Although I am grateful that the decision to close the birthing center at Southwest Memorial Hospital was reversed, an essential problem still remains: inadequate funding.
If rural hospitals are struggling with their bottom line, good business practice would call for staff members who focus on seeking out alternative sources of income. The first question to ask is, why isn’t a grant writer or a development director listed on the hospital’s staff directory? The salaries of two full-time staff members devoted to fundraising would be returned manyfold.
I have worked at three different nonprofits; grants and fundraisers were our lifeblood. Anyone that has ever worked for a nonprofit realizes this. Shouldn’t Community Hospital Corporation?
Moving forward, the next question to ask is, shouldn’t our hospital communicate its financial need before it becomes a three-alarm fire? The answer to our hospital’s financial problems should never be closing the doors to an essential service that saves lives.
And the ultimate question to ask is, should our hospital fail because it did not pursue all sources of income? Perhaps the answer to this question should be to hire a new management company that understands the basics of running a nonprofit, and does not gamble with our community’s lives by leaving money on the table.
Linda Williams Swingle
Cortez
