All, I‘ve been looking forward to the community forum next week and to offering some comments regarding the hospital, the Board, and our current situation. I’m thinking that some perspective from a board member prior to the meeting may be helpful. I’m not speaking on behalf of the entire board - this is my own viewpoint - but I think the others would agree with most of what I’ll say. By way of introduction, I have lived in Bath County since 1989, and I’ve served on the hospital board for 14 years with 2 of those as Chairman. I’ve owned businesses in both Highland and Bath counties, and served on the Bath Chamber of Commerce for several years – one year as President. My wife and I have raised two daughters here both of whom are now in college. My family and I have been personal friends with the Redingtons since almost the day we moved here. That relationship runs deep. As many of you have shared here, I can tell a lot of stories about Jim and his care for our family – in the middle of the night, on Christmas Day – the list goes on over a period of many years. And I never once thought I would end up on a tightrope between my responsibility to the hospital and a friend. With respect to the Board, all of us are members of this community as are most of you. We all reside, work, or have retired here. We all own property here. And while most of us aren’t “native sons or daughters”, we’re all Bath Countians, and not because we have to be here but because we want to be here. In fact, the Board feels this is so important that the by-laws require our members to be residents of Bath County. We’re not a bunch of top floor corporate types only interested in the bottom line. I run a small business. We’ve had farmers, business owners, realtors, insurance agents, and other medical providers in the mix – people from a various backgrounds with different life experiences. We’re all volunteers. We receive no compensation for our service. We, with our spouses, children, and parents, live here just like you, and depend on the hospital and its doctors for medical care - both routine and emergencies. Your doctors are our doctors, and none of us want to lose them. In the technical and constantly changing world of health care there are pressures from all sides. We have to live by a lot of rules and regulations that we don’t always feel best serve our rural hospital and our patients. This can lead to some difficult decisions, some of which aren’t popular and that may lead to unpleasant consequences. But when they are made, it’s our job to effectively communicate with our staff and with you. In recent months, we have failed to do that effectively. As we work toward meaningful resolution of our current situation, I can see where the Board dropped the ball when it came to our relationships with our doctors and the community. There was a lot, and remains much, that is confidential and cannot be discussed. Personnel matters are confidential for the protection of the employee, not the employer. Were not hiding behind that. It just quite simply would be improper for me as a board member and friend to violate that trust. But we could have made better efforts to reassure our doctors, staff, and the community before things got to this point. Lack of communication leads to frustration . . . and we’re well aware of the frustration that now exists. And although some may never agree with our actions, I can assure you in every decision we make, we strive to act in the best interests of the hospital and the community it serves. We do not take our responsibilities lightly. There have been a lot of opinions expressed here, most of them helpful, some adversarial. But from my viewpoint I’m encouraged . . . encouraged that so many people are engaged and passionate about what is important to all of us – our health, our doctors, and the availability of quality medical care in this community. Maybe we didn’t arrive at this point by the best path, but now that we’re here I for one would like to say thanks to all of those who have expressed their concerns. For the sake of this hospital that belongs to ALL of us, I hope Tuesdays meeting is productive, informative, and yields positive results.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 21:27:20 +0000
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