To the editor,
I want to thank all those who attended the meeting I called as mayor to talk to the hospital and Essentia. The packed council room shows these organizations just how important health care is to our community and the meeting was a starting point for the more urgent conversation we all need to have about getting the new hospital up and built. I am still receiving numerous calls and questions on this topic.
According to the Minnesota Hospital Association, of the 148 hospitals in Minnesota, only 42 remain independent. This trend is projected to continue. Right now, Essentia provides all our doctors, hires the clinic administrator, and appoints half the board members of our local hospital. Essentia Health East Region President and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dan Nikcevich told us at the meeting that Essentia wants to move forward and build a new hospital. The hospital board has an obligation to vote Essentia’s proposal up or down, now, before this opportunity is lost.
Essentia’s proposal should be out there for us all to see and if it’s not good enough, we should push for more but we can’t delay any longer. The board must negotiate for job retention, job creation, expanded services and more specialists so we can cut down on our travel. I recommend the board also open their meetings and let the employees and public share their input.
The Good Samaritan Center is building a new nursing home now. This is an $18 million dollar investment. The nursing home selected this site because the hospital would be building and would be connected and through this connection, connected to the clinic. The nursing home building location does not make any sense if the hospital is not connected. This is the vision for our community. The hospital board came to us and asked us to put in new sewer and water at a cost of $215,000 and mitigate wetland credits at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars more so that the hospital and nursing home could be built on this site!
Creation of a new health care campus provides a weather proof way to travel between the clinic, nursing home and hospital, creating efficiencies for patients, doctors and other medical staff. Along with other efficiencies like shared medical records accessible by all three facilities, collaborating will save lives through integration of services and the seamless delivery of health care. A new campus and collaborative working relationship will help us recruit the doctors we so desperately need
My dad, who taught my brothers and me the basics of every sport we participated in, emphasized to me 52 years ago “Keep your eyes on the ball.” That is my message to the hospital board. “Keep your eyes on the ball”. Get this done and get it done now.
Tim “Chopper” McBride
mayor
International Falls, MN
