
> and any computers abandoned by District 4J be given free to any Lane County school districts in need of such equipment.

Building a rural hospital in south Eugene will annually pump millions of dollars into our local economy for as long as rural medicine is practiced, which will be for at least the next 70 years — the lifespan of Civic Stadium.


Steven A. Sylwester first recommended that a new hospital be built at the Civic Stadium site on September 1, 2005, and then did so again on September 24, 2009. See:
http://steven-a-sylwester.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-eugenes-civic-stadium-should-become.html