Editor,

Congratulations on your excellent editorial in the May 11 Whidbey News-Times, “Time is ideal for WGH board to bring on a different viewpoint.”

You summed up the corrosive mentality of the Whidbey General Hospital board, with its clever method of installing new members who are clones of current members. When we recently heard of board member Ann Tarrant’s intention to resign before the end of her term, many of us wouldn’t be surprised if the board already has someone in mind to fill her shoes. And you can bet that person will be a congenial, non-controversial addition to the status-quo mentality of the board.

One glaring status-quo deficiency is the hospital’s lack of accreditation.

While 91 percent of U.S hospitals are accredited by the Joint Commission (the gold standard), Whidbey General finds itself in the bottom 9 percent unaccredited.

But is the board bothered by this? Apparently not.

Another shameful deficiency, swept under the rug, is the issue of patient satisfaction.

A seattlepi.com article of April 8, 2015, reported on a Health and Human Services survey that listed 47 Washington hospitals. Whidbey General ranked near the bottom at number 45. Have we heard any mention of this in a board meeting? I think the answer is obvious.

The point of all this is that the hospital board needs shaking up, with new membership, new vitality, and fresh ideas.

The old ways smell of stagnation and business as usual.

The board is supposed to represent the taxpaying public, and we should be demanding a lot more for our money. Most importantly, we should keep these things in mind at election time.

David Howe

Greenbank