Why I’m Running for the Palm Drive Board

[JimHorn]

On April 7, the Palm Drive District Board voted to close Palm Drive Hospital. I sat in the audience with my wife, Susan, who had cared for patients as a Palm Drive nurse for six years. When the Hospital faltered and then closed, she lost her job and we scrambled to replace our health insurance. One night soon after, she spent hours writing good-bye notes to her coworkers.

Just three months later, I was appointed to fill a vacancy in the District Board. I’ve been working hard ever since on four basic priorities:

• Reopen Palm Drive Hospital if it can be done in a fiscally responsible and sustainable manner. If it can’t, then restore radiology, laboratory, outpatient surgery and urgent care services to benefit as many District residents as possible.

• Expand health care services in our underserved River and coastal communities. For too long, folks living farthest from Palm Drive Hospital have received the least in return for their taxes. That needs to change.

• Get the Palm Drive District out of bankruptcy and, if at all possible, pay our former employees 100% of what they’re owed.

• Provide strong and active board oversight of the District’s finances and operations.

Now I’m running for re-election to the Board on Nov. 4. I believe I’m the right person for this crucial job because of my business and public service experience.

As a young Caltech graduate, I started my own engineering company 28 years ago. During my career I’ve been president of a 14-person firm and managing partner of a 20-person company. I’m intimately familiar with owning and managing a successful business.

Over the years, I’ve helped design projects at many local hospitals. I understand the complex and demanding regulations that even small hospitals like Palm Drive must follow.

I’ve also served on the Gravenstein school board for the last twelve years, including seven years as board president. During that time, our enrollment increased more than 40% and our finances and reserves improved dramatically. I’m skilled at overseeing a successful public district, asking tough questions, and working as a team to turn a struggling district into a thriving one.

Finally, I’ve been blessed with my wonderful wife of 38 years, Susan, a registered nurse in California for more than three decades. Through her, I’ve developed a good layman’s knowledge of how Palm Drive actually worked and how our dedicated employees helped earn national recognition for patient safety.

Can the Hospital be reopened responsibly and sustainably? I don’t know yet. I believe the Proposal being developed by the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation is our best shot at that goal, but the jury is still out. I hope it does, but many crucial questions remain about finances, facilities, licensing, Medicare reimbursement and electronic medical records, among others. Some of these questions are posted on the District website (www.palmdrivehospital.org)

But it’s a daunting task. According to state records he Hospital suffered over $60 million in operating losses in the last 13 years, and the District is in bankruptcy for the second time. The building is 40 years old and needs millions of dollars of repairs and upgrades.

Some say that if I don’t commit immediately and without reservation to the Foundation’s plan, even if incomplete, then I must be against reopening the Hospital. That makes no sense. My job as a District Director is to use my best judgment and experience to help provide the best health care services we can sustainably afford. A key part of my job is to question—to poke and prod at financial reports, business plans and bankruptcy strategies, whether from the Foundation or the District administration.

More than ever, we need independent Directors with a healthy skepticism and the experience and ability to ask questions and make tough decisions. I believe I’m the best candidate for this crucial job, and I would appreciate your vote on November 4.

[rossmen]

you are clearly the choice to stop the bleeding/pull the plug. perhaps you can answer one question percolating on wacco and on the mind of any financially prudent district lot holder: is it really true we are stuck with the tax even if we vote to dissolve the district? isn't there some path to no hospital and no parcel tax?

...
Can the Hospital be reopened responsibly and sustainably? I don’t know yet. I believe the Proposal being developed by the Palm Drive Health Care Foundation is our best shot at that goal, but the jury is still out....

[JimHorn]

you are clearly the choice to stop the bleeding/pull the plug. perhaps you can answer one question percolating on wacco and on the mind of any financially prudent district lot holder: is it really true we are stuck with the tax even if we vote to dissolve the district? isn't there some path to no hospital and no parcel tax?

Sorry for the delay in responding to your post.

I've heard a lot of different opinions about what would happen if the parcel tax was repealed, if the Palm Drive District was dissolved, if just a portion of the District detached itself through an election or otherwise, etc. At this point, I don't think anyone knows the answers to your questions.

If the District board determines that the hospital can't be reopened in a fiscally responsible and sustainable manner, that opens up a lot of other options. Can we provide enough other medical services for people throughout the District, including the underserved River and coastal areas, so that folks feel like they're getting their money's worth from the District and the parcel tax? That could include urgent care, radiology and lab services in Sebastopol and Guerneville; increased Advanced Life Support ambulance coverage; community-based health services like wellness and disease prevention, support for aging seniors, and healthy schools initiatives; and many more.

I'm trying to keep an open mind about all of the possibilities for improved health care. But I think the District board will need to make some difficult decisions sooner rather than later.

[rossmen]

thanks for replying and sorry i took so long to read it (i often get eburied):(>

it's a little disturbing that there are a lot of different opinions about a relatively simple and straightforward question. while you may not be the leader of the coalition to keep palm drive closed, your if and the distribution of campaign signs signals that you are the hope for eliminating a nonfunctional bureaucracy. a faint hope in any time.

the best alternative i have read for a district purpose if the hospital is kaput (by far most probable from a logical perspective), is as a facilitator of homeless services. what do you think of that?

Sorry for the delay in responding to your post.

I've heard a lot of different opinions about what would happen if the parcel tax was repealed, if the Palm Drive District was dissolved, if just a portion of the District detached itself through an election or otherwise, etc. At this point, I don't think anyone knows the answers to your questions.

If the District board determines that the hospital can't be reopened in a fiscally responsible and sustainable manner, that opens up a lot of other options. Can we provide enough other medical services for people throughout the District, including the underserved River and coastal areas, so that folks feel like they're getting their money's worth from the District and the parcel tax? That could include urgent care, radiology and lab services in Sebastopol and Guerneville; increased Advanced Life Support ambulance coverage; community-based health services like wellness and disease prevention, support for aging seniors, and healthy schools initiatives; and many more.

I'm trying to keep an open mind about all of the possibilities for improved health care. But I think the District board will need to make some difficult decisions sooner rather than later.