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DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER! Your February 2nd editorial entitled "Ambushed" discounted the substance of the Hospital Resource Council's (HRC) January 26th presentation to the MCDH Board of Directors by attempting to "Kill the Messengers" via character assassination. Clearly the newspaper editorial staff has swallowed the hospital administration's public relations spin hook, line and sinker! Although our message was difficult for the Board and its supporters to accept, we ask the editorial staff of the Advocate/Beacon to ...
disavow its recent spurious and pernicious character assassination of the Hospital Resource Council members. With concern HRC brought the results of two independent reports plus our own extensive research to the attention of the MCDH Board of Directors. We wish we could have brought glowing reports and an endorsement of the Board and Administration's current efforts, but we could not. While we accept that the Board is comprised of dedicated people, their view that they are resolving the hospital's catastrophic financial problems is contradicted by three independent reports and by our interviews with medical staff, employees, health professionals and many coastal residents. The MCDH Board assures us significant progress is being made and the financial situation is under control. Although we would all like to believe this is true, we can say emphatically, it is not! The hospital sustained losses of $1.8 million last year, and $900,000 thus far this year, accompanied by increased spending, an 18% decline in admissions and an upswing in employee resignations. And the fiscal year's only half over! The HRC is dedicated to transparency and constructive dialog. We invite the newspaper, the board and hospital administration to rise and join us in these endeavors before it is too late and we lose our hospital. Tom Birdsell
Mike Dell'Ara
Richard Louis Miller, M.A., Ph.D
Vince Taylor, Ph.D. Link to "Ambushed" editorial, in .pdf format (requires free Adobe Reader) |
