PCI’s ‘roller-coaster ride’

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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During a recent editorial board meeting, Physicians' Clinic of Iowa CEO Mike Sundall told us the planned PCI Medical Pavilion, once called the “medical mall,” will now have a third floor. The extra space will be for community education. Good news.

He referred to it as a “penthouse,” which he saw as a technical term for a top floor. Those of us in the journalism business immediately sensed it would mean something else entirely to many readers. A third floor is one thing. A penthouse is something else. The PCI folks at our conference table didn't seem to see the difference initially.

To be fair, these are health-care professionals. They're not trained to think instinctively about public relations or public perceptions. They're concentrating on providing the best possible health care to patients. As it should be.

But that reality also helped create what Sundall calls the “roller-coaster ride” since PCI announced its plans to build a state-of-the-art medical mall in the downtown medical district, and its desire to close a major city street.

Despite all the project's benefits - tens of millions of dollars of investment, the potential for adjacent growth and a positive impact on patient care - the closure of Second Avenue SE dominated public discussion of PCI's plans. To those of us who routinely watch government operate, the fallout was not shocking. Clearly, it surprised PCI.

Sundall and the clinic's owner-physicians contend they couldn't get their story out amid the closure controversy. They insist they had the city's best interests in mind when they decided to build downtown rather than move to Hiawatha. Gossip and anger distorted their message, although, in the end, PCI still convinced the City Council to OK a Tax Increment Financing package that will boost the project. For all the ups and downs, PCI is moving ahead.

And there is every indication that this will be a good project for Cedar Rapids and for PCI's patients. It's a much-needed shot of private investment into the community at a critical time. It could be the beginning of a destination development in Cedar Rapids, spawning other businesses serving patients and families. For all the debate, we believe the pavilion clearly will be a positive, and perhaps a pivotal, project for the city and region.

Still, PCI could have better diagnosed potential problems and pitfalls within its plans. It could have inoculated its project's public image by doing more to build relationships and coalitions with its neighbors, preservationists and others who would be affected. It could have put its most valuable asset, its physicians, in a more upfront role of selling the project.

Good lessons for the future, which is now what matters most to the community and PCI.

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