To The Editor:
Today the country is at a critical crossroads regarding our economic future. Locally, one promising idea is the proposed partnership between Hartford Hospital and the University of Connecticut Health Center. The plan not only makes John Dempsey Hospital solvent, creates a tier-one medical school and significantly bolsters area care; it also provides a critical piece to our economy.
Last year, our state lost over 29,000 jobs from our core industries of defense and finance, with more losses coming. But within all of the economic darkness, there was one beam of light. The only industry that created jobs was health care, adding over 4,100 jobs; more than 240,000 people in Connecticut now work in health care. This is just the tip of the industry’s potential.
This partnership will create a world-class academic medical center to train more doctors and dentists for a state that desperately needs them. The entire plan will also create an estimated 18,000 jobs, generate billions in new revenue for the state, and provide over $900 million in net revenues—a nearly 2-to-1 return on the state’s investment.
But these are not the only benefits. This plan will transform our region into a bio-medical destination, home to some of the country’s leading medical experts and bio-medical researchers. This partnership will not only preserve existing jobs, but also create a world-renowned bio-medical research and development hub on par with New York or Boston.
This isn’t about petty disagreements between area hospitals. This is much larger and more important. It’s about all of us, and what our future, together, will look like. We urge you to take a long, hard look at this vision and its potential. These challenging times have presented us with a choice: we can continue down a path of lost jobs, reduced health care and minimized potential, or we can utilize this unique opportunity to make a bold investment, getting our state back on track and headed toward a brighter future. To us, the answer is clear.
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Michael Hogan, president, University of Connecticut
Elliot Joseph, president and CEO, Hartford Hospital
Dr. Cato Laurencin, dean, UConn School of Medicine Martin J. Gavin, president and CEO, Children’s Medical Center Larry Tanner, president and CEO, Hospital of Central Connecticut
