Lee Memorial board votes for HealthPark expansion

By doing so, the board adopted a position that runs against a resolution recently adopted by the executive committee of the Lee County Republican Party. That resolution endorsed a plan to use extra money from Cape Coral for Lee Memorial's trauma center, eliminating the need for a sales tax referendum.

There was virtually no debate about using the Cape Coral funds during the board meeting. Only one member, Dr. Michael Fletcher, who also wrote the resolution adopted by the GOP, voted against the move.

Earlier, Jim Nathan, president and CEO of Lee Memorial Health System, said that it was critical to expand to remain competitive in a rapidly growing community.

"We have to keep up," he said.

HealthPark Medical Center currently has 238 beds; the expansion will raise that to 360, with additional beds in pediatrics, intensive care and medical/surgical care. The hospital will also have more advanced technology to use in areas such as children's care and cardiac care.

Fletcher could not be reached for comment after the meeting; neither could any members of the GOP executive committee. The Health System's board meeting ended late Friday afternoon and many members of the local Republican Party's executive committee were attending a fund-raiser attended by Vice President Dick Cheney in Estero.

When Lee Memorial Health System bought Cape Coral Hospital for $140 million, it also set money aside in escrow. But the total amount of that money has never been revealed because of a confidentiality agreement that Lee Memorial agreed to when it made the purchase. Some of that money in escrow will pay off Cape Coral's liabilities under previous ownership, which could include malpractice suits as well as criminal charges and civil suits rooted in the misappropriation of funds by former administrators.

Fletcher has said that Lee Memorial could still get $40 million after all of those issues are settled, though others have said the sum returned would probably be much lower.

James T. Humphrey, an attorney for Lee Memorial Health System's board of directors, said the hospital would not know for certain how much money it would get from escrow before March 2004.