Medical professionals gather to say arena would hurt health outcomes regionally

Patient care and safety are increasingly at the center of the debate around how a Sixers sports arena in Center City would impact health outcomes in Center City and across Philadelphia.

That is why the advocacy group No Arena Jeff Med has rebranded itself as No Arena Philly Med — to address pushback from Jefferson Health management over its name being associated with the effort, as well as to better represent the growing scope of healthcare workers from across the Philadelphia region who oppose the arena coming to Market Street between 10th and 11th streets.

No Arena Jeff Med was started a few months ago, by a medical employee at Jefferson "who could see the dire emergency medical implications of this project coming," the group said in a statement to Billy Penn. Interest among area medical workers grew after Mayor Cherelle Parker announced her endorsement of the $1.55 billion arena plan on September 18.

A sense of solidarity and frustration drew over a dozen healthcare professionals who work across the Philly region to the 10th Street entrance of Jefferson's ER and Trauma Center Tuesday night for the group's first collective press conference.

"There are three Level 1 trauma centers in Philadelphia. Everybody from Girard Avenue to South Philly, from river to river, comes here to Jefferson Hospital," said Dr. William King, Jr., a pediatrician at the Pediatric and Adolescent Medical Centers of Philadelphia (PAMCOP), the city's largest private African American pediatric practice. "What ambulances don't need is a giant parking lot full of 5,000 cars that just let out after a Sixers game. It'll be 45 minutes of gridlock."

Describing this as "unacceptable," Dr. King added that he "love[s] Mayor Parker, but this is a bad idea." He also criticized the process.

"I don't like the idea of ignoring the clear objections of a marginalized community in Chinatown, when there are so many other options to improve the arena where it already stands in the South Philadelphia sports complex," King said.

"I wouldn't put a hospital near the sports complex; they shouldn't put a sports arena right next to two hospitals."

'Somebody ... is going to die'

Former Philadelphia health commissioner (2000-2002) Dr. Walter Tsou echoed King's critique. Tsou released a short video earlier this month criticizing the arena plan and his group, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, announced its opposition, as well.

"Somebody in transit, stuck in traffic, is going to die because of this. That, to me, is simply unacceptable," Tsou said in the video .

A month earlier, shortly before Parker's endorsement announcement, Tsou spoke to Billy Penn. "The mental health and future of Chinatown will be destroyed by the proposed Sixers arena," he said. "The Mayor's first responsibility is to protect its citizens so they can thrive in their communities. This project is being planned over the objections of the community members, health professionals, and neighborhoods in its future shadow. Rather than being a healthy neighborhood growth, it will be a scar."

Referring to the contentious construction of the Vine Street Expressway, which cut through the neighborhood when opened in 1991, and the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which boxed it in from the west (in 1993), Tsou contended that "Chinatown has had enough scars in the name of city progress."

Walking a thin line

According to the city- and Sixers-sponsored studies on potential traffic and economic impacts, low-impact goals were "attainable" if the 76 DevCorp could keep traffic by car and by public transit to 40% each — but even an increase of 1-2% in car traffic could result in crippling gridlock.

The Sixers say the arena will help revitalize the blocks east of City Hall, which have struggled to thrive for decades despite millions in investment.

Parker echoed that argument in her endorsement , saying the arena will generate millions in tax revenue and hundreds of jobs.

Jefferson Health CEO Dr. Joseph Cacchione told Philadelphia Business Journal this month that his organization isn't taking sides , but he has had informal discussions with the Sixers development team to discuss concerns about ambulance traffic and "we think that the 76ers as well as any other plan is cognizant of the potential risk too."

Cacchione said that the health system has conducted its own traffic studies which "suggest that we can cohabitate with an arena."

Delays carry costs

Philadelphia doesn't enter this situation with a lot of cushion. Its ambulance response times were over 3 minutes longer than the industry standard for safety, a 2019 Fire Department report noted, only 33% of Philly ambulances make it to patients within the recommended 9 minutes , and the 2021 Pennsylvania EMS Data Report listed Philadelphia's average response times at 8.8 minutes.

And delays can be fatal. A patient is 57% more likely to die when an ambulance takes 10 minutes longer to get them to the hospital — and a 2013 report by the National Institutes of Health detailed emergency medical providers' experiences that traffic congestion slowed ambulances by 10 minutes on average.

"I don't want my death certificate to say 'died of cardiac arrest due to traffic from the Sixers arena,' " said emergency room technician Jimmy Low, who works at Jefferson.

Raymond Palidora, a medical oncology researcher at Jefferson, noted that vulnerable patients, including those with cancer, require timely access to care and stable, consistent treatment — things that "years of demolition and construction right over Jefferson Station" would place in jeopardy.

"Trains will be delayed or stopped, streets will be blocked by cranes and bulldozers. The extended period of disruption could severely affect our ability to provide consistent and timely care for all patients," Palidora said.

The impact would also affect patients far from Center City, who are transferred frequently to Jefferson's Center City Level 1 trauma center. Similarly, it's common for child patients from the trauma center to be transferred out to places like Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Clare Hourihan, an emergency department registered nurse at Jefferson Einstein Montgomery in East Norriton, explained how "my hospital relies on the ability to transfer patients with critical needs to Jefferson. The wait times for transfers are already significantly delayed. Some people wait for lifesaving care for hours or days.

"The arena project has many unanswered questions, including how traffic around Jefferson Hospital will be addressed. Our patients deserve the best possible care regardless of if the Sixers have a playoff game," she said.

Decision in Council's hands

It's up to City Council now , said retired pediatrician Dr. Randall Drain, who worked in North and West Philly for 35 years.

"City Council, we need you to firmly stand with the patients who are desperately seeking critical care in their worst moments, not standing with an arena that threatens an entire community," he declared while standing outside Jefferson's ER. "Who will you choose? We hope you will choose what is morally right and just for all Philadelphians."