It’s time for new blood on the Whidbey General Hospital board.
Georgia Gardner and Nancy Fey want to continue serving on the board of elected officials that sets policy for the hospital.
They are being challenged by two very different candidates. Rob Born is a firebrand, an outspoken critic of the hospital. Erika Carnahan is a calm person who believes in a collaborative approach.
Both challengers will provide second opinions — and fresh ideas — needed on the board.
On paper and in person, Gardner and Fey are obviously qualified, community-minded people who have dedicated their time to the island’s key healthcare provider.
And yet, neither woman has shown a willingness to ask tough questions of the hospital administration or even disagree with a proposal. They take a head—in-the-sand approach when it comes to the hospital’s lack of transparency.
Of course patient information has to be protected, but they seem to ignore the fact that the administration chafes at simple requests for information that are clearly part of the public record. In fact, the administration has gone to great and very creative lengths to prevent the prosecutor — and the public — from seeing a report related to an administrator accused of a crime.
It seems that some people inside the insular culture have forgotten that it’s a public hospital district. That means the people of Whidbey Island own the hospital and are effectively the bosses.
The administration and the board should be striving to find ways to communicate as freely as possible with their bosses, not always defaulting to secrecy.
The two challengers may not provide miracle cures.
Born is sure to ruffle feathers and cause some strife on a rubber-stamping board that excels at patting itself on the back. He’s been accused of misunderstanding the facts and exaggerating in his blog dedicated to criticizing the hospital.
And Carnahan sounds very similar to the current board members when it comes to such issues as communication.
Nevertheless, they both deserve a chance. And perhaps the rest of the board will see their success at the ballot as a message from the voters.
