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A new sign for Vernon J. Harris
04/27/2009 6:00 AM by John M
The Vernon J. Harris Medical Center at 719 North 25th Street is in the process of building a 28″x5’4″ electronic sign on their property (for community announcements&events, medical alerts, AMBER alerts, weather alerts, etc). While the sign will not physically move, the image on the sign will change every 8 seconds. This comes up before CAR on Tuesday.
What an eyesore (no pun intended). I don’t think a freestanding sign is an appropriate fit for this part of the neighborhood. The fact that it is electronic makes this sign more invasive and uncharacteristic of the adjoining historic neighborhoods.
Those signs are obnoxious. I thought the city code said they couldn’t change more than every nine seconds? There’s one directly across the street from where I work and I can’t stand looking at it. They’re too BRIGHT.
My own chiropractor/PT office installed one of these low-rise, electronic signs at the corner of Grove & Thompson in the near west end, and it, too, is awful. The sign does not in anyway fit in with the established “Benedictine Commons” residential area that surrounds the business. If it had appeared on the busy corner of Ellwood & Thompson just one block south (e.g. Walgreens), I probably wouldn’t have even noticed it.
I’ve seen this issue raised before. If the area is zoned commercial, there is more leeway for the electronic signs. A reading of the zoning ordinance can give some information.
Really? At least the electronic signs can be programmed with current, relevant information that can benefit the community.
With the new round-a-bout intersection, the new trees planted, and the excellent restoration work by contractors in these historic neighborhoods, I feel a bright, flashing, electronic sign reminiscent of those which dot West Broad is a step backwards, and not a step back to the era we’re trying to recapture through historical preservation.
The City is not enforcing code against the ILLEGAL billboard on the 95 bridge, which has been up for years.
Ok folks, if you really feel this sign is inappropriate for the Church Hill North City Old & Historic District (where it would reside) then please send an email to the CAR members and City Preservation Staff before today’s CAR meeting.
Here are their most of their email addresses:
dave@johannasdesign.com,
mattelmes@verizon.net,
mphunton@comcast.net, JWimmer@glaveandholmes.com,
mattelmes@verizon.net,
Brooke.Hardin@richmondgov.com,
James.Hill@richmondgov.com,
Thomas.Potterfield@richmondgov.com
w.l.davis@comcast.net,
sandwarch.plc@verizon.net
RobbMoss@virginiarealty.net
Here’s one more CAR member email address: lwood42@comcast.net (left out of post #8.)
I sent a message to the folks above stating my opposition. I wish I could attend the meeting this afternoon.
I’m not as concerned about the asthetic impact of the proposed LED sign at VJH clinic. I am however, VERY concerned about the cost of a sign (which according to what I found on WatchFire’s website on operating expenses and purchase price for a ploychromatic LED sign of comparable size -28″x5’4″19mm – to the VJH sign shown in the image from their handout posted above) which can average $7000/year to run and selling for $20,000 to $60,000 to buy the sign and software!!!
Until VJH makes use of radio and T.V. PSAs (Public Service Announcements, which are FREE!!!!) and the many community events calendars offered by all local media outlets in both print and web formats – again these are FREE EVENT LISTING SERVICES for all community nonprofit organizations like VJH and the rest of Richmond’s neighborhood health care clinics that make up the CAHN (Capital Area Health Network).
When people are losing their jobs and health insurance they need the services of VJH and low-cost medical services now more than ever. For this reason I hope the money they recieve from Federal, State and city grants, private foundations, corporate gifts and individual charitible donations will be used to expand access to medical, mental health, case management and other support services instead of on a inappropriate, extravagent method of communicating VJH’s messages and alerts to our community residents.
Spending any money on a wasteful, unecessary and tacky sign (that would be more appropriate for Vegas and Atlantic City) is indefensible – especially if a combination of free web, print and broadcast methods effectively “advertise” nonprofit events, services and announcements is available for VJH just like all other local nonprofits that serve our community.
See you all at tonight’s meeting!
Mary Anne, I too am concerned about the amount of money they would be spending for this sign. I agree, they need to put that money into seeing patients, not garish signage, and make use of free PSAs to advertise. I would be at the meeting but unfortunately I have to work tonight. Please speak up loud and clear, and tell them that you are not at all the only one concerned about this use of money. Thanks!
I sent email to the addresses you provided with my vote of oposition too. Thanks CHPN for the members names.I will be unfortunate enough to have to look at the sign every night from my bedroom window if it’s approved.
i have worked in a free clinic setting before. believe me when i say we use whatever resources are available to meet the needs of our clients. however please keep in mind, not everyone has access to the internet, buys the newspaper or sits around listening to the radio all day where they might have an improved chance of hearing a free PSA. which in case some of you didn’t know radio stations choose which PSAs they air and are not required to air all of them that come through the station. while i won’t speculate where the money for this sign will come from, i do want folks to consider the positive impact it could have for the people served by vernon j harris. people who likely don’t have insurance, cars, or other perks of life that some other church hill residents might enjoy.
Jenny, I too have worked in a free clinic setting, and realize that radio stations and television stations choose which PSAs to air, and when to air them (such as in the middle of the night). But I also know that a lot of the federal stimulus money went to clinics such as this one – I assume Vernon J. Harris got money, lots of others did, and I have to wonder if that’s the source of the funds for the sign.
Furthermore, they already are pretty well known, and I don’t see how a large electronic sign would make them any more well known. Between word of mouth and neighbors, I think a lot of the population knows about this clinic.
i think 25th st. bar & grill and the clinic should get together to make a huge & amazing sign the whole neighborhood could be proud of.
the sign will be used to communicate alerts and info to the neighbors who may not have another source for such info. For example, amber alerts, swine flu precautions, and other community awareness info. as indicated at the car meeting the money is not from federal sources but has been collected and saved up over the past 10 years by the clinic. it appears that many of these comments are made by people who aren’t aware of this neighborhood’s lack of resources.
I find it nearly impossible that CAHN has “saved” money for this project over the past 10 years. Saved from where-previous years of federal, grant, donated money not spent??? I worked for them most recently and lack of money is not necessarily the problem for this clinic, appropriate usage of money might be. Ths issue is not, not being able to communicate-all the things mentioned in this blog could, in fact, be posted on a tasteful message board that does not glow in the dark. There are a number of other resources they have at their disposal-community outreach workers to name one who could help with getting information out to the public. While I was not poorly paid while working there I had staff that had to choose between welfare and dignity. The money would be much better spent on any of hundred things for their staff and the community.
zookeeper #18 – “I worked for them most recently and lack of money is not necessarily the problem for this clinic, appropriate usage of money might be.”
Uhoh, I hope they aren’t doing things with money as they did ten or so years ago, that’s what caused them to loose their funding and pretty much shut down, as I recall. I have a friend, medical professional, who was on the board back then, I’d have to ask her what exactly happened, but I know it was bad. I’d hoped the current management had cleaned up their act. Thanks for your post, I agree with you.
Jenny #17 – did CAR approve the sign? Or can someone else post that news?
Actually I rather like #16’s idea….a large and amazing sign….sense of humor, note to self, keep it working….
Jenny,
Before I comment on your last post it would be good to know if CAHN agreed to let you speak on their behalf. If you are you expressing your personal feelings as a concerned citizen/supporter of CAHN.
I applaud you for speaking up for those with limited resources whose need for information which CAHN decided to address by using an electronic, costly sign as their primary means of communicating important information.
I commend anyone willing to speak up for vulnerable populations whose needs and interests which are not always represented by all comments posted to this community blog. Comments can demonstrate there is a disconnect that exists between economic, racial, cultural, educational and geographical groups. Sometimes I’m horrified by things people write but I know their remarks represent a minority of chpn’s readership and our community residents.
Unless someone has studied or worked extensively on issues affecting vulnerable populations it would be safe to assume they wouldn’t be familiar with low-income communities having limited access to basic resources that other socio-economic groups take for granted.
HOWEVER, before you dismiss comments that oppose the LED sign you might not want to suggest the comments opposing the LED sign were made by anyone with a limited “level of awareness” of neighborhood issues lest you call into question YOUR “level of awareness”.
(To prevent any confusion about CAHN’s position on the LED sign I think it would be good to make a clear distinction between comments of CAHN supporters/residents and those made by CAHN official spokespersons.)
Zookeeper and Crd – Thanks for speaking up about the holes in Jenny’s argument.
I do think the LED sign is a poor method of communicating with their target audience but believe VJH and the CAHN are superior to most local clinics in the VCC. I think their website is pretty decent, their renovations at VJH look great and they appear to be gearing up for a community-outreach campaign but should toss their marketing plan and start over and begin using PR basics before spending money like that.
If you’ve not read Terone Green’s letter-to-the-editor in the latest issue of Style you should check it out. I know both of you will appreciate the following points he made based on your comments on the VJH sign idea:
• Attention and dedication to indigent care is crucial for the Richmond area and Virginia. Trani is to be commended for his legacy in that regard. Because this program must be continued after his departure July 1, there must be some key changes. Incoming President Michael Rao would do well to learn from Trani’s initial example. Early in his administration, he spent hours meeting with and learning from the smart and savvy community people, including the doctors. Ultimately, it was assigning this personal touch to staff administrators that caused a level of sensitivity to be lost.
• Rao must take inventory of the management of programs from the top down. An agency is no better than the efficiency and competence of the people who run it.
• Never become too big to build relationships on the grass-roots level. This article would never have been needed had the public servants on all levels of this program been connected to and sensitive to the communities that felt underserved.
• Involve the users of the program. They should be invited into the process of fixing the problems and creating preventive policies on the front end. This would engender trust, openness and mutual respect.
• Simply concentrate on doing a better job. Whether it will take sensitivity training, a stronger code of ethics or closer scrutiny to everyone from medical administrators to the receptionists, there must be accountability for the conduct of how patients are treated. This does not preclude self-scrutiny to assure that people are moving through the process smoothly, expeditiously and respectfully receiving quality health care.
• Finally, by all means, while listening, never be afraid to speak truth when approached by the media about problems. Health care from the local to national governments is one of the most complex issues of public policy. There is no shame in saying we are still working to get it right. The VCC will be an excellent program when conducted with dignity.
I was at the CAR meeting for other reasons, and got to hear the entire discussion on this.
CON: There was not a single person present to speak in opposition to this project. Some of the committee members got your direct emails, others didn’t and aren’t really tied to their email. Those emails that were sent to CAR staff were compiled and circulated, and so reviewed by all committee members.
PRO: Several people from CAHN spoke in favor of the sign (including an adorable 81 year-old gentleman born and raised in Church Hill), and a petition was presented with signatures of support from neighbors.
RESULT: The two non-electric signs on the building were approved. The electric sign decision was deferred, though more because the committee members objected to the incongruous colonial styling (the half-circle) of the sign, than the electric part. Things that seemed to weigh in favor were that the location is at the very edge of the historic district and in a commerical corridor, the associated buiding is non-historic in nature, and the sign would be a “public service”. CAR did make it clear that the sign would need to look as much like a painted sign as possible, that is, it would need to switch messages at a frequency of >16 or so seconds, rather than 8; use a limited, muted color palette; no flashing; adjust to ambient light and be off at night. (One wonders why spend the money on an electric sign then? But maybe that’s just me.)
One member wanted further metrics on exactly how much light the sign would put out. Afraid I was severely losing focus by that time, so I don’t know if gathering more info along those lines is part of the next round on this.
PUBLIC SERVICE??? A charity health care clinic spending $40,000 to purchase a sign that will cost around $7000.00 to operate each year has a nerve suggesting this sign is being purchased as a service to the community!!!
Think how many individual perscriptions could be filled with that $40,000!!!
Think of how many counseling sessions they could offer to indigent patients for $40,000!!!
Think of how many vaccines they could give to kids returning to school for $40,000!!!
I will be shocked if the urban design committee considers the “public service” nonsense in their decision concerning this sign but will email them again to oppose VJH’s outrageously expensive sign.
Mary Anne, I agree with you. I have a friend who is both unemployed and diabetic, and the cost of insulin test strips is absolutely astronomical. I spent hours trying to find a way to get them at reduced cost (or free) and failed to do so. Even if the sign cost $30,000 that would be a lot of test strips for her – and a lot of meds and health care for many others. In this day and age, I fail to see how this sign could even have been proposed. Where the heck are they getting this money?
Mary Anne, Vernon J. Harris used to have a board. Do they still? Or an executive director? I’d be curious about the source of funds, and would be interested in asking them directly, either through the board or director or both, if I knew who to contact. Thanks.
One issue at this clinic, as opposed to clinics like the Fan Free Clinic, is this-they have a CEO, COO, a finance gentleman, all non-medical persons. I was hired on the end of walk out- and essentially another group left when I did-including the medical director, nursing supervisor, the head dentist, the second dentist, two of their marketers, the third was let go later, and several nurses…. when this occurs more than once under your lead, if you take responsibility, you make necessary changes. I went to work there because I wanted to give back to the community I lived in. The environment there was not that vehicle. In my OPINION, the sign is not as much about serving the public and getting imoprtant information out as it is a marketing avenue.
I checked out the board of Directors which lists Cynthia Newbille(the proposed 7th district rep. appointee who runs the equally unimpressive East End Family Resource Center that I wrote of here –
/2009/04/04/mayors-proposed-budget-cuts-threaten-programs-of-two-east-end-community-centers/#comment-95764 )
Another name you will recognize on the Board Of Directors list is our former 7th District Represntative, Delores McQuinn.
derek & becky – not all non-clinical staffers are totally clueless about clinical work and a few have studied social, economic, health, and cultural policy to add legitimacy to their marketing and communications plans. it would really improve social service programs if everyone working in human services had more than a communications degree or case management training to counsel patients. well-trained staff would prevent our low-cost clinics spending $40,000 on LED signs to inform the community and claiming such an expense will be providing a “public service”. BLEH.
Mary Anne,
Please stop mentioning costs of the sign. Think about the greater good it can bring to the Church Hill residents. Get a life! Go to work!
Mary Anne,
Please stop mentioning names of individuals who are unable to defend themselves. If you feel the need to make these comments, you know where they are located. Please direct your frustrations about other topics to the correct individuals.
Good Afternoon Church Hill Neighbors!
Capital Area Health Network would like to invite our Church Hill community to an Informational Session.
Where: Vernon J. Harris Medical Center Lobby
When: May 20, 2009 at 6:30p.m. – 8:00p.m.
We encourage the residents to come out and learn all about Capital Area Health Network, our Mission, goals and our plans to better serve our patients.
Share your opinions and let Capital Area Health Network know how we may better serve you!
We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Mary Anne, unlike Sharon in both posts #29 and 30, I appreciate what you have posted. To derek and becky, also thanks, interesting information. It appears that someone at the clinic is reading this, since they have posted the above notice at #31. If I can get off work at that time, I plan to attend.
Sharon #30, I don’t see where publicly available names are a problem, and further I appreciated Mary Anne’s information. I don’t know what your problem is with that, and surely if either Newbille or McQuinn wanted to *defend* themselves they could, however she didn’t post an attack, simply provided the names of two people on the board. Neither of them are defenseless victims of any attack.
I’ve used this clinic and won’t go back as the doc there prescribed an antibiotic to which I am totally allergic (sulfa) and her only response when I called and asked was ‘oh well mistakes happen.’ Huh? She didn’t read my chart? I’m clear with all medical professionals about known allergies. So I’ve got a problem with the so-called service at the place, along with the cost of this sign. I think if it were properly run, it could provide a good service up here. I also have experience as both a volunteer and patient at Fan Free, and there’s a world of difference IMHO.
For the record, Tracey Causey retured each one of my calls and played phone tag with me right up to the CAR meeting – he even gave me his cell phone number but due to a proposal deadline and related meeting with out-of-town and vacationing persons that were key to finalizing the proposal there it was not possible for me to attend the CAR meeting and speak to Mr. Causey in person. I would doubt that the daily marketing and PR to-do list is on the top of Mr. Causey’s watch-list nor should they be if you have the right marketing/PR/Development staff to trust with expenses for keeping the public informed and aware. The LED sign is such an unusual way for a nonprofit health clinic to communicate with the public unless they have an endowment or grant specifically for buying an LED sign. I don’t know any corporate, private, government or family foundation giving out money for this sort of thing – even in a good economic climate this sign would be a hard sell to most grant funding sources – I believe anyone working in Development would agree with what I’ve said and take the same position on the sign with such a big price tag. Shove it Sharon. Anyone with sense can see right through your half-truths so stop trying to sell this as a “public benefit”. If you believe that crap you have a warped idea on how to help someone. Please.
Mary Anne, I spoke tonight to my friend who is a health care professional and served on the board of this clinic a decade or so ago. Our guess is that the funds are coming from the federal stimulus plan which is giving money to clinics such as this, and that that is not the intention of the federal plan-for them to use the money for an electronic sign instead of offering health services to the needy.
She added that the real shame of this clinic is that they are smack dab in the middle of the east end with the highest teen pregnancy rate in the city, and yet they do not offer prenatal care to those pregnant teens.
I was at a gathering of neighbors all of whom said they thought the money for this type of sign could be much better spent in actual giving of health care services. Hopefully some of them will show up at this meeting. The overall opinion was, it would be an eyesore, and if the clinic really sees the need to advertise, which most doubted is necessary, use flyers.
Again thanks for your comments, extremely well said. You obviously don’t need anyone to defend you, you do it well yourself!
BTW, who is Tracey Causey?
Tracey Causey is the CEO of CAHN, Capital Area Health Network of which Vernon J. Harris is one of the four clinics they have. Again, I can not emphasis enough that this money is much better spent on direct health care and improved working conditions.
There was a marketing team, I assume their positions have been replaced, but Mr. Causey is the dime on which all of it turns. One of the previous goals of CAHN was to expand from a “clinic” atmosphere, attracting insured patrons, thus the remodeling, marketing, branding etc. The best way to accomplish this is to change behavior and how you conduct business, not with a LED sign and newly upholstered furniture.
Thanks zookeeper for explaining, and I agree with you as to the fact that this money could be better spent on direct health care.
It sounds like there had been some effort previously to change the image. Do you mean they were trying to attract insured patrons by remodeling, marketing, etc.? As opposed to the “clinic” atmosphere, which meant uninsured and/or underinsured patients? I’m just trying to make sure I understand your post the way you intended it to be, thanks, though I think I’ve got it.