The voters might have given Guam Governor Lou Leon Guerrero a new legislative majority that will help her to fix the critical problems at Guam Memorial Hospital’s current facility, not to mention a seeming majority of senators who appear to be done with the debate on building a new hospital in Mangilao. With the notable exception of Democrat Chris Barnett, the 10-day old Thirty-eighth Guam Legislature – led by nine Republicans against six Democrats – appears far more willing to work with the Democrat governor to fix medical care problems on island.
All but one of the legislature’s new Republican senators toured the dilapidating GMH Thursday, providing the public not just a glimpse into the deterioration and safety hazards there, but also the cold reality that the previous legislature failed to provide GMH the money it needs to make “critical” upgrades to the physical plant that will patch up health and safety hazards as the government builds a new hospital. The Republican senators, members of Sabrina Salas Matanane’s legislative health committee, said this is their medical care priority. And the governor’s office said Ms. Leon Guerrero wants to help them to accomplish these goals.
It is a far cry from legislative leadership of the health committee the past four years, when former health committee chairwoman Therese Terlaje and the governor were at odds and impasse on virtually every GMH-related matter.
Ms. Salas Matanane could hardly hold back both her anger and her tears about the previous legislature’s failure to appropriate funds for GMH or at the very least to have worked with the hospital in identifying the priority projects senators would need to fund. GMH officials impressed upon senators that for years now, the estimated price tag for making the repairs necessary to bring GMH up to code has been pegged at $700 million, which is why the governor and her predecessor Eddie Calvo decided during their respective terms to pursue new hospital construction.
It was Shelly Vargas Calvo and Vince Borja, both freshmen Republican senators, who requested GMH officials to carve out the emergent and urgent projects needed to bring a semblance of safety and proper function, and to give the new health committee that price tag so that senators can find the money to make the projects happen.
GMH officials have yet to provide that carved out list and ballpark estimate as of the publication of this story.
“This remains a priority for the governor, who is open to meeting with senators to explore resources and solutions for these necessary fixes,” her spokeswoman Krystal Paco-San Agustin said about whether the governor agrees with the Republicans about the urgency of finding the funds to make GMH critical repairs.
“First, the governor is willing to work with and listen to anyone who is willing to work with and listen to her,” Ms. Paco-San Agustin continued. “Second, improving GMH’s struggle for resources means knowing the various pressures every hospital in the nation is under and realizing the added challenges that exist for GMH.”
As senators the past three years debated the location of a new GMH to the point of impasse, current hospital conditions continued to deteriorate despite tens of millions in funding and upgrades Ms. Leon Guerrero dedicated federal pandemic funds to complete. That deterioration was on full display for senators to experience:
- Sections of the hospital that are warm and humid
- Mold growing on the interior walls and ceilings
- Leaks that endanger the hospital’s electrical system
- The absence of needed on-campus MRI services
- Outdated hospital recovery rooms
- Maternity care environments that continue to burden the staff and patients
- Financial woes stemming from poor collections, belated TEFRA rebasing, and other factors
- Hospital exterior walls covered in dirt and mildew
- Inadequate parking for the sick, their families, and people with disabilities
- Inadequate medical staffing for the hospitalization needs of patients
“This fuels me more to make the improvements at Guam Memorial Hospital and health care in general for our people because they deserve better,” Ms. Salas Matanane said about her reaction to the hospital’s present condition. She said she will be reaching out to the governor to work with her in identifying funding sources for senators to appropriate the money needed for GMH critical repairs. “We are definitely going to be working together.”
“There is a national nursing shortage closing specialty beds and hospitals throughout the country,” the governor’s spokeswoman said, expounding on her point about the pressures hospitals face throughout the nation. “Second, GMH must treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay or the insufficiency of reimbursement rates—if we understand where we are, we can find common ground by listening to the doctors and nurses doing the job.”
Ms. Salas Matanane thus far has been listening to GMH doctors and nurses. In her Thursday assessment and walk through of the hospital, she listened to the myriad problems GMH administrative and nursing officials explained to her and her three Republican colleagues. On her way through a dilapidating fourth floor hallway, she graded the state of GMH’s facilities as an “F” when KUAM’s Nick Delgado asked for her assessment.
“The people of Guam should be critical of the people who have been in charge – our elected leaders – who should have done more,” Ms. Salas Matanane said as hospital officials made it clear to her that despite all the debate about the location of a new hospital, the previous legislature failed to address the current hospital’s conditions.
“I’m disappointed,” the freshman senator said about the legislature’s previous leadership on the hospital.
“This is an equivalent to an injustice to our people and to our community,” Ms. Calvo said. “Health care is one of those things we need to provide, especially in an island with no immediate access to get out of here and the hospital system should have an integral structure, at least. I am disheartened. This is not what the people of Guam deserve.”
Tony Ada, the new legislative vice speaker, said the Republicans are going to prioritize the funding needed for GMH repairs and that they will work with the governor to make these fixes happen.
“We’re going to have to…. ensure that the hospital gets the resources needed to turn around and keep this hospital sustainable until the new hospital is built,” the vice speaker said. “There’s going to be challenges, absolutely, but it’s imperative that we do it. There’s no other choice.”
He said Ms. Salas Matanane will be calling her committee together in the near future to begin exploring solutions. The Republicans’ deliberations may be aided by the Democrat governor. Ms. Paco San Agustin said the governor “won’t refuse their ideas just because they came from a Republican and she expects that they can speak with dignity even if she is a Democrat. If we start there good things are possible.”
New Hospital Management
A concern bridging current hospital operations with the operation of a much larger medical campus led to the governor hinting months ago about the possibility of a public private partnership for the management of GMH. On Tuesday, Therese Terlaje introduced legislation that would mandate a PPP for GMH, starting with the creation of a committee to formulate the details of the procurement through a request for proposals.
“A Public-Private Partnership offers the best path forward for GMH,” Ms. Terlaje said in the news release where she announced the introduction of her bill, numbered 13-38. “It allows the government to ensure critical services like maternal care remain accessible, while bringing in private-sector expertise to improve efficiency and address long-standing challenges.”
“We are reviewing the details of Senator Terlaje’s bill for a public-private partnership, as we all know the devil is in the details,” the governor’s spokeswoman said about the legislation. “That said, the governor has publicly stated she is open to some form of public-private partnership with the hospital.”
Sources have told Kandit that the governor fully intends to have the new hospital facility managed through a public-private partnership, and that that has been her intention for quite some time.
Lingering Bickering Over Land
While the Thirty-eighth Guam Legislature is poised to move forward with current GMH improvements and the reality that the governor has won the debate on building the new GMH in Mangilao, Senator Chris Barnett continues to resist the governor’s plans and policies directly and indirectly related to GMH.
Over the past three years the governor had waged and finally won her campaign to build the new hospital in Mangilao. Her critics on the matter – who have included some senators and doctors – have campaigned for the facility to be built where the old hospital once stood: Ypao Point. That debate ended when the governor successfully obligated the balance of American Rescue Plan Act funds by the December 31, 2024 deadline.
Despite the obligation of the funds toward the building of a new GMH in Mangilao, Mr. Barnett had indicated his desire to resurrect the Ypao Point option in the new legislature. The governor, however, beat her adversary to the punch, introducing legislation this past Monday to return the unused portion of the government’s Ypao Point property to the heirs of the man who gave the property to the government decades ago so GovGuam could build a hospital there.
The late businessman Frank D. Perez donated the property to GovGuam in the mid-Twentieth Century on the non binding condition that GovGuam use the property for a public hospital. GovGuam built a hospital there, but the facility had to close down in the late 1970s following devastation from Supertyphoon Pamela in 1976. The structure remained vacant until this century, when the government demolished it.
Kandit, in several editorials over the past three years, has advocated for the return of the property to Mr. Perez’s heirs if GovGuam would no longer use Ypao Point for a new hospital. Dr. Vincent Akimoto, one of the governor’s chief critics on the hospital location issue, has agreed with this position. Now, senators will begin the work of scrutinizing the governor’s proposal to return the property.
“A government hospital was built, serving the community for over 20 years,” the governor said in her news release announcing the introduction of her legislation. “Its purpose and the commitment of the Perez family have been fulfilled. With the health facility now secured in Mangilao, it is only right that this property be returned so the Perez family can make the best use of it moving forward.”
The move triggered a surprising response from Mr. Barnett, who previously called on Ms. Leon Guerrero to return excess lands in its inventory to original or ancestral land owners.
“Ypao Point was originally entrusted to the government of Guam for the public good and should remain in public hands, serving a greater purpose that benefits the entire community—whether by expanding specialty healthcare services, providing affordable housing, or supporting other community projects,” Mr. Barnett said in a news release opposing the governor’s bill to return the property to the Perez family.
He further insinuated that the Perez family would develop the land into luxury homes or condos and increase surrounding property values. The governor’s private residence is meters from Ypao Point. However, the Perez family has confirmed they were not consulted about the legislation, were as surprised as everyone else about its introduction, and that they have never considered building luxury homes or condos at the site.
“GovGuam has within its power the ability to return the Ypao Point land to its original landowners, but Barnett is flip-flopping on his previous advocacy for land returns to original landowners and trying to block the Perez family from benefitting from the land their grandfather and great-grandfather worked hard to earn,” a news release from the governor’s office responding to Mr. Barnett’s accusations states. “Why would Barnett reverse himself on an issue he championed, impose a double-standard, and force the Perez family to sacrifice their land for a hospital when he criticized this same action at Eagles Field? What is his true motivation? It seems his true motivation is to block the Governor from building a new hospital at all costs, and curry favor with his wealthy doctor benefactors–even if it costs original landowners the rights to their property. That’s truly Malafunkshun.”
3 Comments
Cel Babauta
01/16/2025 at 5:27 AM
I fully concur that there’s a tremendous need to improve GMH. However, since 2028 gubernatorial candidate Lou Leon Guerrero was vividly emphasizing that she will fix GMH, regain accreditation, and that she’s the best candidate to do such issue because she is a nurse and understands the challenges of the hospital.
Almost 8 years later the hospital is more problematic than ever. The alarming thing about GMH now is that the facility is not only full of holes, leaks, and dilapidated but the administration of the hospital, its finances, pharmaceutical are all problematic.
Additionally, they were engaged in questionable contracts that favor their friends and as a result they were paying more but less in return.
I urge the republicans to be objective in their dealings with this administration. To arbitrarily get into a sweet heart deal with the governor for political ambitions rather than for the people of Guam is not going to be favorable for them.
Why build the hospital in Mangilao when the consultant the Governor hired to determine the best location for the new hospital stated is in Tamuning. Moreover, the great majority of the doctors and medical professionals favor Tamuning because clinics and medical support facilities are there. In a short analogy, would a person seek a politician to get advice in going to war or from a general? Therefore, I beg to differ with the Governor in getting advice from political and businessmen rather than medical professionals.
Thanks for allowing me to submit my comments.
Cel Babauta
01/16/2025 at 5:33 AM
Update to my previous submitted:
I mean the gubernatorial candidate Lou Leon Guerrero during her campaign back i 2018 was strongly emphasizing that she was candidate to fix GMH and regain accreditation because of her experience as a nurse.
Alan San Nicolas
01/16/2025 at 7:06 AM
I man malofan na teimpo meggai I ma fattoigue (bisita) I espitat ki u guaha aksión ni po ma korihi I achakis. AFAÑELOS ~ MAILA HALOM