Prose pours in, both pro and con, on proposed PeaceHealth campus.

Byline: MATT COOPER The Register-Guard

SPRINGFIELD - Fred Felter of Springfield writes that allowing PeaceHealth to build a regional medical complex on its RiverBend site in northwest Springfield is "sheer lunacy."

Geoff Gordon, an emergency physician who has worked at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, says in an e-mail the RiverBend development would likely drive Springfield's McKen- zie-Willamette Hospital "out of business."

But Wendy Codding of Eugene believes "it's simply ridiculous to oppose something that will ultimately benefit all who live in the mid-Oregon region."

And Springfielders Don and Karen Bridges call on a higher power: "Thank God, and I do mean to give thanks to our Lord, that the PeaceHealth organization had the vision to meet the health care needs of Springfield/Eugene."

PeaceHealth's proposal to shift its main hospital operation from Sacred Heart in downtown Eugene to a riverside spot in suburban Springfield generated an unprecedented number of letters and e-mails that poured into City Hall between mid-November and late December, with supporters outnumbering opponents by a ratio of more than 2-to-1.

Hospital backers want PeaceHealth to have room to grow. Like the health organization's officials, they see the RiverBend site - tucked up against the McKenzie River with trees, fields and the Coburg Hills as a backdrop - as the perfect healing environment. They note the jobs that PeaceHealth provides and its commitment to pay for changes that the RiverBend development will require.

Critics counter that PeaceHealth's arrival in Springfield will bring about the death of McKenzie-Willamette Hospital, a longtime community health care center. They're worried about traffic, they're worried about potential flooding of the McKenzie River and they're worried about destroying Springfield's quality of life by abandoning the area's existing land-use plans.

Whether those arguments will resonate with the Springfield Planning Commission is a question commissioners will answer when they vote on land-use changes next Wednesday that are needed to allow the project to move forward.

Commission Chairman Tim Malloy manages the finance and materials departments for Oregon Medical Laboratories, a division of PeaceHealth, and has recused himself from participating in Wednesday's deliberations.

However, when he reads letters about a controversial project he focuses on the land-use criteria for approval, he said, not his gut-level reactions.

Whether a project "is a good or a bad thing is more of a City Council-level decision," Malloy said. "You can find yourself being influenced by, `We don't think this should be here.' I have to bring myself back to, `OK, but how does this apply' ' to the criteria for approval.

Heavy-hitters such as Chambers Construction and Chambers Communications Corp., Symantec and the Lane County Home Builders Association sided with the proposal, while land-use watchdogs LandWatch Lane County and 1000 Friends of Oregon lined up against it.

State representatives weighed in, too. Republican Pat Farr, the incoming representative in District 14, favors the proposal and Democrat Phil Barnhart, in District 11, opposes it.

Edwin Baker, retired publisher of The Register-Guard, wrote a letter calling PeaceHealth's proposal a "sound and sensible development."

About 25 of the supporters identified themselves as past or present employees or officials with PeaceHealth or Sacred Heart, from doctors to orthopedic nurses to healing coordinators to a former PeaceHealth president, Sister Monica Heeran.

Their words generally echoed the comments of Ron Gordon, manager of Sacred Heart's neonatal intensive care unit: "Almost every day I hear the same concern from families - `We need more room,' ' Gordon wrote.

Not all the health organization's employees are behind the project, just as not all employees at McKenzie-Willamette are against it.

Cathy Ellis, a nurse in the Sacred Heart emergency room, wrote that while the community needs a larger hospital, the Gateway site "should stay natural and unpolluted and the Eugene-based hospital should stay in Eugene."

Meanwhile, PeaceHealth pharmacist Brad Johnson and his wife, Kathy, a McKenzie-Willamette nurse, both want Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield.

"We both feel that having the new hospital would benefit all members of Lane County and adamantly feel that both institutions (hospitals) could co-exist and actually complement each other," they wrote.

While some Sacred Heart employees felt obligated to speak out in support of their employer, PeaceHealth defended itself against a suggestion that the hospital was strong-arming employees into writing letters of support.

One letter signed "Anonymous Nurse" said a number of Sacred Heart employees feel coerced by management to back the move with letters and testimony.

PeaceHealth spokesman Brian Terrett said that's untrue, that the organization hasn't required anyone to write letters of support, although it has provided information on how to do so for those who ask for it.

Terrett also rejected the notion that PeaceHealth is stressing "talking points" or encouraging employees to write from home to mask their employment with PeaceHealth or Sacred Heart.

Lisa VanWinkle, for example, works next to Terrett in the PeaceHealth communications operations but didn't mention her employer in a letter backing the project.

She said later she didn't think about it one way or the other and, in hindsight, thought it might have bolstered her arguments if she were seen as giving "an insider's view" of Sacred Heart's growth problems.

Nevertheless, Terrett said, neither VanWinkle nor any other hospital employee is obligated to state whom they work for.

"The fact we work for an organization doesn't negate our rights as citizens," he said.

To "simply write off" one of the largest employers in Lane County is "a fairly scary and sad commentary on how the public process should go," he said.

PEACEHEALTH LETTERS

The Springfield Planning Commission will base its decision on the PeaceHealth project on information submitted before Dec. 31. Letters submitted after that will go to the City Council for a public hearing Feb. 18, but won't be reviewed until after the commission votes Wednesday.

Send letters to City Council, City Hall, 225 Fifth St., Springfield, OR 97477. For more information, call 726-3700.