Letter to the Editor; Doctor Smith

Dr. Terry Smith is my doctor and has been since I moved here in 2003. He was there for me during a tragedy that almost broke me. He took the time out as a doctor to give me the tools to get through my grief. He did this without having me on drugs. Through the years he has never let me down as a doctor. When I tried to see him, the last two months that he was here, it was impossible to get an appointment. I got a hold of his nurse Shauna and she made sure that I saw him. I had really high blood pressure and I needed it to come down. I was seen the next day. He said that there was no excuse for me not being seen. It took three weeks. Doctor Smith and his nurse Shauna are a great team and they will be missed here.

I want to know why the head people at the hospital would not do everything in their power to prevent losing them. The person that wouldn’t get me through to being seen has been transferred. Why not do that before you had to lose a great doctor. He deserved better than the treatment he received. Who didn’t fight for him and why could one person not doing their job have the say in losing a doctor and a nurse? Why wasn’t the person fired for neglect instead of moved around?

I have heard people complain about the treatment they have received and I have always stood by the clinic and hospital. My daughter worked at the ER and had to leave for nine months. She tried to get her job back when she came back and couldn’t. There were openings for the job she had off and on for two years. One person blocked her every time. She worked in a clinic in Oregon for five years, but she couldn’t get hired for that either. Who is it that has so much power that they hire unqualified people over ones that have the know how to do the job?

Ask yourself why we lost a doctor and a nurse that we needed. Are the head people not doing their jobs? That is why our little clinic and hospital get a bad name. Do your job and don’t let the good doctors and nurses go. My husband, mom and I will be traveling to Polson to be seen by Doctor Smith at Saint Joseph’s Clinic.

What doctors do we have now? We don’t have enough now and there is no excuse for that. Shame on you for not putting our community needs first. I know for a fact that two people that work at the hospital have talked about Dr. Smith in a bad way. There is a code that should be followed and it should stop. I will be making a complaint to the head of the board. There should not be politics in the work force.

Mary Young Curry,

Plains