SVMC Board: Time for a change

I was a member of the Board of Directors of SVMC for 16 years and chairman of the board six of those years.

During that period the hospital became a no smoking hospital, underwent a name change, built a new emergency power building, built a new laboratory for testing, remodeled the cancer center, opened a Wound Care Center and urology clinic and built, staffed and opened a new Cath laboratory for heart intervention as well as other intervention procedures. During that time the hospital replaced the retiring Ceo/president with a new one of our own. The hospital was financially stable and always in the black.

I the last four years, I do not remember seeing much in the newspaper on hospital growth and new projects as was happening during previous directors on the board. The hospital has not bee in the black for some time now even before COVID-19. Growth has really slowed down. The hospital has a Star rating of one, five in the highest. Maybe it is time for a change and you can do that on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. Look at your ballot if you are in SVMC zone 4 you can make that change and you can even put a woman on the board as we have in the past.

You do not need a physician to be on the hospital board. Sometimes that can be a detriment due to conflict of interest. You just need an open mind, common sense, willingness to ask hard questions and good consensus skills. Now is a good time to change the makeup of the board to include women members and have a more diverse membership who represents more of the community. Richard Hatfield, retired board member, past chaiman

Porterville

Central Valley farmers need Cox

Nowhere are the challenges of the administration’s trade war more clear than right here in the Central Valley. The livestock, cotton, fruits and vegetables, and tree nuts that we grow and raise here ship to every corner of the globe, bringing back vital revenue for our farms and our communities.

That international economy is why our elected officials have to be diplomats, rather than partisans; and it’s what I appreciate so much about Congressman T.J. Cox.

I raise Almonds outside of Kingsburg, and Cox has listened extensively to farmers like me across the district as we discuss the challenges facing agricultural trade right now. On the one hand, we do not support the president’s trade war, because it has cost us millions in demand in places like China and Latin America. On the other hand, trade deals like the U.s.-mexico-canada Agreement mean expanded markets for the things I and my fellow Central Valley farmers produce.

Rather than take the partisan line and bash the president, Cox has worked together with Republicans in Congress and the administration to ensure the USMCA works for California farmers, and when he secured those wins, he backed the agreement and urged his fellow Democrats to do the same.

In a hyper-partisan Washington, we need more of Cox’s brand of leadership, focused on what constituents need, rather than on the party-line message.

Matt Rogers Kingsburg