I take strong exception to Albert Hall’s contention in his letter to the editor in the Journal on June 3 (online) that the existing subsidy agreement between SJC Public Hospital District No. 1 and PeaceHealth is sacrosanct and that the duties of the commissioners “include zealously guarding and abiding by this agreement”. (See “Duty of district? Abide by contract,” Letters, pg. 6, top left)

I will be voting for hospital commissioners who believe their primary responsibility is to meet community health needs, not to blindly defend the subsidy agreement.

If there is something in the agreement which prevents the commission from achieving this responsibility and as a result the commission is in violation of state law, I expect it to work with PeaceHealth to modify the contract.

By “law”, I refer to the laws of Washington State, not the dictates of the Catholic Bishops. I also disagree with Mr. Hall’s belief that the “Catholic Bishops have no role in health care decisions beyond the agreement and in particular matters concerning end-of-life care, women’s-health and maternity.”

Nowhere does the agreement refer to the limitations the Catholic Bishops are well known to have imposed on procedures performed at Peace Island Hospital.

Women of child-bearing age needing family planning and pre-natal care, all previously performed at the defunct Inter Island Medical Center, as well as families facing difficult end-oflife decisions, are simply ignored by Peace Island Hospital even though it is subsidized by our tax dollars.

Two corrections to Mr. Hall’s letter: Residents of San Juan Island never voted on the agreement as he states. Also, Mr. Buettell, myself, and others are not “trying to impose their views on others” as do the Catholic Bishops.

We only want the hospital district to comply with state law and not the dictates of a religious body. We expect Peace Island Hospital, subsidized with our tax dollars, to meet “community health needs”, including “the delivery of quality patient care” as stipulated in the Public Hospital District Commissioner Guide published by the Association of Washington Public Hospital Districts.

The dictates of the Catholic Bishops do not currently permit it to do so.

David Dehlendorf/San Juan Island