Letters to the editor

opinions

September 15, 2015 - 12:00 AM

Dear editor:
I saw on the local TV a couple of days ago that the hospital in Independence is shutting down by the end of this year. An attempt was made to become a part of the Coffeyville Regional Hospital, but, for reasons unknown to me, failed.
I can only imagine the people and city of Independence are going through right now. This is truly a community tragedy. I wonder how many lives might be lost in emergency situations as they make the 20-mile ambulance trip to the Coffeyville hospital.
Could this happen to Allen County Regional Hospital? In our favor, we are a critical access hospital and it does get some support from the city of Iola. Our new hospital has been in business for almost three years and I have never seen any specific numbers indicating the fiscal health, for good or bad. I know a lot of claims must be written off and can’t be collected on.
I believe it is time for our hospital to give the people of Allen County some sort of report card, with some detailed info on how we are doing. After all, it is the people of Allen County who own and support our independent hospital.
We are constantly bombarded with newspaper ads about services available in area towns. I believe it is the responsibility of Allen County citizens to make every effort to use our hospital whenever possible.
I also believe it is the responsibility of our hospital to do public relations and run ads in out-of-county newspapers. I have no idea how effective those ads are, but they must be working as advertising is expensive. Maybe we ought to advertise in their newspapers if we don’t already.
It is much better to be proactive and do whatever it takes to stay competitive, rather than wait until we are already going broke from lack of aggressive action.
Paul L. Zirjacks,
Iola, Kan.

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