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City Council member supports new construction On Dec. 17, Jimmy Gallant, District 5 council member, addressed Charleston City Council in support of MUSC's proposed construction of a new hospital on the Charleston peninsula. Here are excerpts from his speech: I want to personally  thank Dr. (Ray) Greenberg for coming in to share with us his desire to make the Medical University of South Carolina a world class hospital. As a volunteer and as police chaplain I spend a lot of time in the hospital. I visit the neonatal intensive care unit frequently. Just recently, they called me  and asked me to console a mother whose child was very, very sick. I was moved and impressed by the compassion those nurses had as they were taking care of this little baby.   I made another note to myself about a young girl whose car turned over on I-26 about eight or nine or months ago. She lost part of her arm. Her mother told me that she had never been in a hospital where she had been treated so kindly.  And then there was a little boy who was hit by a truck on East Bay and Queen. He was on a field trip from Wakendaw and was brought to the Medical University where he later died. Again I had the privilege to witness the compassion of the nurses and the doctors. I said to myself what a marvelous institution we have in Charleston. If something happened to myself or my family I would want treatment at MUSC. And just yesterday I pulled up to the heliport. A patient had just come in on a helicopter from Columbia. The young man appeared to be unconscious. I asked the nurses what happened. They said that he was critically ill. The mother started to cry as she came out of the helicopter. They sat the mother in the MUSC ambulance and I told her we were praying for her and her son. Why would someone want to bring their loved ones all the way from Columbia if they didn't think they would get great care? We have this marvelous institution. Again, the families that are praying for their family member who are sick and dying aren't concerned about anything but the quality of the medical care. I pray that we, as citizens do not do anything to hinder the process of this marvelous university and hospital. We get so caught up in stuff that doesn't mean anything. We have people dying every single day. It is easy to get up and pontificate until it's your wife, your husband or your sister who needs the care. I  just want to say Dr. Greenberg to you, for the record and to all of my colleagues I will pray that the Lord will speed this process up as fast as He can. People are dying, people are hurt , they need the medical care. We don't need to worry about anything except building a world class hospital. I don't care how high it is. We have a great university. We'll invite the public to make some comments. My prayer is that we keep it in Charleston, and we don't do anything to hinder the process. We thank you Dr. Greenberg for all you've done for the community and especially for the poor people in the community. You have done a lot of things at that hospital to help the poor people that nobody talks about. My hat is off to you, sir. Editors' note: Charleston City Council is set to give the new height rules final approval Tuesday, Jan. 14.   Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.