Given many residents of Guam are new and many, if not most, are too young to remember, here is a bit of background on the original establishment of Guam Memorial Hospital at the old hospital point location in Tamuning.
The original GMH proudly stood at the currently contentious old hospital point site slightly northeast of the current GMH location.
It is my understanding that the property was originally donated for use as a hospital site by the Perez family.
That was apparently done with the idea that only a hospital would be built there – nothing else – in exchange for some old military heavy equipment that GovGuam would exchange with the Perez family. An exchange that apparently never happened.
The archbishop at the time, I believe Archbishop Flores, had a deep concern for the health and welfare of his flock but quickly realized that the new Catholic Medical Center, today’s GMH, needed to be in the hands of someone other than the church.
The rebirth of Guam Memorial Hospital followed with the completion of the then-Catholic Medical Center, which in turn became the current Guam Memorial Hospital located a few blocks southwest of the old hospital site.
In walked the government of Guam.
But by transferring the then-new Catholic Medical Center, now the current GMH, to the government of Guam, it was placed squarely in the middle of politics rather than medicine.
As an aside, the current governor’s private residence is located directly between both locations and would enjoy ambulance and other hospital/medical center traffic between the original and current locations.
The original hospital point site is where the majority of healthcare professionals believe the new hospital should be built.
That brings us to the position we face today.
As Guam grew, physicians, nurses and other specialty personnel came to the island and built the support infrastructure around the area we see today in the medical community of Tamuning and Tumon.
The medical and support staff at the hospital grew, as well, and was padded over the years with numerous political hires, some of whom were good choices and others were simply placeholders.
Politics and medicine are a bit like oil and water - they don’t work well together. They tend to concoct a drink that hits your mouth like lemonade without the sweetener. It not only pricks the tongue but also upsets the stomach.
Politics on Guam clearly has little to do with ensuring the health of the community (at least as is evidenced with the current condition of GMH and all the infighting). On the other hand, it has everything to do with making a political livelihood and getting it done “my way.”
Enter the renewed plan to relocate historic ancestral remains to what started as a 5-acre site but mysteriously grew into a proposed 14-acre location, suggested to be placed squarely at the original GMH location at the hospital point. A monument that most certainly can be located on numerous other government-owned lands.
Unfortunately, once elected, far too many politicians seem to have gotten a “my way” chip implant, believing they are omniscient rather than being public servants who should act in the best interests of the majority of the community.
The old GMH site (Ypao Point) has the infrastructure and ample space for a new hospital, as is evidenced by many hospitals in Hawaii and other space-confined areas in the world. It is also surrounded by the majority of the island’s medical support structure and existing infrastructure. After building the new hospital at the old hospital point, a new medical complex could then be built at the current GMH location.
Maybe it’s time to shuck the “my way” thinking and do the right thing.
Find excellent hospital designers and engineers and build the new GMH at the old GMH hospital point site.
While at it, let’s get politics out of medicine and privatize the new hospital at the same time.
Let’s make Guam great again!
Lee Webber is the former publisher of the Pacific Daily News, Honolulu Advertiser, president of Gannett Pacific and Asia area manager for USA Today international.
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