'Citizens Against the Helipad' Protest Outside Starbucks Saturday

The Citizens Against the Helipad group held its third protest outside Starbucks on Saturday.

Resident Tom Graham was one of six volunteers who took turns handing out fliers and talking to passersby about the application for a helipad at Overlook Hospital.

Graham said residents spoke on three main points: that they aren't against helping people, they just feel the cons of Overlook's application outweigh the pros, they feel the Neuroscience program should have been started at Morristown Memorial Hospital not Overlook Hospital because it already has a helipad, and the reasons they don't want it in Summit are because of the noise disturbances and the safety risks a helicopter brings to a densely populated place like Summit.

"This is just about educating people and letting them understand what it's about," Graham said. "I think the general question people ask is 'why wouldn't you want to help someone?'"

But Graham says the residents aren't against helping people. They just don't want the helipad in Summit because of the dense population and the damage a potential crash would therefore cause.

But Dr. John Halperin, medical director of the Atlantic Neuroscience Institute and chair of the Department of Neurosciences, responded that even a few minutes difference in treating a stroke patient can be the difference between living an independent life and one dependent on others.

As an example, Halperin said a woman in her early 30s was transported to Overlook several weeks ago with a major stroke. After a two and a half hour transport to Overlook, Halperin said, there was nothing doctors could do for her at that time. She now lacks vision in her left eye and mobility on the left side of her body.

"If it had been possible to helicopter her, we don't know," Halperin said, "the outcome might have been different. At least we would have had a chance to do something different. We just didn't have that opportunity."

Just today, Overlook Hospital received the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association's highest recognition for performance achievement–the Gold Plus Award. The award recognizes stroke centers for their commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients, according to evidence-based guidelines.  Overlook Hospital is the only stroke center serving Union, Somerset, Hunterdon and Essex counties to receive this recognition. Overlook Hospital serves the region by treating the most complex stroke cases and accepting critical patient transfers from 48 hospitals.

Halperin also said he feels residents' mobilizing efforts are somewhat misguided.

"I think it's so totally out of portion to what we're trying to do that it sort of mystifies me," he said.

The next zoning board meeting will be April 5 at 7:30 p.m. at city hall. Graham said residents are entertaining the idea of handing out fliers at Starbucks again this coming weekend.

Hometowne Television is beginning a series on the helipad application at Overlook Hospital. The first installment, featuring Summit Patch Editor Heather Collura, can be seen here.