Where has Dr. Marcus Welby Gone?

An article in the Outlook section of The Washington Post recently asked the question, Is Marcus Welby History? In my case the answer is, No; He is alive and well in Leesburg, VA.

I am 72. A few weeks ago my wife was concerned that I was not recovering properly from a minor out-patient procedure performed at our local hospital. She called our family physician, Dr. John Andrew’s cell phone. When he answered sounding out of breath, she asked if he was OK. His answer was, “Yes, I am running the last leg of the Boston Marathon with my daughter.” He then discussed my condition with my wife, and made several suggestions. As it turns out, as he predicted, I was fine.

This was not the first of these “after hours” calls. Last winter Dr. Andrew returned a message my wife left at his office from a chairlift in Utah.

Over a year ago Dr. Andrew realized that he could not practice the medicine he was trained to and wanted to provide. His practice had grown to several thousand patients and, like me, most were “senior citizens” and the rest were soon to be. John and one of his partners, Dr. Jack Cook, formed a new practice giving his then current patients a choice of staying with the larger group practice, or becoming patients at a new practice restricted to 400 patients for each doctor. This new practice carries a $1,500 annual fee, which is not covered by insurance. This year my annual physical, covered by this fee, was the most thorough I have ever received. I carry the results, including all lab tests (covered by insurance), on a mini CD in my wallet.

Dr. Andrew and his partner’s practice is part of MDVIP, a national organization helping doctors practice preventive care and provide the personal attention long ago forgotten.

Culture of Civility

A place where everybody knows your name – I am not referring to Cheers, the popular Boston bar made famous by the TV sitcom, but to a small university in the central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Washington & Lee University traces its name to two of our country’s greatest leaders. Founded in 1749 as Augusta Academy, the trustees filled with patriotism in 1776 changed the name to Liberty Hall. When fire destroyed the main building and financial trouble threatened the school, George Washington donated $20,000. This was one of the largest gifts to any educational institution at that time. In recognition of his generosity the school was renamed Washington College. Robert E. Lee believed that education was important to reunite a deeply divided nation. After the Civil War, Lee moved to Lexington, Virginia and was appointed president of Washington College. Lee established colleges of commerce, journalism, and arts. After his death, Washington College was renamed Washington & Lee University.

Lee and Grant saved the Nation from years of insurgent gorilla warfare. With great civility they negotiated the Confederate Army’s surrender at Appomattox and sent the soldiers home to farm their fields. Lee established traditions at Washington & Lee that are observed today. Honor, trust, and civility were beliefs held high by Lee. Students today can leave their books, cell phones, iPods, etc. anywhere on Campus and know that they will be there hours or days later. Anyone walking onto the W&L campus will be spoken to with a friendly greeting and with an offer of help if necessary. This respect for others has been called the culture of civility.

From this culture has grown great leaders of my life time,governors, senators, Supreme Court justices, authors, journalists, and many others who have served their county with distinction and without great publicity. With civility comes humility.

As I watched my daughter graduate this June from W&L with her 430 classmates, I knew I was in the presence of some of the future great leaders of the 21st Century. Of course there is no doubt in my mind that she will be one.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Glen Caroline, the newly elected chairman of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, recently held a meeting of a small group of Republican activists to discuss his and their goals for the Republican Party in Loudon County. A few years ago I lost interest in the LCRC when the meetings I attended turned into the equivalent of a food fight. This recent meeting was not a formal LCRC meeting but rather Glen’s opportunity to repeat his views, which he expressed in his acceptance speech, on the newly organized Committee, and to get a feeling about how best to help Republican candidates.

Glen impressed me as someone who could chair an efficient meeting of many strong willed individuals who are not reticent about expressing their views. He focused on the common beliefs of most Republican. “Respect” was a word I heard him use often. Glen quoted Abraham Lincoln and clearly espoused Ronald Reagan’s “Big Tent” philosophy of welcoming all who share the core beliefs of Republicans such as limited government, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and a strong national defense. Social issues were not discussed, for which I am glad, as these are the issues that are the most divisive.

As word spreads about Glen’s leadership, I predict membership in the LCRC and the Republican Party will grow, and in time, so will the success of Republican candidates. With new leadership, and a strong positive message, the Republican Party and the Loudoun County Committee will have a message that will inspire and attract liberal, moderate, and conservative Republican to the big tent. If you want to be inspired, play this Video put together for the new LCRC website by my good friend Dave D'Onofrio.

Back on My Feet

While working out at my gym recently and listening and watching the news on an overhead TV, a short segment on CNN caught my attention - maybe because it was a very different story than the usual pieces on politics, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was an interview with a young marathon runner in Philadelphia who is helping the homeless get back on their feet.

I must admit I have never been one pursue the challenges of working with the homeless. However, I do admire those that help anyone who is down on their luck and struggling to put their lives back together. For some reason this story really struck a chord with me.

Anne Mahlum, the Philadelphia marathoner and the founder of Back on My Feet, hands out running shoes, hats, and other running gear to homeless individuals who are clean, sober and live in a shelter. Moving everyone’s life forward, homeless or not, is their goal.

Last year there was a lot of NIMBY angst in the press and elsewhere about Good Shepherd Alliances' Center of Hope homeless facility in Ashburn. Perhaps running in the morning with doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, and the homeless as happens in Philly, might benefit everyone in Loudoun County.

A Step Ahead of the President

Our daughter Inslee is a talented artist. Since she was five years old, she has been sketching and drawing pictures that have amazed her mother and me. Every year for the last sixteen years she has designed our Christmas cards. Many friends have saved every one. It was no surprise when many of her college classmates asked her to create sketches for special events, invitations, etc. This sparked the idea of designing note cards for a web-based business. The note cards she designed were in color. Finding a printer that could print high quality cards in high quality color in a relatively low volume at a price we could afford proved challenging - until we discovered Colorcraft in Sterling, Virginia. Their staff was as intrigued with Inslee’s work as we were. They were able to take her drawings, convert them into digital images, and print them on a digital press.

On March 26th the President visited Colorcraft and saw a postcard printed especially for him on their digital press - the same one that produces Inslee’s cards. The next day I jokingly asked our account executive, Bryan Koons who lives in Purcellville, if he shook the President’s hand. The answer was, “yes.” The President shook the hand of every Colorcraft employee, answered questions and told personal stories like why his father, Bush I, decided to make a parachute jump after he left The White House.

The President’s visit was front page news in the local papers. He told Jim Mayes, the president of Colorcraft, that the economic stimulus bill he had just signed would help companies like Colorcraft that are capital intensive. Accelerating depreciation on expensive presses and software the company needs to grow and maintain their competitive position will help the local economy and create more jobs. The President was pleased to hear that Colorcraft is sensitive to the environment using soy based ink, recycled paper and other green processes when ever possible.

My family had already discovered Colorcraft and had experienced first hand the fine work they do. (Pardon the commercial – you can too, by going to Inslee’s website) If you go to Colorcraft’s website, you will see examples of the work they do. Look carefully and you will also see several of Inslee’s images on their website.

Not Yet on Life Support But…

Health care is one of the top issues for the presidential candidates this year. But in Loudoun County we have our own health care issues. Not who pays but where we get the hospital and emergency room service all of us will require at sometime.

Loudoun County has a first class hospital, INOVA’s Loudoun Hospital at Lansdowne, with an ER both at the Lansdowne facility and in downtown Leesburg where the original hospital was located before it moved to Lansdowne. INOVA Health Systems is a large hospital and medical facility holding company based in Northern Virginia. In addition to Loudoun, INOVA owns and operates, Alexandria Hospital, Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax Hospital for Children, Fair Oaks Hospital, and Mt. Vernon Hospital.

Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), based in Nashville, Tennessee owns and operates 170 hospitals in the United States. Reston Hospital is owned by HCA.

Several years ago, HCA sought to build a second hospital in Broadlands at the intersection of the Greenway and Belmont Ridge Road. This proposed hospital, known as the Broadlands Regional Medical Center (BRMC) would have a full ER service and a number of other medical facilities associated with major hospitals. The State of Virginia Department of Health granted BRMC the required “certificate of public need” expressly stating that Loudoun County needed a 2nd hospital. HCA, now armed with the COPN turned to the Loudoun Board of Supervisors and INOVA pulled out all the stops and persuaded the Board to deny HCA’s application in August 2005.

With the growth of Loudoun certainly the need is even greater today. Nevertheless INOVA is doing everything to see that the BRMC is never built. The land use decision by the BOS is now the subject of a law suite by HCA.

As readers will remember I am a believer in “free markets” be it toll roads, hospitals, or most private businesses, and a few government businesses that should be private like air traffic control (Of Vacuum Tubes and Sealing Wax). In fact I am a bit puzzled as to why the State of Virginia even has a say in this.

Some say that the last BOS turned down the HCA application purely for political reasons. Now we have a new BOS, the majority of which represents a different party. Let’s hope this time reason prevails and not politics. It is time to compromise, drop the law suite, and build this critically needed medical center – in fact, it is probably easy to argue that the County needs a third hospital once this is approved. HCA has the ability to do this and bring not only first class medical service to our community, but also high paying jobs that will have a very significant economic impact. With the loss of AOL and other high-tech companies, BRMC would bring a lot to the table and the County’s vital signs would improve.

Déjà vu All Over Again

I thought of Yogi Berra, the king of the malaprop, when I heard about the goings-on during this week’s Town Council meeting. Frank Holtz, who has been a law enforcement professional for 23 years, was nominated by Ken Reid for the Town’s Standing Residential Traffic Committee. It would seem to Yogi and any other clear thinking individual that the Town would be lucky to have such a professional advising the Council on traffic and public safety. Then politics got in the way of reason.

Kelly Burk suddenly announced that she had several other, presumably, more qualified candidates. Mayor Umstattd, at Burk’s request, asked the Council to table the appointment. The night before, when Reid discussed this appointment at the Town Council work session, there was no objection. What happened between late Monday and Tuesday night? Frank Holtz announced that he would run for the Town Council next May, and Burk discovered that Holtz was helping Jim Clem in his reelection bid for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. Clem’s opponent? Kelly Burk of course. A three-year-old can connect these dots.

I remember well three years ago when Katie Hammler tried to appoint yours truly to the Airport Commission. A long line of speakers, including former Council members, Town managers, and prominent citizens spoke to support my nomination. There were no negative comments. Yet, Umstattd, Burk, Martinez and Kramer, the Democratic gang of four, voted no and the nomination failed. Was there any connection to the fact that a year earlier I had worked on Bob Zoldos’s campaign to unseat Umstattd? You connect those dots.

Umstattd and Burk do not need Halloween costumes. We are tasting the witch’s brew, and watching the cauldron bubble.

Where’s Wegmans?

In 2004 a rezoning application for a mixed used development, The Village at Leesburg, with Wegmans as an anchor tenant, was presented to the Town of Leesburg. After another year, in November of 2005, the rezoning was approved. This summer, almost two years later, grading finally began for the project. But unbelievably the site plan for the project has still not been approved. Will Wegmans be patient, or will they find another site that can be approved more efficiently? Think One Loudoun.

A loss of Wegmans would be a loss for Leesburg. I remember another very similar project that like The Village of Leesburg that was compelled to build a very expensive grade-separated flyover interchange. The project was forced to file for bankruptcy. It was then was taken over by the lender. Eventually the development was completed after millions had been lost by all parties. The project was Cascades.

We can blame the Town planning department for this delay but there is a higher authority to which the planners report - the Town Council. The Town Council is led by the Mayor who has great influence. For years she was a member of the Planning Commission.

Mayor Kristen Umstattd and her close allies, Kelly Burk and Marty Martinez, tend to vote in lock-step and believe Leesburg is just the downtown Historic District. To this group Economic Development means brick sidewalks, way finding signs, and traffic calming medians filled with weeds. (Drive into Leesburg via South King Street to see this “garden” of weeds.)

This Wegmans mess is only one example of the difficulty of doing business in Leesburg, opportunities lost, revenues lost and unnecessary expenditures. It is systemic of our Town government. Stay tuned as I will be writing about other perhaps more dramatic examples.