[Occupymendocino] Hospital Parcel Task random notes and info from Announce list.

Wed Apr 25 08:30:10 PDT 2018

I understand how you feel, Sharon, I’m with you regarding wanting a fully functioning hospital.
Which is why I’m part of Friends of the Hospital; we’re doing our best to make the board/CEO more transparent and moving in the right direction. And they are. They’re hiring more local folks instead of visiting staff; they have a new, wonderful doctor in charge of ER; fired the harassing CFO Sturgeon, etc.

The measure indicates just where the money is going and where it is not going to go. It won’t go to administrators’ salaries and the like. It will go to basic services. If the measure doesn’t pass, the people who will be most harmed will be women and children. More than likely, they’ll cut obstetrics and labor & delivery services. I don’t want to imagine what that will mean to the lives of people living here.

The naysayers are much louder than the ayes on this measure. Every time I hear another negative MCDH voice, I think of women in labor having to drive to Santa Rosa in the rain (or give birth in the ER next to accident victims, mentally ill folks, and the like), and it further pushes me to have Measure C pass.
For 40 cents a day, $12 a month, we have a fighting chance to keep our hospital and make it work well.

Peace,
Linda

On Apr 25, 2018, at 6:37 AM, Sharon Garner <sharonart_95432 at yahoo.com <mailto:sharonart_95432 at yahoo.com>> wrote:

> It is not short sided to ask that a viable plan for the hospital be presented before adding more taxes to those who live here. And, some of us can't make it to meetings because of conflicts and running for the board isn't always an option either. That takes time and many of us don't have the extra tie in our lives to be on more boards. I'm not going to vote for paying more and not knowing where the money is going. I don't like the visiting staff. The hospital used to hire locals to work as nurses and doctors...I want to know why those at the top can't look at their pay and maybe take a cut to help the bottom line. All I'm saying is that until there is a plan in place (not a promise for the future) I can't support a parcel tax; period.
>  
> Sharon Garner  
> S Squared Art Productions www.ssquaredartproductions.com <http://www.ssquaredartproductions.com/>  
> PO Box 102 • Elk, CA 95432 
> 707.8773988
> On Tuesday, April 24, 2018 6:19 PM, Doug Nunn <dnunn at mcn.org <mailto:dnunn at mcn.org>> wrote:
> > Dear Sharon and others,
> 
> Dear Linda,
>   Thanks for adding some common sense to the Measure C debate. It is wise to remember the notion of “penny wise and pound foolish”. If you don’t want to pay the parcel tax of $144 per parcel and the hospital goes into a limited survival mode, what will become of the emergency room? If it closes, how will an aging coastal population deal with getting to Ukiah or Willits? And yes, property values for a rural area without a hospital are bound to go down.
>   Remember Measure C will be used to maintain the emergency room, ambulance, obstetric and surgical services and attract and retain high quality doctors and nurses. An independent taxpayer oversight committee will oversee all expenditures—NO FUNDS may be spent on administrator’s salaries or pensions. It strikes me that Measure C has looked at the mistakes of the past years and is trying to remedy them.
>   If I have an emergency in the next few years I don’t want to spend hour and a half driving to Ukiah because I was too short-sighted to pay $12 a month to keep the hospital running.
>   Thanks for your common sense, Linda.
>   All the best,
>   Doug Nunn
> > On Apr 24, 2018, at 5:15 PM, Linda Jupiter <jupiter at mcn.org <mailto:jupiter at mcn.org>> wrote:
> > 
> > Why would you even think that Adventist, or any other hospital, would be interested in MCDH other than to direct patients over the hill to their facilities.
> > Going over the hill is a hardship for many of us; very costly and when you’re sick, that trip is the last thing you want to do. 
> > 
> > It would also mean that 300 or more employees of MCDH, our friends and neighbors, would be out of work. No work, no money for our economy, no money to pay rent or mortgages, property values fall, and it’s the end of the North Coast as we know it. 
> > 
> > If you don’t like the way the hospital is being run, come to the meetings. Speak your piece, run for a seat on the board of directors; there will be three or four open seats this coming November. Instead of complaining, do something for your community and for yourself.
> > 
> > Linda
> > 
> > Message: 31
> > Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2018 21:28:08 +0000 (UTC)
> > From: Sharon Garner <sharonart_95432 at yahoo.com <mailto:sharonart_95432 at yahoo.com>>
> > Subject: Re: [MCN-Announce]- Response to parcel tax is not enough
> > To: Zo <zomala at mcn.org <mailto:zomala at mcn.org>>, "announce at lists.mcn.org <mailto:announce at lists.mcn.org>"
> >     <announce at lists.mcn.org <mailto:announce at lists.mcn.org>>
> > Message-ID: <2108475443.501636.1524605288295 at mail.yahoo.com <mailto:2108475443.501636.1524605288295 at mail.yahoo.com>>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
> > 
> > I'm sorry. I agree that we need a new model. I'm not willing to pay more taxes for something that is unsustainable. Until they show us a plan that can actually work, my vote is no. I agree that Adventist Health WORKS and they treat their patients with respect. We can't throw money at a failing system.?Sharon Garner? S Squared Art Productions www.ssquaredartproductions.com <http://www.ssquaredartproductions.com/>? PO Box 102 ? Elk, CA 95432?707.8773988 
> > 
> > 

 More than ever, access to quality, local health care depends on a financially- healthy hospital. Today, that requires locals to take active charge of our future. Measure C asks voters to renew our four-decades commitment to the MDCH: to approve funding so this community bedrock sustains its public service mission. A financially stable hospital serves not just patient care but, with 320 employees, long-term economic stability of the North Coast population. 
Like deputy sheriffs, police, and fire fighters, medical care and emergency services define baseline thresholds for 
community health and security. The hospital’s rapid response emergency services (ambulance, paramedics, and emergency room) support public safety after accidents, health crises and disaster events. That we are a remote and rural community only increases the need for a local hospital with local control of elected Board members. Compare direct public governance to privately-run religious or corporate hospitals. We need to keep what we have: quality, local access and local control. It’s the only hospital we have.
Fact: our hospital delivers an exceptionally wide range of patient services for its size and location. 
Fact: government reimbursements create a daunting dilemma for rural medicine: how to deliver superior care when payments fall far short of baseline costs. 
Fact: When the North Coast lost its industrial base, like logging, the hospital lost much of its private, higher-paying insurance. Today Medicare and Medi-Cal pay 80% of annual revenue. 
Fact: Despite rigorous cost management programs, higher drug, equipment, and staffing costs —added to stringent safety mandates —magnify financial pressures. The problem isn’t local but the solution is: a community that steps up and declares, with funding, “we support local, quality health care.”
Bottom line: Our not-for-profit 501(c)3 hospital’s public mandate is undercut by compromised government medical payment systems. A parcel tax is the best District option for stabilizing today’s variable cash flow and annual 
revenue. Local control demands the local commitment to pass Measure C. Most similar California district hospitals charge parcel taxes — and few match our wide services, especially labor and delivery, lab and blood testing advances, comprehensive diagnostic imaging, orthopedics, ophthalmology, pain management, home health/hospice, cancer testing and care.
WHAT IS A PARCEL TAX? WHO VOTES? WHY 67% NEEDED FOR PASSAGE?
A parcel tax is a special district’s sole electoral option to increase funding for operations. All registered voters in the Mendocino Coast Health Care District may vote in the primary election. Last day to register is Monday, May 21st; voting is by mail and at polling stations. By law, Measure C only passes with 2/3s or 67% voter approval; if done, funding arrives January, 2018. 
The State offers a Property Tax Postponement Program for low-income owners. Contact the State Board of 
Equalization: (800) 952-5661. The county offers a tax waiver for owners with contiguous parcels; contact the County Assessor’s Office (707) 234-6800.
Paid for by the Yes on Measure C Campaign Committee

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