Dear Gary,

There has been a lot discussion lately, regarding the hospital administration and commissioners’ behavior toward the community. Though, I can’t say I’m not among the many a little more than irritated by the recent hostility coming from that side There is also something terrifying that stood out in the CEO’s contradictory report.

“We want the community to have healthcare services far into the future. We do not know what we are going to look like in the end, and what services we will or will not be able to provide for this community, but through it all our number one goal will be to work together for the betterment of North Valley Hospital, Public District No. 4, and provide jobs and healthcare for our community.”

This the statement made after stating, “… knowing that no one lives this business like we do. No one from the outside can understand this business like we do.”

Why doesn’t she know? What are we paying $160,000 for? What happened to strategic planning and continuing education? Previous administrations didn’t seem to have a problem knowing. Other hospital administration we have talked to don’t have the same doomsday attitude where healthcare is concerned. In fact, looking into it, the changes have not been so extreme nor are they anticipated to be so extreme. And there are a lot of districts we have talked to who expressed their admiration at the amount of community support and involvement we have evidenced.

Talking to Medicare, Medicaid, independent insurances and organizations like AARP, we have heard the same things; the changes are not so extreme. In fact, historically deadlines are extended due to the government’s (Medicaid and Medicare) own challenges in implementing changes, so it doesn’t really seem that eminent. At least not so eminent that we need to slash services to the degree we have.

Contrary to her insistence of our ignorance there are many of us knowledgeable whether through self-education or experience in that particular field. I have confidence in the intelligence of our community, with our collective knowledge, if only we were allowed to participate, we can once again come up with viable solutions.

And consider this, sometimes it takes someone from the “outside” to identify what others are too close to see.

Christa McCoy

Oroville