HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — As some call for local leaders to scale down plans for a full medical complex to just a new public hospital, Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero asks “why do we limit ourselves” from the possibility of “getting comprehensive continuum, 360-degree care for the people of Guam?”
“Some people ask, ‘Well, what about the workforce?’ I’m telling you the specialists will come. We can entice our own people to come. Why? Because we’re going to build the specialty clinics for them. The doctors, right out of residency, want to practice. They don’t really want to be bothered with operation, overhead or business. They want to just practice. So, we, as a government, need to provide that,” Leon Guerrero said Monday in front of veterans, firefighters, mayors, administration officials and everyday residents who had gathered at the Guam Community College for an informational meeting on the medical complex project.
Monday presented one last opportunity for such a meeting ahead of Wednesday’s hearing on Bill 184-37, the measure that would facilitate the sale or lease of property in Barrigada for the construction of the medical complex. The governor’s office has been hosting informational meetings with Guam Memorial Hospital Authority staff, local veterans and other stakeholders to drum up support for the measure.
The proposed medical complex, inclusive of a new public hospital, has become the flagship initiative of Leon Guerrero’s administration.
While there is little debate on whether a new public hospital is needed on Guam – deteriorating conditions at the existing GMH facility regularly make headlines – there are significant differences over the scope of the project and where it should be built.
Differences
The Guam Medical Association, the largest medical organization on the island, prefers that a new hospital be built at Ypao Point in Tamuning, which is relatively close to the current GMH. Part of the reason lies with most medical professionals already being within 10 minutes of Ypao Point, according to GMA.
The governor’s administration opposes Ypao Point for several reasons, but a major concern is its size. The land isn’t large enough to hold an entire complex, to possibly include a veterans center and other facilities.
The lots identified in Bill 184 belong to the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission and total 61 acres.
“It has the capacity to allow for expanded services. It has the capacity to plan for the future, 15, 20, 30, 40 years from now. Let’s not limit ourselves to just one idea. Let’s imagine and think far ahead,” Leon Guerrero said Monday. “I’m saying to you, this is not an unrealistic venture. It’s going to happen. I need your support.”
But, according to GMA, what’s really needed at this point is just a new hospital, with Ypao Point being the right location. To plan for an entire complex would be unnecessary and too costly, the organization has stated.
Some lawmakers seem to agree.
Following a recent oversight hearing on the status of Ypao Point, the office of Speaker Therese Terlaje said various factors, including proximity to medical staff and existing infrastructure, make the location the practical choice for a new hospital.
About two years ago, lawmakers passed The Guam 21st Century Healthcare Center Act of 2021. This legislation authorized the government of Guam to enter into a lease/lease-back arrangement for the construction of a health care center, defined as the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority, Department of Public Health and Social Services and the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center “located as a whole, on one property, or separately, if feasible.”
Sen. Chris Barnett wants to make sure that any hospital built under the 21st Century Healthcare Act would be built in Tamuning, even if DPHSS and Behavioral Health facilities need to be located separately. To do so, he introduced Bill 185-37 in mid-October, which states that GMA, the Guam Medical Society and individual practitioners have made it known that Tamuning is the preferred location for any new hospital.
These bills, hearings and informational meetings are only the most recent conversations around a new hospital or medical complex.
‘Not my pet project’
Efforts to lease the Eagles Field area of Mangilao from the federal government fell through in early May. That property was the governor’s first choice of location for the medical complex, but her efforts to lease the land proved controversial and resulted in a law that requires legislative review for long-term leases with the federal government.
Because of controversies that have surrounded the project, and the governor’s insistence on an entire complex despite concerns over location and scope, Leon Guerrero’s critics have taken to describing the medical complex as her “pet project.”
But on Monday, the governor said the complex would be the “key” to enticing medical professionals to come to Guam.
“It’s not my dream. It should be all of our dream. It’s not my pet project. It’s for the people of Guam,” Leon Guerrero said.
Funding opportunities
There is a timing element at play as well. Bill 184 states that certain federal funds are available for the construction of aspects of the medical complex, but they may lapse if the site isn’t identified promptly.
These funds should include more than $100 million in Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. According to the final rule for SLFRF posted by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the funds can be used exclusively for costs incurred within a specific time period, with all funds obligated by Dec. 31, 2024, and spent by Dec. 31, 2026.
On Monday, Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio also mentioned that a Federal Emergency Management Agency team is on Guam working to quantify “the amount of damage that is occurring at GMH” to see if Guam can avail of a similar opportunity that was afforded to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Where they are fully funding a hospital in the U.S. Virgin Islands because of a hurricane that they experienced a few years ago,” Tenorio said.
“We have the Department of Defense. We have (a) window of time here. As we know from our history, we’re burdened with a beautiful island in a great location. Unfortunately, that location is great for many different kind(s) of things. But during this burden, why wouldn’t we try and get the Department of Defense and the United States to pay for a new hospital and the services that the people of Guam need? You want a stable Indo-Pacific? Stability starts with health care, which is something that the governor has been leveraging,” Tenorio added.
The lieutenant governor said the mission is to try to reduce any debt that Guam may incur, or debt that GMH will have to put in for its overhead.
“This is an opportunity just to try and mobilize and blend different funding opportunities,” Tenorio said Monday.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero speaks Monday, Oct. 30, 2023, at the Guam Community College Multipurpose Room about her vision for a new Guam medical complex.
