"We get letters..." Lotsa letters in Sunday's R&B

Lots of letters to the editor in tomorrow’s R&B….below are just a few notable quotes.
I encourage you to visit the R&B site to read them in their entirety:
http://www.registerbee.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=DRB%2FMGArticle%2FDRB_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149193130523&path=%21news%21editor


Problems today, but hope for future improvement
“I would also like to clear up a misconception regarding doctors sending patients out of our community to seek health care elsewhere. It is often stated the doctors are sending patients out of town to other hospitals. In reality, this is happening in a minority of cases. Patients are going elsewhere, but not because the doctors are sending them. We are only following the wishes of our patients and their families. We respect our patients, and if they feel the hospital is unsafe, we must do as requested and send them elsewhere.”

“Councilman Pete Castiglione hit the nail on the head when he stated it is not equipment or new buildings that make a world-class hospital, it is retaining and training excellent nurses who are there 24 hours a day when patients need them. Fortunately, LifePoint executives, including Jess Judy, are beginning to see this and have taken a positive step by bringing in an interim chief nursing officer to fill a gapping void in our Nursing Department.”

Council needed to step in
“I am very happy that Danville City Council has decided to investigate the mess, which we are now burdened. Maybe it can get LifePoint to do a better job - or agree to sell our facility back to us so that a way can be determined to bring better hospital care to our region. I wonder! But let them try. We should all be ready to assist any endeavor to improve the existing situation.”

Losing good doctors
“For whatever reason, the board of the prior Danville Regional Medical Center chose to sell the hospital to a for-profit organization, LifePoint Hospitals Inc. I realize profit is the keystone for any successful business, whether it is formed as nonprofit or for-profit organization. In the case of LifePoint and Danville Regional, let us hope that management has not allowed the profit motive to blind them to their mission of effective health care for our citizens.”

So long, ‘Sundance Kid’
“While we are all dismayed by the deplorable condition of our hospital facilities, sold out, apparently, for business reasons rather than for the good of the people it serves, most local physicians are not abandoning their patients. Rather, they are remaining to give their best care as they struggle to improve hospital conditions. They are professionals and generous human beings who put their patients’ care first. Drs. Caldwell and Brotherton are leaders in this regard.”

What is ‘world class’?
“I understand that the City Council plans to call for another meeting very soon - again addressing hospital problems - and I hope it will be held in a large enough room to accommodate not only the hospital CEO and associates, but also some doctors, nurses, past patients and all city and county residents who are really interested in exceptional health care from a truly “world class organization.”