BRATTLEBORO-Since moving to Brattleboro in the 1970s, I have counted on Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) and its medical practices to be there when I, my friends, and my family have needed care.
That care is largely provided by nurses and support staff - the people whom we patients interact with at the bedside, in the lab, and in other hospital departments and medical offices. These health care workers - lifted up as heroes during the pandemic - deserve contracts that will encourage them to stay rather than seek employment elsewhere.
I am aware that BMH is experiencing financial challenges. If there was mismanagement by the previous management team, that was not caused by the frontline workers, and BMH's financial woes should not be solved on their backs.
Our local health care workers show up every day and should be treated as assets to the hospital, not as a "solution" to the hospital's solvency problems. They have expressed willingness to negotiate in good faith, and I urge BMH's administration to work with the unions on contracts that reflect the respect these workers deserve, and that enable them to afford to live in our local area.
Our community hospital is not immune to national trends affecting rural hospitals. According to researchers at the University of North Carolina, 152 rural hospitals have either closed completely or closed their in-patient services since 2010.
This alarming trend is predicted to accelerate, especially as more and more people become uninsured due to cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies and Medicaid.
This does not bode well for a rural state like Vermont, where back roads and dicey weather can make a trip to a distant hospital dangerous to impossible.
I encourage the hospital administration to advocate for a universal health care system that would ensure that all of us can access care and that would bolster our hospitals and their workers by eliminating the need for uncompensated care.
Ellen Schwartz
Brattleboro
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