City of Woodbury

There are numerous angles to the Settler’s Pointe development story, many of which the Bulletin has reported on in recent weeks.

One, however, has not received a lot of attention, and that is concern expressed by Stonemill Farms residents about the possibility of frequent emergency calls to the building. Some have said they want to know if ambulances — or even hearses — would be a common site around the 45-unit assisted-living/memory care facility.

Settler’s Pointe developer Joe Baumann has said the traffic impact of an assisted-living facility would be much less than if his ownership group kept the property as commercial and filled it with retail shops. Moreover, the facility would not be a drive-thru for emergency vehicles.

It’s difficult to accurately predict what would occur, but looking at other facilities may provide context.

Woodbury has two existing elder-care facilities that are somewhat similar to the proposed Settler’s Pointe, though they are larger: Woodbury Health Care Center, 7012 Lake Road, and Stonecrest, 8725 Promenade Lane. The Bulletin received information from the Woodbury Public Safety Department about calls for service to Stonecrest and Woodbury Health Care Center the past two years.

Here’s what we found:

–There were 132 emergency calls from Stonecrest in 2009, up from 104 in 2008. Simple math suggests that’s an average of one call every three days. An overwhelming majority of the calls were for medical assistance. There was one call reporting a death each year.

–Woodbury Health Care Center made 168 public safety calls in 2009, down from 228 in 2008. Again, most were for medical assistance. Like Stonecrest, there was one call reporting a death each year.

So, what do those numbers mean to you?