Hospital group wants court’s help to reopen

Judge ordered everyone out of Philipsburg facility

By Greg Bock, gbock@altoonamirror.com
PHILIPSBURG — The group working to reopen Philipsburg Hospital is seeking a reprieve from the federal bankruptcy judge who ordered it out of the facility by the end of the month.

Attorney Richard Behrens, representing Dr. Larry Adams’ Rosewood Real Estate, said Monday that the facility is within “weeks or months’’ of expanding services beyond Adams’ medical practice and questioned why the former owners, Moshannon Valley Citizens, would want to take back a hospital it failed to keep open.

A preliminary injunction by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary D. France raises new doubts about the future of an acute medical facility in Philipsburg, but the group’s new chief executive officer, Tom Robinson, said he believes “we will prevail.”

Robinson, a former hospital administrator in Tyrone, Pittsburgh and the Virgin Islands, said the Philipsburg community needs emergency medical services.

Robinson said the group is organizing a community meeting this week to gauge residents’ views on the hospital, which has been closed for nearly three years since MVC declared bankruptcy.

It’s the contract MVC has with Adams’ group that spurred recent court actions that throw Rosewood’s preparations to reopen into jeopardy. According to Rosewood’s contract, services were to commence by Feb. 1.

‘‘Every race begins with the first step,’’ said Behrens, who noted that his client already has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the facility.

Behrens said payment schedules have been kept and emergency services are slated to begin in mid-May.

Adams, who faces charges related to illegal prescriptions, stepped in to buy the hospital in April 2006.

Behrens said the former owners had no other serious bidders and that prolonged contract negotiations with MVC put the group at a disadvantage to meet the reopening timetable.

The group is asking France to allow work to continue at the hospital until the scheduled April 17 hearing on whether the facility should be turned back over to MVC.

‘‘And if we’re out of here for 17 days, it isn’t going to help our time frame, either,’’ Robinson said.

Adams said Monday that he ‘‘has no plans in stopping’’ efforts to reopen the former hospital. He said volunteers have come forward to help, and work on the building has been virtually nonstop.

Robinson said the group has secured financing to ensure that efforts won’t be hampered by Adams’ pending criminal charges.

He said Adams is prepared to remove himself from the picture should his involvement become a liability.

‘‘He knows it isn’t about him,’’ Robinson said.