By Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 18, 2007; B01
After almost two years of searching, officials at Washington Adventist Hospital announced yesterday that they have acquired land needed to move from Takoma Park to a site six miles north in the White Oak section of Montgomery County.
The 48-acre site is off Plum Orchard Drive and Cherry Hill Road, not far from Route 29 and the Capital Beltway. Adventist HealthCare officials said they paid $11 million for the parcel in a deal closed last week. They must receive approval from Maryland officials to relocate.
William G. Robertson, president and chief executive of Adventist HealthCare, said there are no plans to sell the hospital's 14-acre site at 7600 Carroll Ave. in Takoma Park. Hospital officials hope to work with the community to determine what medical or community services might continue to be offered on the current campus, Robertson said.
"We believe what this means for the community is that access to health care gets expanded in interesting and positive ways," Robertson said.
He said one possibility would be to open an emergency center operation similar to the one the Adventist system opened in Germantown last year. The Germantown facility is Maryland's first free-standing emergency care center and is designed to reduce travel time for those seeking emergency care in the county's fast-growing northern region.
Montgomery officials reserved judgment yesterday on Adventist's plans to relocate.
County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said officials are studying the impact the move might have on residents.
"What we want to do is make sure we've got comprehensive services," he said.
Added County Council member George L. Leventhal (D-At Large), who chairs the council's Health and Human Services Committee: "Certainly we don't want Washington Adventist to go the route of D.C. General and Prince George's. But I really think we need to get some good data before the county states whether it supports it or opposes it."
D.C. General was shut down in 2000 because of financial shortfalls, and the Prince George's County hospital system faces similar funding pressures.
Takoma Park Mayor Kathy Porter said city leaders are pleased that the hospital will be talking to the community about health-care needs and are hopeful services will still be available to residents.
Porter and other elected officials noted that the area Washington Adventist serves is one of the most diverse in the county.
Because Adventist's move is expected to take up to five years, yesterday's announcement isn't expected to have an immediate impact on discussions surrounding the possible closure of Prince George's Hospital Center and two smaller hospitals in that county. But Robertson said a larger facility in a new location would have a future impact on the quality of regional health care.
Adventist proposed its relocation in 2005. The announcement caught many in the community by surprise because Adventist had been working with residents since 2003 on a plan to add 125,000 square feet to the existing building. But ultimately hospital officials concluded that the current site was too small to accommodate future needs and for the hospital to remain competitive.
When the hospital opened as the Washington Sanitarium in 1907, it was built on what was then the outskirts of the District. Since then, housing and other development has grown around the site, making it difficult to expand operations. Currently, it is a 285-bed facility that is home to Montgomery's first cardiac center.
Robertson said despite the relocation plan, officials will continue to invest in the current facility.