Providing services within a moral framework… who gets left out? | Letters

My goal is to work proactively with state officials to ensure hospital district commissioners now and into the future can use their contracting and oversight authority to hold contractors and vendors accountable and to provide support for services based on what a community needs instead of what a specific entity decides to provide.

June 12, 2015 7:20 pm

I want to thank Albert Hall and Janice Peterson for focusing attention on the questions to be asked of the candidates for Public Hospital District Commissioner, “Duty of district? Abide by contract,” June 10, pg. 6; “More questions for candidates,” May 27, pg. 6.

Here are the questions I hope voters consider:

1: Do you support turning over 95-97 of all available tax revenue for the next 50 years to a private entity that restricts certain medical services, including reproductive and end-of-life services, for non-medical reasons?

2: Do you believe contractors receiving local tax money over the next 50 years should be subject to local, democratically elected oversight?

3: Do you think contractors receiving tax money over a 50-year period should be required to meet performance standards on an ongoing basis?

4: Given that the ACLU has warned that the San Juan Public Hospital District contract with PeaceHealth violates state law, do you think it’s better to wait until the San Juan Public Hospital District gets sued or work through the contract issues proactively in consultation with senior state leaders?

5: Do you want the SJPHD to address the need for more urgent care services at reasonable rates?

6: Do you believe emergency services administrators should operate efficiently and with transparency?

With regard to PeaceHealth, we now have a situation where a single contractor taking 97 percent of all available funds for the next 50 years has the ability to provide only those services that are consistent with its mission and values, which means only those services the Catholic bishops approve of.

There is no mechanism to fund services that fall outside the contractor’s moral framework and there is no mechanism for actually resolving issues (PeaceHealth owes a written response to issues that are raised, but the district has no governance or oversight authority left to hold them accountable for actually remedying a problem).

My goal is to work proactively with state officials to ensure hospital district commissioners now and into the future can use their contracting and oversight authority to hold contractors and vendors accountable and to provide support for services based on what a community needs instead of what a specific entity decides to provide.

Monica Harrington

Candidate, Public Hospital District Commissioner