I attended the last half of the Kootenai Health Information Session put on by the CDA Chamber of Commerce. I am hoping that video of the whole event will be put online. If it is I will share video of the event.
Terri Farr(?) stated that the two year election cycle is not fair to the employees. Seriously? Sounds like whining about not being transparent.
Another panelist said that Kootenai Health wants to be the St. Lukes of the north. St. Luke's is a hospital down in the Boise area. They have a history of not respecting patients wishes, calling CPS on parents, etc. We do not want a St. Luke's of the north.
Robert Calvin said the hospital tax district that Kootenai Health is currently in will go away. I'd like to see that in writing. I hope he is correct on that. I don't want the hospital destroyed and then turned back over to the taxpayers to fix.
Katie Brodie stated that no tax payer money will be returned to the taxpayer. Really? Why not? This seems like a type of theft then or am I wrong in thinking that? Brodie went on to say that the hospital will never be sold. (If you believe that one, I have a bridge to no where that I'd like to sell you.) She said that it takes 5-6 months to transition Kootenai Health over to being a 501c3.
Another individual that I did not catch the name of stated that they don't like having enough experts on the board. He went onto complain about the two year election cycle. He stated that it would be more difficult for medical professionals to run and be elected in the future if the hospital remains the way it is. I take this as being we want experts on the board that reflect our values, not ones that reflect the values of the community.
Three trustees sitting in the audience were asked to give comment. McFarland (appointed trustee) spoke on his concerns over the rushing of the process. Aubit (appointed trustee) stated his support for the hospital becoming a 501c3. Matheson (elected trustee) stated that he thinks this is politically motivated and he doesn't support it at this time. He thinks this should go before the voters of Kootenai County.
The CEO of Kootenai Health, Jon Ness, gave comment at the end. He said the hospital can't grow to meet the growing population with the current structure it has. He state that this change is not political at all. This from the man who went to every city council meeting in our county in 2020 to ask them to do mask mandates.
***Three CDA PD cars for an informational meeting.
