Sonoma Valley Hospital wins community support

On Tues. night, by a comfortable majority, the people of Sonoma gave the Sonoma Valley Hospital a vote of confidence and $35 million.
With the passage of Measure P, SVH will be able to bring its infrastructure and equipment up to date and continue to provide services at the present location for another 20 years. The response, from the hospital district, was elation.
Dick Kirk, SVH board chair, “tired but happy,” attributed the success of this measure to listening and lessons learned – and the fact that the measure included no purchase of land. “I think that was the major issue,” he said. “We listened to the people; we scaled back what we thought was necessary; now we absolutely have to develop the network with the other hospitals and doctor groups so we can survive.”
The margin of success – 80.8 percent, when all precincts were in – indicated the extent of community support. “Clearly, the people in this valley love the people at the hospital, and they love the medical services they get there,” said Bill Hutchinson, campaign chair for Measure P. “They love the community aspect of our community hospital and for me, that’s what this one was about,” he said. “It was an expression of the community’s affection for and trust in the people – from the janitors to the CEO to the doctors to the nurses to the dieticians and to the grey haired ladies in the lobby who volunteer their time. That’s what this one was about.”
SVH CEO Carl Gerlach agreed.  “This was effective citizenship in the style of Obama,” he said, “pragmatic, non-partisan, problem-solving. That campaign committee and the people that did the work demonstrated incredible teamwork.”
Newly elected boardmembers expressed enthusiasm and desire to get going. Peter Hohorst, who won his seat on the SVH board by 30.4 percent, said, “The thing that needs to be accomplished is to make sure the hospital stays open.” He added that, “The margin of victory is a huge boost in the arm to help the hospital go after [its] problems and solve them realistically and energetically.”
Madolyn Agrimonti, elected to the board by 23.6 percent, expressed appreciation for the community and the other board members and said “It’s probably the nicest campaign I’ve ever been in.” Incumbent Bill Boerum said he hoped his narrow, 23.3 percent lead would hold up during the count of absentee ballots, and that there’s a lot to do, “forming relationships with doctors, finances, getting the place fixed up. I think the local bond finally enables Carl Gerlach to recruit new doctors to the district.” Bill Gurry, who came in last with 22.5 percent of the votes said it was important to have someone knowledgeable in engineering on the board, and was confident Peter Hohorst would do a good job, and he would help if needed. “I’m willing to assist in any way.”
Looking to the next steps, Gerlach summarized the hospital’s position in terms of sports metaphor. “This is like you’re playing in a football game, and you’re behind, and it’s the fourth quarter, and your defense just got the ball back. So the defense says, ‘There’s the ball! Now do something with it!’”