Across the centuries, healthcare has changed based on how the world changed.

People have come to expect certain healthcare services in hospitals, like having babies and surgeries. They forget that many of those services took place in homes throughout history. Centuries ago, churches usually provided healthcare outside a person’s home as a part of their charity work.

Some governments protected the general populace from people with contagious diseases, like leprosy, by isolating them in medical institutions, and some leaders, like Napoleon, built large hospitals for their wounded soldiers during wars.

The first United States hospital was founded in Pennsylvania in 1751. Most people going to hospitals back then were poor. Middle- and upper-class people were nursed at home. However, as the industrial revolution took hold and society became more mobile, medicine became more professional and specialized, and hospitals offered more services.

People have lived to ripe old ages throughout recorded human history. However, the oldest were often the wealthiest. For the vast majority, improvements in medicine and sanitation have resulted in longer lifespans as science has advanced. Life expectancy at birth in the United States In 1900 was 47.3. By 2000 it had risen to 76.8, but life expectancy depends on many factors. Over time many have succumbed to epidemics, plagues, and wars. Simply surviving childbirth and infancy was a big challenge until recent history. Where people lived often played a part as well. People living in Northern Chautauqua County have come to expect a full-service hospital based in Dunkirk. That’s because Brooks Hospital has been there since 1898.

There have been a lot of changes in the area since 1898. For instance, the population in Dunkirk has dropped from 19,336 in 1920 to 12,743 in 2020. There have been similar population drops in neighboring communities. Consequently, fewer people today need the essential services Brooks-TLC provides, so the hospital has less money from patients to pay staff and maintain facilities. At the same time, the cost of salaries and everything else continues to go up.

Brooks-TLC is far from the only hospital facing money woes. Changes are happening across the nation. Hundreds of hospitals have permanently closed their doors. To increase access to quality care, many hospitals have embraced new, more financially viable ways of doing things, like telemedicine, using more physician assistants and nurse practitioners, and bringing in a wide range of specialists as needed. Yet others have found a full-asset merger with a significantly larger health system is essential. In some areas, moving from a full-service hospital model to a state-of-the-art micro-hospital, like the new one proposed in Fredonia, is imperative to regain solid financial footing and increase the number of primary care and specialist physicians in the area. Brooks-TLC hospital leadership, medical staff, partners, and the state Department of Health have worked hard to find the right balance.

Northern Chautauqua County needs emergency medical care for local people. A hospital building site that meets the needs of the area, featuring high-quality facilities, equipment, and an adjoining medical office complex to attract talented medical personnel, is required. No matter where the new hospital is built, someone will be unhappy. The time has come when people must embrace the well-thought-out plans for the new Brooks-TLC hospital or face having no nearby hospital. That would seriously hurt everyone living, working, and visiting here because the distance to emergency care can mean the difference between life and death.

The Local Economic Development committee of the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation strongly supports the hard choices Brooks-TLC hospital has made to develop a financially sustainable model. It will guarantee that the most critical services remain available here and will ensure our community’s health and safety. It’s long past time to break ground.

Patty Hammond is Economic Development Coordinator for the Local Economic Development organization of the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation. Send comments or suggestions to phammond@nccfoundation.org