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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 8, 2005 What is happening to Ashland Community Hospital? By Joy Craddick, MD Ashland Fifteen years ago as president of a private international hospital quality assurance company (Medical Management Analysis International Inc.), it was my pleasure to do an in-depth on-site survey of Ashland Community Hospital and install a highly effective quality assurance and risk management system. I designated it at that time as one of the best, if not the best, small hospital that I had ever reviewed. When I decided to move to Ashland a few years later, I was thrilled to know that I would have access to this hospital for myself and my patients. Until the previous administrator, Jim Watson, retired, the hospital prospered and continually improved. I steered all my patients in its direction whenever they needed the level of care provided by ACH. At the time of Mr. Watson’s retirement, the hospital was working closely with a group of local practitioners and business leaders to incorporate a state-of-the-art Integrative Cancer Treatment Center. Years were spent in preparation for this, and it was on the verge of becoming a reality. This center could have been a solid source of income to the hospital as well as the community at large. With the advent of the new administration, this project was permanently and unceremoniously consigned to a back, unlit burner. The hospital now complains that its income is falling due partly to “competition” from other facilities. There would have been little competition for an Integrative Cancer Center, since no facility like it exists anywhere in the Pacific Northwest. In my opinion, both as a practitioner and a patient, the general excellence of the hospital has been steadily declining since the new administration took over. It is simple math. Decreased excellence plus physician dissatisfaction equals fewer referrals for service. Fewer referrals for service translate into decreased income. Improving existing services back to a standard of excellence and adding services that have a record of increasing income should result in financial improvement (although this may occur more gradually than the decline). Instead, the administration, as noted in the Tidings’ article of Sept. 17 (”ACH Shifts Lead to 4-5% Cut in Staff”), has cut staffing, thus diminishing excellence — as I can attest from my own experience within my practice. Their answer is to embark on a mammoth construction project that could well bring the hospital to its knees. We already have two excellent free-standing surgery centers in a town of 20,000 people. Doesn’t the city of Ashland care about what is happening to our community hospital? Is this just another case of the Emperor’s New Clothes? As a local physician and former hospital quality assurance professional, I have not spoken to a single person in our community who is pleased with the current hospital administration. We need to pay attention, investigate, speak up publicly, and ask for more accountability. We need to do whatever it takes to preserve Ashland Community Hospital, a most precious Ashland resource, before it is too late. Thanks to people helping Women in Need By Suzanne and Jack Witucki Ashland October is a month dedicated to victims of domestic violence. A local grass-roots effort by a committee of community members raised thousands of dollars to help Women in Need and their families recently. This is an open letter to all those who donated their time, money, resources and energy so tirelessly: Vivian Stubblefield, Suzanne and John Duncan, Ray and Lois Holdridge, Nancy Kramarenko, Molly and Phil Thibedeau, Martha McIntyre, Linda and Gary Gamble, Kay Johnson, Lee and Don Michalak, Paddington Station, Judith and Steve Spelman, Joe and Ann Fazio, Joanne and Rick Soued, Jenny and Phil Thurston, Jean Conger, Jan Hoyt, Francene Bernest, Diane Novak, Diana Quirk, Carolyn and Cliff Edwards, Cheryl Goldman, Carryl Breon, Mary and Brian Gorham, Barb Magee, Annette Lewis, Doris Mannion, Betsy Beyer and Ed Beutner, Charlotte Abernathy, and Maureen Battistella, Marilyn Brownyer, Kristi and Bill Phillips, Carol and Dave Rugg, Barbara and Reuben Vasquez, Kathy and John Griffin, Carryl Breon, and Suzanne and Alan Frey. The Ashland Branch of the American Association of University Women underwrote the operating expenses for Diamond and Spurs, a line dance fundraiser for Women In Need held on Oct. 1 from 7 to 11 p.m. at the Ashland Elks Club. For the past four years, AAUW members as well as local community members have donated everything from personal care products to washing machines to Christmas Gift Cards to women and children who are the victims of domestic abuse. The women who benefit from this generosity are usually “graduates” of the 28 day emergency shelter program at Dunn House; they are struggling with self-esteem issues as well as the practical problems of how to buy pots and pans and diapers. Put Yourself in Their Shoes is a community support program which helps women and their families transition after they leave the Dunn House program. Anyone wishing to contribute help or resources to this organization should call Annastasia Battie at 621-4077. Sincere thanks on behalf of the mothers and children who will benefit from this outpouring of generosity! Letters to the Editor and Guest Forums should be e-mailed in text-only format to [email protected]. Please include your address and a daytime phone number where you can be reached for confirmation. Submissions cannot have run in any other publication. Letters are limited to 250 words, Guest Forums are limited to 600 words, and may be edited for length, content and clarity. 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