Hospital strategic committee gives thumbs up to survey

There are lies, damn lies and statistics,’” said Dr. Clinton Lane, quoting Mark Twain at the Sonoma Valley Hospital’s July 16 strategic planning meeting.
“I’ve been sitting here on this committee and listening to surveys, and most of the elections were lost,” he said. “This [latest survey] looks better than everything we’ve seen, but it shouldn’t make people more overconfident.”
The June 2008 survey by Dresner, Wickers and Associates showed the most optimistic numbers yet about the community’s support of the hospital and the bond that hospital officials say they need to keep it running. Still, the question posed by the committee was, can they trust it?
Hospital CEO Carl Gerlach said he’d come to realize the people who usually show up at meetings don’t necessarily represent the entire community. “So I turn to the survey,” he said, explaining that he saw the survey as a management tool and a way to avoid making assumptions. “That’s why I’ll do it again and again.” Hospital board chair Dick Kirk agreed. “This is a method of listening to the public,” he said.
Carolyn Barber, of Dresner, Wickers and Associates, who presented the survey, explained that it consisted of 300 telephone interviews between June 16 and June 19, randomly selected from registered voters. Among the positive findings was the conclusion that 53 percent considered the hospital excellent or above average. Highest concern among the positive responses, she said, was that people don’t want to lose the emergency room. On the negative side, she said, no single argument was stronger than the weakest positive statement. In  general, she said, the negatives could be grouped under the heading “confidence,” as in: “How do we know what the hospital is saying they’ll do will really get done?”
“It shows how critical credibility is,” said Alden Brosseau. “If we can say anything to the board it’s that we’ve got to be totally honest to the electorate. We’ve got to say what’s actually true and not flinch.” Gina Cuclis agreed. “I would caution against jumping to any conclusions about how you state the message; not confuse the bond with the parcel tax. Don’t be jumping to conclusions.”
During the public comment, concerns were raised about this particular election. With the number of issues on the ballot this would be near the bottom. To that, Gina Cuclis said, “What the political experts tend to say is the high voter turnout elections tend to be progressive voters. Progressives tend to vote for tax measures. In terms of the down ballot, the smart sales taxes are all down ballot. There’s a supervisor race, city council race, there’s a get-out– the-vote method for down ballot campaign.” Committee chair Richard Fogg commented that the Registrar of Voters expects an 80 percent turnout. Brosseau reiterated the importance of clarity. “Again,” he said, to a general nodding of heads, “if you say explicitly what you’re going to use the money for, you’ll be in a stronger position.”