The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Dear Editor,

This is my continuing effort to keep you updated on the importance of the proposed Hospital Bond and levy on the November ballot.

In three years we will lose our Medicare reimbursement of $350,000 per year because we have exhausted our depreciation (an allowed tax deduction based on a reduction in value of an asset over time). This, coupled with the Booker deficit, will total $747,000 in operational dollars that cannot be sustained within the current structure and services provided.

Is this Bond a redesign, a remodel, or an internal structural change of the facility? Is this an effort by the Board to take advantage of capital improvements and enhanced services? Are these changes necessary in how the system can provide health care in the future? I would strongly suggest that it is all of the above! In short we need to invest in capital improvements within the facility and enhance selective health services to offset the total anticipated deficit.

With these actions our community health care system is in a better financial position to sustain itself and prepare for disruptive change in health care during the years ahead. Ted Paterson Dayton