Op Front

Sinai And Grace Unite

The two Outer Drive hospitals will consolidate operations into one facility
the current Sinai:

JULIE EDGAR SENIOR WRITER

11116,000 births, 100,000

emergency room visits
and 38,000 admissions
each year, Grace-Sinai
Hospital will be a very busy
place.
The consolidation of the two
Outer Drive hospitals under one
roof— Sinai's — was not unex-
pected. When Detroit Medical
Center, which operates seven
hospitals, purchased Sinai ear-
lier this year, many health care
experts assumed one or the oth-
er building would be shut down,
given their proximity, an over-
lap in services and a bleak fu-
ture of inpatient medical care.
Grace is the former Mt.
Carmel Hospital at Outer Dri-
ve and Schaefer.
The consolidation and reno-
vation, which will cost between
$135 million and $150 million,
will include the closure of Grace
in about three years and ex-
pansions and additions to Sinai,

among them the construction of
a 125,000-square-foot outpatient
care facility on the campus in
northwest Detroit. Other plans

Consolidation and
millions for
renovations.

include the doubling of the. size
of the emergency department,
expansion of the obstetrics unit,
the construction of a new park-
ing deck and the reconfiguration
of entrances.
The kosher kitchen at Sinai
will continue to operate, as will
a non-kosher kitchen on the
premises.
"From a medical perspective,
this is really almost a new in-
stitution. It'll be like starting
over again," said Dr. William

Pinsky, chief executive of Sinai
and associate dean of the Wayne
State University School of Med-
icine. He joined Sinai in Febru-
ary, when DMC bought Sinai for
a reported $50-70 million.
DMC Chief Executive Officer
David Campbell glowed about
the consolidation at a press con-
ference this week. He said the
loss of about 340 full-time jobs
most likely will happen through
attrition, but anticipated that
physician staffing will stay the
same or increase. Campbell
added that the medical staffs of
both hospitals were closely in-
volved in the planning process.
The merger, which will save
DMC $50 million in operating
costs each year, means a loss of
roughly 600 beds. Grace-Sinai
will house 530 licensed beds.
But occupancy rates at both
hospitals varied between 50 and
60 percent, Campbell said. The
rate at the new hospital is ex-

petted to hover around 85 per-
cent, he said.
"We shouldn't equate beds
with doctors being busy," Pin-
sky said. "So much of what we
do now is in an ambulatory set-
ting. We need fewer inpatient
beds. It would be nice to contin-
ue the way we are now ... the
problem is overhead and it costs
us money."
Campbell noted that the new
campus will be a major teaching
site for Wayne State's medical
school.
DMC will work with commu-
nity groups in the area to decide
the best use of the Grace Hos-
pital property, Campbell said.
The purchase of Sinai by
DMC is part of a trend toward

hospital consolidations nation-
wide. In 1991, DMC bought Mt:
Carmel Hospital and moved
Grace Hospital into the build-
ing. The old Grace facility on
Meyers Road was left to the bull-
dozer, and today the fallow prop-
erty is supposed to be developed
into a Super Kmart.
Campbell said DMC chose to
save the Sinai building because
it offers more flexibility for ex-
pansion and reconfiguration.
Douglas A. Klegon, the vice
president of planning and mar-
keting at DMC, said within the
next year DMC might consoli-
date some of its outpatient clin-
ics, which number about 100,
throughout the metropolitan
area. ❑

Publicity Deadlines

The normal deadline for local news and publicity items
is noon Thursday, eight days prior to issue date. The
deadline for out-of-town obituaries is 10 a.m. Tuesday,
three days prior to issue date.
All material must be typewritten, double-spaced, on
81 /2 x 11 paper and include the name and daytime tele-
phone number of sender.

If you are not wearing it...
sell it!...
or BORROW on it!

You can't enjoy jewelry if it's sitting
in your safe deposit box. Sell or bor-
row omit for immediate cash. We deal
in jewelry, watches & gemstones.

&Service to Private
Owners, Banks &
Estates

Gem/Diamond Specialists

AWARDED CERTIFICATE BY GIA
IN GRADING & EVALUATION

30400 Telegraph Rd. • Suite 134
Bingham Farms 642-5575

Fne Jewelers

Lawrence M. Allan, President

Daily 'Til 5:30
Sat. 'Til 3

DRINKING
AND DRIVING
DON'T MIX!

Showroom Hours: Monday-Friday 11.5 • Saturday 11.3 • or by appointment

3160 Haggerty Rd, • West Bloomfield • 48323 • 810-624-7300

EST. 1919

■

IIMMIN*111•11
1
NMI'
SIMI
1111=111
II
111 aINIMIll

■

AO. T•

Hebrew Memorial Chapel

26640 Greenfield Rd. Oak Park MI 48237
810-543-1622 • Outside MI1-800-730r5033