Organizations other than the health care district deserve our support
EDITOR: I took an interest in Palm Drive Healthcare District (PDHCD) some 10 years ago as it seemed I might someday benefit from its emergency room and hospital — as a patient. Years of professional experience directing emergency response and risk management teams and more of volunteer involvement taught me that minutes matter when you really need it. (Selfish, I might not survive an ambulance ride to Memorial.) So I’ve attended most PDHCD board of directores meetings over that time (wow, what a ride!), supported the effort and even worked for a couple of years as a volunteer and employee before the 2015 re-opening.
Despite many iterations of board members, executive directors, management organizations and other paid help to make the short-term acute care hospital work, it hasn’t — and the hospital has recently been sold to create a needed, for-profit, long-term acute care hospital, but with no emergency room, no ambulances delivering emergency patients, no “hub” for local medical professionals.
The expense over so many years has been incredible and paying back the bankruptcies will take years of taxpayer contributions. Unfortunately, the enterprise PDHCD has gained expense momentum and seems to want to continue (at an overhead of some $500K per year) to spend money for things that are not hospital related. Should we kill this zombie — or maybe consider something new?
Many new ideas deserve our support if we can clear the decks — for instance, Map Your Neighborhood, CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), the Teen Center, etc. Many taxpayers are getting stretched by more and more bond issues and parcel taxes — for schools, fire districts, etc. (all good, necessary, “must have” programs), which seem to get around the thrust of 1978 Proposition 13 limitations and service expectations.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to significantly reduce the PDHCD overhead expenses and re-adjust the tax expenses, maybe propose new budgets or bond issues or even districts (and boards) to support the most urgent programs?
Does it make sense for PDHCD to attempt to take over management of non-hospital social programs – potentially competing with City or schools or other existing efforts? No.
Tom Boag
Sebastopol
