To the Editor:
In reading the 4/21 article on the new PCMH elected board, it made me sick! What a set-up! Pat and Bill could have stayed home. It seems unethical that two members of the OTHER board, which are PAID EMPLOYEES, should be allowed to control our elected board. Niswonger and Guth nominated the PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT, and TREASURER or was voted into these offices by each other!! So, therefore, they are BOTH officers. It’s too bad you didn’t have another “BUDDY” to be secretary!
Now I would like to address my CRITIC! Score one for you – Mercy has hospitals in Missouri but you failed to mention Arkansas and Oklahoma! They are a conglomerate out of Oklahoma! Buying groceries at Walmart and buying gas at Conoco has NOTHING to do with healthcare!
You are correct Mercy sent representatives from Festus Mercy – but they at NO TIME had someone from the MAIN office.
You even gave SE Health a pat on the back, that they also have TECHNICAL knowledge. Gee, maybe they aren’t a small town, hick hospital!
The hospital employees, whether they be doctors, nurses or housekeeping, they are entitled to opinions, just as we are, but they are trying to control the decision for the elected commission-ers. WE are trying to make observations.
Where do you reside? Are you a MERCY employee? Did you vote in Perry County this month? By the way, to vote, you need to be REGISTERED in this county. Oh, and you are NOT! So why are you so concerned about our hospital? You aren’t one of the OWNERS of the property!
Some facts about our ever-expanding facility, SE Health: 70,000 square foot building expansion for orthopedics, sports medicine and women’s integrated health services, this expansion will carry them into a new generation of healthcare; the critical need for behavioral health services in SE Missouri has resulted in partnering with Universal Health Services and the opening of SE Behavioral Hospital; SE Health’s commitment to providing excellent healthcare was validated with being named. Best Maternity Care Hospital – Hospice Honors – Heart failure and heart attack care accolades from the Am. Heart Assc.; SE Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sci-ences has been graduating top-notch healthcare professionals for 20 years, was named to Newsweek’s Top 100; recognized with an “A” Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, assuring pa-tients are cared for in a safe, clean hospital environment, brought open heart surgery to down-state Missouri in 1984, becoming the premier provider of heart, lung and vascular services; earned the Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval, and the American Heart checkmark for re-certification as a comprehensive cardiac center, the ONLY Hospital between St. Louis and Memphis to achieve this distinction; cancer center; provide affordable healthcare; partnerships developed throughout S.E. Mo. with their innovated first option plan continue to help employer groups save $$ on their health benefit plans (ASK THE EMPLOYER and EMPLOYEES at T.G. Mis-souri, Robinson Construction, and others, if they are satisfied with the healthcare and costs); they have an established facility in Perryville.
This is a VERY serious, and long-term decision. It would seem that you would want something to compare it to. Without TWO proposals, to compare, you don’t know who is the best choice. You don’t know what you are passing up. If you THINK Mercy is the best, what harm is there in sending a letter of intent to SE Health, so you can compare apples to apples. Mercy may be the final recommendation to the commissioners – BUT then SE Health may be! LET’S MAKE THIS AT LEAST A CHOICE!!
I think we need to hear, and read some of the thoughts, and concerns that have been conveyed to our ELECTED officials, ELECTED PCMH board members, and our large EMPLOYERS!
ELECTED Aldermen – What have you heard in your Wards’? There certainly have been con-cerned taxpayers call you.
