Stupid Hospital Board Pricks!

So this is the latest dumbass con that the Hospital Board here on the island is coming up with. They want to build a brand new clinic with ER and the like. Here's a letter from a citizen here to the Editor of a newspaper. It documents the horrors of these people.



Dear Editor,

It is time for some frank discussion of the proposed new hospital. While it is true there have been many public meetings to “discuss” the issue, in reality these have been to “sell” the idea. For 2 years we have been told that the Hospital Board was exploring the idea of contracting the running of the hospital, but suddenly we are going to turn the whole thing over to outside interest with a 50 year contract where a large corporation owns the building, the land, the physicians, and the control of the referral process. This will have a multigenerational impact on how healthcare will be provided on the island and is being imposed on the community without a vote. While legal, this is wrong!

Why has the Hospital Board worked so hard to structure a deal that does not need to go to a public vote? They site their survey, but obviously do not believe it. This is the only explanation for why they fear a vote. Trust them, they say. We know better than you. There is no need for a vote. I say this is nonsense. If they believe what they say, put it to a vote.

The project calls for about a 24,500 square foot outpatient clinic, a 5,400 square foot EMS, and a 17,000 square foot 10 bed hospital and ER. In other words approaching 50,000 square feet for 6 physicians and 44.5 Full time employees. This is huge!!! This is almost double the current Convalescent Center, Medical Center, Aid Unit combined. They project 2.6 hospitalized patients a day and 13 Emergency Room visits a day. Is this realistic? I think not. Is it going to cost us, you bet. It should be put to a vote.

How about the benefits for the island? New jobs. True, but for off islanders. The Convalescent center chronically needs to hire from off island. Do we want to subsidize an expansion of the island’s population? Not me. We will see an increased burden on the town’s water system, the need to build and expand roads, the start of more urban sprawl out of the central core and further destruction of the rural character of the Island. This is not my dream. Given the profound impact on our community it should be put to a vote.

“Enhanced reimbursement” is code for charging more. When you add in the increased ER visit cost and “enhanced” reimbursement of outpatient visits, there will be a dramatic increase in the cost of care. Some of this will come from the State and Federal Government, but guess what, it is still your tax dollars and mine which pay for this “enhanced reimbursement”. You add it up, a 50 year taxpayer commitment, increased burden on local infrastructure, increased State and Federal Taxes, increased charges for services and urban sprawl. This is a good deal?

The Million and a Half taxpayer dollars we have been forking over for the last many years is supposed to be for Emergency and enhanced medical services. This should be enough to pay for a dedicated full time ER Physician, extra nurses and support staff, imaging, blood transfusions, outpatient chemo, observation for patients who have self limited problems, etc. Where has the money gone? Undoubtedly improved administration will bring new services, but this should not require a massive infrastructure expansion. Let’s not cover up poor administration with a massive building program. Put it to a vote.

What does Peace Health get? They get 10 million cash up front, an annual subsidy of 1.5 million a year of our tax dollars and a lock on hospital admissions to St. Joes for 50 years. They will own the whole kit and caboodle. A sweet deal. This should be put to a vote.

We are being asked to put the future of our Island’s medical care in the hands of a big corporation. The concept is bigger is better. This is the very thinking that almost led to a 20-30 million dollar expansion of our schools a few years ago. Fortunately this went to a vote. Can you imagine where our school would be if this had gone through. Bigger is not always better. Look at our current national crisis. Our largest corporations supposedly run by our best and brightest provide a sobering lesson. They became “too big to fail” and the taxpayer ended up on the hook for huge sums. This is the risk we are about to take. Do we want to be the smallest cog in a large organization and tie our future to it’s management for the next 50 years? Personally this terrifies me. The building of a Hospital should go to a vote. I call on the Hospital District Board to stop the back room politics and do the right thing. Put this on a ballot.

Roy Babbit
San Juan Island