Forum held for hospital board candidates

Questions posed to Mineral County Hospital Board member candidates during a forum last Wednesday followed six topics they had previously received. Topics included their qualifications and reasons for running; challenges the board and the hospital are facing; and what is needed to assure success for the hospital.

Mineral Community Hospital is one of the county’s largest employers and is an essential part of the community. Four of the eight candidates answered questions in front of about 50 people who attended the forum in the multipurpose room at Superior High School on April 18. The other candidates had a proxy answer their questions as they all vie for four open seats in the May 8 election.

The hospital board consists of five elected positions and four appointed positions. John Woodland, who is currently the board chair, along with Sue Hazlett, Peggy Temple, and Leona Crichton are running for re-election. Patrick Metzger, Anita Parkin, Steve Tull and Evelyn Shultz are also running and are members of the Superior Ambulance Service. Steve Ahern was also on the ballot but had to drop out due to personal issues. Carol Billadeau is also on the board and has two years left on her term. Crichton, Metzger, Schultz and Woodland are up for two open seats for three-year terms. Sue Hazlett and Steve Tull are up for one open, two-year term seat; and Anita Parkin and Peggy Temple are up for the one-year, open seat.

Temple, Crichton, Parkin, and Schultz were unable to attend the forum. Temple had her husband, Steve answer for her, while Liz Gupton took Parkin’s questions and Diane Magone answered for Schultz. Crichton was out of town and did not get her responses back in time for the forum.

“Quality of Care” was one of the big topics of discussion and the main reason volunteers with the Superior Ambulance service are running.

“Our primary motive is to improve patient care,” an open letter sent to the Mineral Independent in the April 11 issue stated. “Decisions being made by the Hospital Administration do not appear to be in the best interest of patient care,” and the group hopes to work to “support the staff, and bring transparency to the decisions being made for the hospital,” and was signed by Ahern, Metzger, Parkin, Schultz and Tull.

Other issues candidates felt were facing the hospital included the need for more transparency and better inform the public of activities; recruiting and retaining qualified personnel; and fiscal issues. In particular is the current legislation threatening to impose cuts to Medicaid and Medicare programs whose funds are critical especially for small rural hospitals like Mineral Community.

Metzger expressed his increasing frustration with the board when answering why he has chosen to run for the position. After attending a board meeting in January, he said he had left the meeting “angry and confused and came away with more questions than answers.” He also cited previous interactions with the hospital administration over issues and had been told the board was uninvolved with those issues and felt he had received inadequate answers.

However, Woodland, who has served on the Hospital Board for over four years and is the current chair, said there is adequate time for the public to ask questions and make comments and no one did during the January meeting that Metzger referenced. Woodland also said during introductions that, “the hospital board does not make medical decisions and does not have the authority to supervise licensed medical personnel and I don’t think any licensed medical personnel would like to be supervised by an elected or appointed board. There are number of ways medical personnel are supervised and quality is controlled on that end.”

Woodland also defended the board’s public outreach by citing their annual health fair, their website which has information posted and other ways information is sent out. Temple answered that another issue the hospital had faced in the past was a negative community perception, “but now, under the current administration it has greatly improved and they are making changes regarding patient safety and patient care.” She also talked about the challenge of finding and retaining qualified providers which is improving through tele-health and traveling personnel like nurses.

During final remarks, the audience was able to see the ambulance crew in action as an emergency call came in over several radios including Steve Tull, who rushed out the room in response before his closing remarks.

Regarding the four appointed positions, only one is open since Frank Raine resigned in February. The other members include Gary Woodson, a pharmacist who lives in Lozeau, Chris Rodgers and Dr. Stephen Thata. Woodland said that Thata is the CMO of Monida Health Network and CEO at OCCular Healthcare. He was previously Director of Surgical Services and Director of Surgery at Community Medical Center and served as the Chair of the Investigational Review Board at St. Patrick Hospital & Health Sciences Center.

Also, County Commissioner Laurie Johnston serves as an ex-officio member and attends meetings regularly. The Mineral County Hospital Foundation provides tax-exempt funds to help support the hospital. Over the past 10 years, the Foundation has raised over $250,000 through fundraising efforts and are used for equipment, building maintenance, and other needs. Its major obligation is financial oversight and to assure that appropriate polices are in place and are being followed. Board members also review employment policies and quality review, but they do not carry out the policies. Woodland said the only hiring and firing authority the board has over is the CEO. All other personnel decisions are handled by the hospital management. Mail-in ballots for the May 8 election were sent out last week.

More about the candidates running for the Mineral County Hospital Board

Leona Crichton has a CPA and owns a consignment store. She worked as a truck driver for 41 years and is currently on the hospital board. She has also participated in RSVP and was on the Mineral Community Hospital Guild.

Sue Hazlett took over Jim Debree’s position on the hospital board and was on the patient satisfaction committee. She is a registered nurse and worked for the Mineral County Health Department for 33 years.

Patrick Metzger is a member of the Superior Ambulance Crew, and is a graduate of the Montana Law Enforcement Academy. He is a certified EMT and an Incident Medical Specialist for the Montana DNRC. He also was the District Captain for the Department of Transportation Motor Carrier Services and worked as a manager for Safeway grocery stores.

Anita Parkin served for 20 years with the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department as a dispatcher, deputy, undersheriff, and as Sheriff/Coroner and Public Administrator. She has also worked for both the West End and Superior Fire Departments, and has an Advanced EMT designation for the Superior Ambulance Service, where she has served for 39 years.

Peggy Temple has served on the hospital board since 2014 and has a BS in Environmental Science. She worked for 24 years as a City Environmental Specialists and Planner and currently owns a fishing guide service and fly-fishing shop in St. Regis. She has also been a diver in California, an instructor and president of the Riverbend County Sheriff Underwater Search and Recovery team for 22 years. She is also on the Board of Health, the Relay for Life Organizational Team, and serves on the Mineral County Airport Open House Committee.

Steve Tull is also a licensed volunteer EMT for the Superior Ambulance Service and has a BA in Linguistics and an MA in Education. He taught English at Superior High School until his retirement and is also a church administrator and pastoral counselor. He also served in the Air Force as a missile crew commander and translator.

John Woodland is currently the chairman for the hospital board and has served on the board for four years. He has a BA in American History and a Law Degree Juris Doctor. He had his own law firm and was the Superior Fire Chief for ten years and currently helps with the department.

Evelyn Schultz graduated from Superior High School and has worked at the school as an Administrative Assistant since 1988. She graduated from the Missoula Business College and has worked since 1997 during the summer as an Incident Medical Technician/Assistant for the USFS on wildfires. She has been an EMT for the Superior Ambulance Service since 1998 and has been an Adult Education Instructor for 30 years.