Heard It On The GrapeVine

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SVHCC Meetings Begin- Public Invited

More than 70 people from all sides of the recent Measure C controversy met on Monday night, June 5, at Ramekins to begin the work of the newly formed Sonoma Valley Healthcare Coalition (SVHCC).

By the end of the meeting, over 60% of those attending had volunteered to serve on the committees through which the Coalition will do its work in the coming months.

“We are here to tell you that the disagreement over Measure C is formally, and finally, over” said Bob Edwards, a co-Chair of the Coalition and a leader of the former “No” campaign on Measure C. “There is no “Yes” and there is no “No” on the hospital any more. Our job now is to bring the community together around a search for the 67% solution – a plan for a health care system that provides quality care and will receive the super-majority support needed to pass it."

Coalition co-chair Steve Pease introduced a Statement of Purpose for the Coalition that, after some debate, received unanimous support. It reads “To recommend to the Sonoma Valley Health Care District Board of Directors the scope, size and setting of an economically viable Health Care Proposal most likely to achieve at least 67% voter approval for any ballot measure required to implement it and, if the Proposal is accepted and adopted by the Board, to undertake a positive information program to encourage voter approval."

The meeting was also attended by a number of the doctors and medical personnel from the Sonoma Valley Hospital who shared their concerns regarding the uncertainty and low morale there now in the wake of Measure C. Some expressed fears that key practitioners will decide to leave if not reassured that the community is serious about having a new hospital in the Sonoma Valley that meets State earthquake standards and delivers quality health care.

When asked by Co-Chair Edwards “How many people here want to see a new hospital here in town”, all 70 attendees voted “Yes”. Leaders of the Coalition invited hospital doctors and staff to join them in their efforts and to lend their expertise to the decision making process to come.

“However, we need to be clear that the only thing the voters are being asked to do is to pay for something” said Edwards. “We need to understand the dynamic of that, and to work toward a solution that will receive the needed support, even from the percentage of voters whose health plans take them elsewhere for general care and who may only use our hospital in a life threatening emergency”.

In support of that, committees were formed to conduct and fund an opinion survey to determine “what the voters want and what they are willing to pay for”, to review of the range of facility options provided by Plan B’s expert panel and by the community or other private groups; and to raise funding to support the SVHCC’s work.

In an intensive effort to get its work done in a timely manner, the Sonoma Valley Healthcare Coalition will meet at Ramekins from 7 to 9 every Monday night (except holidays) “until its work is done”.

It is expected that one of the up-coming Monday night meetings will feature a return visit by key members of the Plan B Expert Panel to review their recommendations and to answer questions from the public and from the Coalition as their work proceeds. Members of the public with an interest in working toward a positive outcome to the search for a sustainable health care system in the Sonoma Valley are invited to attend.