DGR: Community group proposes public hospital to address healthcare desert in west Dayton

DAYTON — A community group that protested the closing and demolition of Good Samaritan Hospital is now proposing a plan for healthcare on the west side of Dayton.

According to Premier Health, the Good Samaritan Hospital opened in 1932 on Philadelphia Drive and Salem Avenue. It was shut down in 2018 and demolition began in 2019.

As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, the Clergy Community Coalition announced plans for a public hospital in Dayton.

>>RELATED: Good Samaritan Hospital demolition underway, will last months

Leaders with the coalition said tearing down the hospital created a healthcare desert in the community.

“Babies could be born in West Dayton, now babies cannot be born in West Dayton,” Bishop Richard Cox said.

Cox and others on the coalition’s board said their proposal is different than non-profit hospital networks like Premier or Kettering Health.

“This is an initiative that is inclusive, does not discriminate, a hospital for everybody,” Pastor Renard Allen said.

To kickstart this proposal, the coalition has to gather 1,250 signatures from registered voters in the City of Dayton.

Then, the plan would need approval from the Dayton City Commission.

>>RELATED: Groundbreaking ceremony held for new YMCA at former Good Samaritan site

If both of those things happen, the proposal would be put on the ballot in November.

City residents would then vote on a proposed one-mill tax that could raise $2 million every year, for 10 years.

“A public hospital is a hospital of the people, there is transparency,” Clergy Community Coalition Secretary Nancy Kiehl said.

Coalition leaders said this tax would only account for some of the funding. They would also approach county, state, and federal leaders for help.

Since other nearby healthcare facilities have shut down, the coalition leaders said this is the right alternative.

“It’s very important that we understand when we have a problem that affects us, we just don’t take no for an answer,” Allen said.

The coalition will host multiple events to get signatures for the proposed public hospital.

The first event will happen from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday at St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church on Gettysburg Avenue.

We will continue to follow this story.

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