Lots of concern lately that Palm Drive Hospital is in dire financial condition, and may go bankrupt. How will this problem be solved? Does it really need to be solved?
The discussion will invariably be about how the Sebastopol/west county community needs to dig deep again to support this problematic institution. Funding options will be proposed, and one of them will end up on the ballot.
In my perhaps cynical view, the most likely result will be another parcel tax on Sebastopol area land owners. Most voters don't own parcels. So when they see a voting option to place the burden on land owners instead of themselves, they'll most likely go for it. Gee...thanks.
I think the discussion should be more focused on whether our community actually needs this hospital. Yes there definitely should be some community medical services institution, but do we really need to fund an expensive full-service hospital? I don't believe we do.
In theory, more hospitals is better. In a perfect world there would be one on every block, in case of emergency. The reality is, that with today's horrendous medical system, we can't even afford to have a hospital in every community.
I suggest that the west county's medical money would be best spent on a trauma center for emergencies, and then walk-in clinics for everything else. We do not need hugely expensive local mri and other ultra-hi-tech gizmos & labs, plus the expensive personnel to operate them. Do we need an ICU in Sebastopol? Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to maintain these expensive and redundant medical services in a more central location, somewhere in Santa Rosa?
I'm wondering too if, on some level, hospitals are like pro sport franchises. Local politicians think that to show status, a really on-the-ball city has to have a spiffy sports stadium, or in Sebastopol's case, a full-service hospital.
Tars the curmudgeon