Residents of the Montezuma County Hospital District will choose among six candidates for three positions on the MCHD board in the special district election, to be held Tuesday. Seeking four-year terms are incumbents Rick Beisel and Lois Rutledge and challengers Remigio Candelaria, Keith Domerese, Marvin Smith and Sheila Wilson. The seventh candidate, Jeanette Hart, has dropped out of the race, although her name will appear on the ballot.

Today the Cortez Journal profiles Candelaria and Wilson. Domerese and Rutledge were featured in last Saturday’s edition, and Beisel and Smith were featured in the Tuesday edition.

"Basically because I think that they need a director that is going to show concern for the entire county’s health-care needs. Right now the board is concentrating on the nursing home and the hospital, but they are neglecting other health-care issues that are the responsibility of the district. Other problems need to be looked into: senior citizens without health insurance, single mothers with kids without insurance, the immunization problem, teenage pregnancy problem, and so on. Putting money into the hospital was needed, but I think that it was too much one-sided — there are other county needs too. A lot of residents do not use the hospital because they do not have insurance."

"To serve the people, and because I feel very strongly that there will not be enough representation for the people during the negotiations on the nursing home lease. In other words, I feel that negotiations on many things are not slanted toward the peoplebest interest and I would like to help to change that around. Since (former board member) Jo Tipton left office, the people have not been served as well as they deserve; on the other hand for some on the board, special interests take precedence over the people.

"We the people have no idea what is going on unless we listen through the window."

"The primary role I would work toward is the overall health-care needs of the county, not just the hospital and nursing home. There is a mentality of ‘us against them’ on the board. The constant politics and division needs to end and I would promote that change. I feel that everyone should have an adequate shot at obtaining health care. We have a great system here, but not everyone is getting the care they need. Doing this collaboratively reigns in the cost, too, because more than one or two groups that are sharing the work and costs. We make a mistake by narrowing defining health care as just what goes on in the hospital and nursing home. All of the meetings that I have gone to in the last seven years have addressed either the crisis at the hospital or nursing home."

"One of my priorities is to find out where our hands are tied with Continuum. The public needs to know what Continuum is demanding of the hospital board. I’m not saying all of the hospital board, but when you have four members who are ready to give Continuum everything, then it is not balanced, and I think we need more balance.

"I would like to see SHS become a non-entity and return the assets and operations back under MCHD governance. Then, the very good and experienced people on the SHS board now could run for positions on the MCHD board next time around. Also I want to protect that land on the campus, and I am concerned that a part of it will be granted to a private physician for his use to a private practice. This is not right, because the land belongs to the people of the district, not special interests. Also, I would like to see more communication between the district and the Medical Society. The doctors, nurses and technicians know what needs to be done to make a better hospital."

"With the current SHS board it runs quite well. I think that they have basically got the organization out of the red, are meeting the financial ratios, and have managed to save $2 million in investments which has not happened before, so it shows good fiscal responsibility. I can’t say the same for the district board; they had tax dollars but never did anything with it until the hospital needed it for the expansion.

"With two boards there is great opportunity right now. There are things that SHS can do that the district board can’t and vice versa. With SHS responsible for the hospital operations, the district board has a better opportunity to address the other health issues in the county, which they have neglected to do."

"It has not been working, and the reasons it was formed are not valid today. The hospital operations and leased assets need to be returned to the control of the MCHD board as a base of the hospital. SHS does a fair job of running the hospital, but let’s put it this way: if both the SHS and MCHD boards are represented by a single string, it is easy to break one or the other. Intertwine those two strings as the one entity it was before, and it becomes much more difficult to break.

"The intent of SHS forming in the first place was to take advantage of a special district loophole that allowed SHS to utilize the district assets and land to back up a revenue obligation bond that they wanted to float in order to build a medical office building. As we all know, that plan was shot down by the community and the county commissioners because it was irresponsible. SHS is supposed to improve the hospital, but they do not have the money so they come to the district for funding so it seems that they are unnecessary."

"One of the prime directives of the district board is to see that the nursing home is managed right, and that the residents have a safe, healthy environment. I do not see that there would be any loss in revenue to the hospital if SHS were to run Vista Grande. Again, we could shore up the money we may lose from not managing it ourselves with more community partnerships that would help satisfy the needs of those residents. My concern is for those residents, not whether or not the money is leaving the community."

"First off, the nursing home should have never been leased. There should have been a management contract, and the MCHD board should have always been in control. Profits going out of the nursing home could have been well spent in this community by going back into the nursing home. A management contract is preferable to a lease because it keeps Vista Grande in the public eye. A lease contract with a private, for-profit group closes down the avenues for information concerning that taxpayer asset."

"The reasons for going into executive session are very specific, and I would adhere to those rules. There are a lot of issues that you probably could go into executive session for but you really do not need to do so, and that is the criteria I would use. I think that the MCHD board have used executive sessions a little too liberally because they do not want, in some instances, to have companies like (Vista Grande management company) Continuum to know what our cards are. Sensitive contract negotiations and being sued are pretty much the only reasons to ever go into a closed door session."

"Executive sessions were enacted for personnel problems, or for sensitive contract negotiations. The road easement request across taxpayer land by a private physician that I wrote to the editor about should have been put out in front of the people. There are too many executive session being called with the MCHD board. There is no need for most of those closed-door sessions. I feel that many of these executive sessions are simply gab fests. Ironically, I can get more information going to an SHS board meeting, a private corporation, than I can from the public MCHD board. The MCHD have even denied the people who want their letters to the board about a concern read in open session. If the people want it read in public, they have a right to have that happen. It hurts the community members ... it is like a slug in the gut."

"The health clinic probably is not economically feasible, but there are ways to fill the gap by tapping into available programs and organizations, private and public, that already exist to help. You have got to incorporate existing entities that are willing to help do this."

"A community indigent clinic would be a very good thing that needs to be looked into. I think it would work. There are people who need help in this county because they fall between the cracks. Let’s give back to them."

"On a periodic basis, a certain percentage should be taken out of that and put toward upgrading equipment. Or the board should enter into partnerships with the county health department to help start a immunization project for kids, or for an early screening program, or for programs involving the school health. There should be a concerted effort between both boards to put that money toward making health care more available for those in the county who need it, but can’t afford it. This takes the pressure off of the ER, which is often the last resort for those who do not have access to care. I am not saying it should be free, but it should be affordable and available based on what people can pay, and it would also help get into programs that also help defer some of those costs."