Moffitt Mania
 

Here's another slant on the Moffitt money crusade..
It's in the paper..That doesn't mean it's true though..



http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...1468200.column

Another thread started on this article earlier.

Still just thoughts from a Moffitt competitor. Can't put much stock in anything Bonefish says about Red Lobster.

I don't care a whole lot for either Bonefish or Red Lobster but as a Cancer Radiation Treatment survivor from the "competitor" I think you need a wake up call to understand that the same wonderful treatment to be offered in TV by Moffitt is already here in TV. Drive by Clemente Court and you will see it, just as Lauren Ritchie described it! A lot easier to be a doubting Thomas when you haven't had Radiation treatment to cure your cancer. I hope you don't have the opportunity for a first hand assessment of the services offered by either competitor!

I guess thats why there is more than one doctor, hospital, landscaper, lawn service, mechanic, car dealership, etc. You pick the one you like and move on.
I's sure there are many other cancer survivors that were treated at other facilities and are as satisfied as you. I'm glad yours was a success and you are happy.

Who said it wasn't already here? That's the point I was trying to make.

Red Lobster knew that we already had a good fish chain but evaluated the business risk and went ahead with construction.

Target knew that Walmart was already here (maybe the other way around?) but they evaluated the business risk and went ahead with construction.

CFHA knew that a good radiation center existed but evluated the business risk and went ahead with the affliation.

Etc. Etc.

Not much more than supply vs demand at work. Maybe, just maybe, I'm not the one who needs to wake up to reality?

I hope you are well now.

Competition is wonderful. I have no complaints or problems with it. Gives me more choices which is fine by me.

But Red Lobster and Target and Wal-Mart and all the other businesses who evaluated the risk and decided to open in The Villages did not ask us to contribute money so they could open their business. We didn't have to give money to buy the tables and salt & pepper shakers at Red Lobster or the shelves and shopping carts at Target and Wal-Mart.

IMO, that's the big difference.

That's correct and if this was some sort of tax I'd be up in arms. But we can educate ourselves and make up our own mind. So this discussion has value.

Moffitt mania
 

:BigApplause:

Couldn't agree with you more on this one...

There's obviously something in this for Morse, or he wouldn't be "partnering" with the facility. The fact that he is using the Daily Sun as a means of "selling" the facility is annoying enough, but pulling on the emotional heartstrings of good hearted Villagers to get them to donate is distasteful to me. The Morse media machine is basically duping or trying to dupe the residents here by saying things like "when the Moffitt center opens in the Fall, the residents won't have to settle for second-rate or third-rate care". That just isn't true. We already have a good facility here, and in Leesburg. The new center is basically duplication. As Russ Boston pointed out, anyone who would like to make a donation is certainly welcome to. I just can't understand why people would want to donate the millions of dollars for the equipment, when as the Orlando Sentinel pointed out, the new facility will be able to recoup that money with a couple of years given that radiation centers like this are highly lucrative. It is laudable of residents to donate to non-profit causes, but in my opinion, there are many others that might be better candidates than this one.

I have a few issues with contributing to Moffitt:

1. Why do we need a Moffitt in TV and in Leesburg? Sounds like a nice bit of advertising hype for TV, but can't think of any other reason.

2. That contributions to Moffitt are basically being forced on us -- from what I understand, any charitable event held in any TV property must give a portion of its proceeds to Moffitt, regardless of the cause. (Mind you, I have not been able to totally verify this, but I do know of a few events that have had to give at least 10% to Moffitt even though their event had nothing to do with cancer.)

3. If it's true that any funds not collected by contributions will be taken from the funds set aside for the hospital scheduled to be built by Brownwood, that just doesn't seem right to me.

4. The non-stop solicitations in the Daily Sun. I'm sick of having it shoved down my throat on a daily basis. If it's a such a good thing, it shouldn't need the non-stop hype.

5. My biggest disappointmen -- the taking away of the Walk of Like because the ACS wouldn't share the proceeds. This is an event that's truly important to the hearts of many Villagers. To force it to go out of TV is not just wrong, it is obscene IMO.

Okay, off this soapbox. I'm sick of Moffitt Center here, there and everywhere. I do not like Moffitt Center, Sam I am.

I understand....now another question
 

I'm seeing more arguments against this that I understand and can agree with. What I have wondered all along is this:

To me, it stands to reason that, with Moffitt coming in with a comprehensive approach to all phases of cancer from diagnostics thru all treatment given, there will be far more oncology patients at TVRHospital and medical/surgical oncology practices....resulting in far more patients in need of radiation treatment here than Bouisanneault can accommodate in the time frame needed.

To me, it seems like the existing radiation practice has its limits as to how many patients it can treat at a given time, and with cancer, time is of the essence. I know a lot about that, from personal experience.

If the patients cannot get their treatments at the time needed because the practice and treatment schedules are full, the patients will have to go elsewhere. And that is what the entire Moffitt project in TV attempts to avert.

I hate that the Morse money machine is taking a cut out of my tickets to the Savannah Center for the Moffitt center. I hate that they stopped Relay for Life so the Moffett center could get more money. I hate being asked on Market night at the squares for a donation. ( Which my guest gave to...with no clue). I see this as being forced and bullied to make donations. I have spoken and I will not argue about it.

I agree. And as a survivor myself, I still can't say that because I survived I got the BEST treatment available.

It worked for me. But I would want the very best for my Helene or my Sweetie. I would want an affiliation with a large teaching hospital. Which by the way is what I got in Cincinnati.

All cancers are not alike. Some are simpler to deal with than others. When it is YOU or someone you love dearly in the cross hairs, it is your choice and your obligation to get the BEST available. I like choices.

AND I am totally turned off by the way the radiation center is advertising themselves. It is at the least not behavior that I would expect from a top notch facility of medical care. THAT IS JUST MY REACTION to the newspaper advertisements.

Gracie, I agree that Moffit is a great center with some good concepts and whether TV gets one or not, there will be a Moffitt in Leesburg. Moffitt made that commitment before agreeing to come to TV. Sorry, I don't see the need for a Moffitt Center in Leesburg and here and certainly not at the risk of taking away from a hospital that is needed and most certainly not by taking money from other charities.

A very bad position !!!
 

If you are trying to gather support for your position, you would do well not referring to LAUREN RITCHIE or the ORLANDO SENTINEL as they are looking out for only their own interest and could care less about yours.....
They have shown many times that if they can beat up on The Villages and its residents to make a story , they will do so.......... Stay neutral and make your own decisions...Don't follow a pied piper with a bad flute............
excuse me while I write that down .....

fluted fumar ....:popcorn:

For what it's worth
 

My wife had major heart surgery a few months ago at LRMC Following the successful surgery by Dr.Tim Moore and his team from Leesburg-Ocala Heart Institute, the care she was given in the LRMC Cardiac ICU and Cardiac Care Units after the surgery was outstanding which led to her speedy recovery. I had occasion to ask if they will ever have a similar Cardiac Care Center at TVRH and was told, it is too costly to duplicate all that is required for cardiac surgery and care afterwards at another close-by hospital.

Just wondering if it makes financial sense to have multiple Cancer/Oncology facilities, all within an hours drive from the Villages. I realize that there may be more folks needing this type of care than needing heart surgery, but how many facilities are really needed or can be justified?

While thinking about this, I was also wondering why to my knowledge, there has not been any discussion about the need for a level 2 Trauma Center closer to The Villages. I think about that need, every time I read of a a serious automobile accident or, someone being ejected from their golf cart and when I hear a medevac helicopter coming into TV or leaving for Orlando or Tampa or Gainesville. In most of these situations, time is extremely important and golf cart access to the trauma center is a non-issue.

Hancle, those are excellent points. We certainly have the need for a variety of top level medical facilities in a variety of specialties, more so than duplicating the cancer radiation facilities that we already have in the area.

I attended the Bouisanneault open house and was advised by one of the staff that they were operating at 25% capacity in the summer season and 50% in the winter.

Cancer incidence expected to skyrocket with baby boomers aging
 

While people question and even condemn adding more cancer treatment facilities because of possible "duplication" of services, I think it's best to look at what a radiation oncologist told me last year (paraphrasing):

"All projections in our specialty indicate that the incidence of cancer is going to keep rising, but more dramatically in coming decades, as the population of baby bommers etc. ages over 65 and the population lives longer because of medical advances. Cancer incidence is expected to rise and double in the next 2 to three decades and the systems and providers we now have can be quickly overwhelmed and unable to accommodate and treat all who need it."

Take a look at the article linked below, and the numbers given for increased aged population compared to how new oncology centers are already overwhelmed in New York, for example. One key factor for all areas but especially in The Villages is that by 2025, the number of New Yorkers over the age of 65 will have increased by 40% over today's numbers. Go on to read about how for example, Brooklyn's Maimonides 50,000 cancer visits were up 66% in just two years. Its 5-year old $42 million cancer center is already out of space and needs to expand.

This and many other key demographic trends are good to read. Then take into account how aging New Yorkers, for example come to live in The Villages along with the aging population from all other states. I'm only using NYers as an example because I've been told they are the #2 state from which people move to TV.

To me it looks like we need to prepare for this rising tide of cancer driven by larger numbers of people aging.....and what is wrong with paying for some of that ourselves instead of waiting for the government or somebody else to take care of it?!?!?

See: http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...SUB/308229982#
It may require a log-in by Free Trial, but it's easy to do by giving your email address and making a password, and it is well worth the read.

And some wonder why they have started an all out PR assault on the new affliation?

Most go where insurance pays most
 

And just because the provider has 50% or less occupancy does not mean everyone can go there and have bills fully covered by the insurance or medicare advantage plan they have.

I've read that Boissaneault is mainly networked the Ocala Health System, not CFHA. If a patient goes "out of network" having a CHFA plan like Preferred Care Partners, they will usually have to pay a good percentage of the bill themselves, right?

There is no link between CFHA and Preferred Care - one is a business that owns TVRH and the other is a Medicare Advantage Plan. Boissoneault is accepted by Preferred Care, see page 59 of their 2011 provider manual. Dr. Anderson, founder of RBOI, started his practice in Ocala and probably gets a lot of referrals from that area. He then expanded to the Villages using his own funds to build his office and purchase equipment. This move benefited TV and didn't cost us a dime.

I do not know where you got the impression anyone was against the new Moffitt affiliate. What I am against is the fraudulent means that Morse, Daily Sun, CFHA and TVHS has used to extract donations from Villagers. You are not donating to equipment owned by the Moffitt Cancer Center, you are donating for equipment owned by TVHS who has 175 million dollars in assets.

I don't think there was a PR assault, only information that was not available from sources within TV. Some day we will get a real newspaper and be able to make informed decisions.

I was referring to the PR assault by other cancer treatment providers. I don't blame them. They stand to lose a large portion of their practice.