The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

I am writing this letter in support of Blaine Bickelhaupt who is running for re-election to the Columbia County Hospital Board. I served with Blaine on the hospital board for four years and continue to serve with him on the hospital finance committee. There is a steep learning curve, and it takes several months to get up to speed when you first start on the hospital board. It takes longer than that to understand hospital operations and budgets. In the next year there will be changes in the way and amount of money the hospital receives from Medicare and Medicaid. These payments will be reduc...