Candidate for
Director; West Contra Costa Healthcare District; 2 Year Short Term

I would like to work to ensure that we have a Board that understands its responsibilties, a Board able to distinguish between providing oversight--which is a vital part of its mandate--and micromanaging--which a board should not do but at present does all too often--.

I would like to open greater lines of communication between the Board and the community since all too often Board meetings are attended only by hospital staff. I support a new Governance structure for the Board with representation from all the geographic areas it represents, and a stronger representation from the medical staff.

Attracting new patients to the hospital is a must if we are to survive. Many of our medical staff--on whom we rely in order to get patients--is older and retiring, or cutting down on their work load; alternately because of the insecure future of the hospital, many young doctors have left. While we have attracted some new doctors we need to attract many more if we are to provide our community with the kind of medical services it needs.

I am well aware, after going to Board meetings for some time, that there are some personnell issues at the hospital, most of them focused on dissatisfaction among nurses for various reasons. While the Board cannot micromanage personnel issues or policies, I would like to encourage an atmospher that fosters community rather than confrontation, harmony rather than conflict.

If we have enough resources I would work to expand clinics in West county. This saves us money since the clinic is much cheaper than the Emergency Room. I would like, with enough funds, to re-open under West County Healthcare District auspices, the Elder Care Clinic in El Cerrito that was closed some six months ago.

While I believe that access to medical care is a right I also realize that someone has to pay for these services and that a hospital district cannot survive without paying patients. We must do all we can to attract ensured patients to the hospital and this can only happen if we provide a full service hospital with outstanding physicians and staff.

As someone who was an immigrant and knows how hard it is to deal with a new country and a different language, I would like to see a hospital that is more user friendly for those who do not speak English well. At the minimum some signs or flyers in other languages--Spanish, Hmong and Punjabi--at the best if we have the money providing an interpreter in the dominant second language spoken in the area: Spanish.