Mineral Community Hospital representatives wrap up community meetings

MINERAL COUNTY  – Representatives from the Mineral Community Hospital and the hospital board held a series of meetings over the last few weeks to make their case for an upcoming levy that they say is essential to maintaining the hospital as a viable entity in Mineral County.

MCH representatives including new CEO Ron Gleason joined by MCH Hospital Board Chair John Woodland held town hall style meetings from the west end of Mineral County to Alberton over the last few weeks to try and get their message out to the public and to answer concerns raised by citizens some of which included questions as to why voters should help them out of a financial crisis even MCH officials admit was a product of previous mistakes.

Gleason said what he wanted to focus on was the future and not the past. He said he was encouraged by the many opportunities he and other MCH representatives had to reach out to the community and deliver their message as well as address the concerns of community members.

“I felt like the meetings went very well,” Gleason said. “There were lots of questions from the community and we did our best to answer those questions. I started those meetings by saying that I was not there to lay blame on people. Blaming people has never solved a problem, ever. What I have to do is go forward and solve the problems. I think people were, for the most part, receptive to that.”

Gleason said, while there were some people at the meetings who expressed negative opinions about the levy and sustaining the hospital, his message was one of putting the past behind them and moving forward in a fiscally responsible manner as well as improving the quality of care and customer service at the facility.

“There were some people who were upset and wanted to know who was to blame,” Gleason said. “All we can do is move forward. The number one concern at the meetings was the history. People were also concerned that after two years, we would be right back here asking for more money. That is not the plan. We have to make this organization work. I did not come here to see it fail.”

According to Gleason, while he reiterated that he was encouraged by the response from community members, there was still much to be done to return the facility to fiscal stability.

“Do we still have work to do? Absolutely,” Gleason said. “Are we going to stop making changes? No. There are still some changes that need to be made. The number one issue we had to get resolved, and I think we are very close, was the new financial system. It was not getting bills out the door so we weren’t getting money in and we have spent the last few months making sure that is not the case. We still have work to do but we have turned the corner with this system and we are going to make it work. Financially that was one of our biggest issues and that is changing.”

Another concern according to Gleason was communication about MCH financial details with the hospital board.

He said one of his goals was transparency and the public was welcome to come to MCH board meetings to see the enhanced level of communication.

“We are getting financial information to the board,” Gleason said. “We have been inviting people to come to the board meetings to see the kind of information the board is getting now. They are getting the kind of information they need to make decisions as a board. A lot of things have changed. I personally want this to work for the community. This community deserves to have a solid hospital that can provide the care that they need. We want to continue to do that.”

The levy goes to a vote on May 5.