Firefighter Out of Hospital

By Erica Garman
Sunday, August 10, 2008

Living in LoCo is Erica Garman's blog devoted to all things interesting in Loudoun County. You can find it athttp://www.loudounextra.com. This column of highlights from the blog appears in this space every Sunday.

Lt. John "Bones" Earley, the most seriously injured among the six firefighters hurt in a fire May 25 in Leesburg, was released from a hospital Aug. 1.

On his ride home, Earley was met at the Fairfax-Loudoun border by fire vehicles and his fire and rescue "family." He hopped into the front seat of Tower 6, the truck he rode to the two-alarm blaze where he suffered the third-degree burns that kept him at Washington Hospital Center for nearly two months.

When Tower 6 pulled into the garage at the Ashburn Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company, where Earley is stationed, the dispatcher announced: "Welcome home, Lieutenant John Earley."

Earley is a career firefighter with the Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management. He volunteers nights with the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company.

After learning the extent of his injuries, the Leesburg company set up the John Earley Relief Fund, and it has sponsored fundraisers to help his family.

On June 28, the company held a dance in the Flame Room behind Station 1, with all proceeds going to the fund.

A blurb on the company's Web site says a fundraiser July 31 at an Ashburn restaurant was so popular that participants waited in a line that spilled outside. Ten percent of each tab that night went to the fund.

The Valor Foundation of Loudoun also reported making a donation to the Earley family. Stu Plittman, a foundation board member, said the organization provides assistance to emergency workers when "needs surpass resources."

"We are honored to have this one-of-a-kind financial support system in Loudoun County available for those individuals who place themselves at risk while serving their community," Plittman said in a statement.

Welcome home, Lt. Earley.

Route 50 Hospital Gets a Green Light

As HealthSouth received news last week that the Virginia Department of Health had granted it a certificate of public need to build a 40-bed rehabilitation hospital on Route 50 near Stone Ridge, Inova Health System learned that its application to add 40 rehab beds at its Cornwall campus had been denied.

HealthSouth's new hospital will join its other operations in Virginia; the company has clinics and hospitals in the Fredericksburg, Charlottesville, Richmond and Petersburg areas.

The 47,500-square-foot facility in Loudoun will offer inpatient and outpatient rehabilitative services for patients who have had trauma, strokes, cardiac and pulmonary diseases and arthritis. Officials anticipate that about 200 employees will work at the hospital once it is in full swing.

Construction is anticipated to begin in December or January, HealthSouth officials said, after they receive a zoning exception from the county. The hospital is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2010.

Cindy Kelleher, vice president of corporate development for HealthSouth, said the company chose this part of Northern Virginia because of its significant over-65 population and Loudoun's projected population growth.

Inova and HCA Virginia want to build full-service hospitals along Route 50, but neither company has been granted a certificate of public need to do so.

Inova spokesman Che Parker said in a statement: "While our COPN was denied, we note that the Adjudication Officer's recommendations approving the Route 50 location actually echo what citizens, Inova Loudoun Hospital officials, even the county's Healthcare Facilities Plan have long been stating: the Route 50 corridor is the most appropriate location for new healthcare services. In the end, it's all about location."

Since HCA announced plans to build the Broadlands Regional Medical Center about five miles from Inova's Lansdowne campus, Inova officials have said that a better location for the county's next full-service hospital would be the Dulles South corridor.

Supporters of BRMC say there is not a population base along Route 50 to support a full-service hospital.

Does the Department of Health's approval of the HealthSouth facility repudiate this claim?

Drivers Ticketed At Three Checkpoints

At three checkpoints in the past few weeks, which were set up during the evening rush hour, Loudoun County sheriff's deputies cited 27 motorists for driving without a license or with a suspended license. Other drivers were issued citations for inspection and registration infractions.

"Motorists can expect at least one more license checkpoint this summer," sheriff's spokesman Kraig Troxell said.

The agency, he said, is continuing its crackdown on unlicensed drivers in Loudoun.

Officials said the locations of the checkpoints were based on daily traffic stop reports that showed increased license violations in those areas.

The most recent checkpoint was Wednesday evening from 4 to 7 p.m. at Countryside Boulevard and Carrolton Road. At this stop, 1,335 vehicles passed through; 42 citations were issued for license, inspection and registration infractions.

During the July 16 checkpoint on Church Road in Sterling, 2,105 vehicles passed through, and 27 citations were issued.

And at the July 30 checkpoint on Ashburn Farm Road between Scarlett Rush Road and Marshfield Terrace, 1,649 motorists passed through the stop, and 27 summonses were issued.

In addition to license, inspection and registration violations, officers nab motorists for other offenses at checkpoints.

At Wednesday's stop, Troxell said, two people were charged with reckless driving, and two motorists were ticketed for violating Virginia's safety seat law. At the July 16 blockade, one driver was charged with possession of marijuana and another with a window tint infraction, he said.

Blogger Pablo Averbuj, who was caught up in Wednesday's dragnet without violation, questioned whether authorities should have the right to stop motorists at checkpoints without cause. He mentioned the recent police blockades in a high-crime D.C. neighborhood and a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling that invalidates such checkpoints.