Please retain Mr. Gerlach
The following letter was recently sent to the Sonoma Valley Hospital Board.
Dear Neighbors,
The hugely regretful news some weeks ago about the near-term departure of our Sonoma Valley Hospital administrative leader, Mr. Carl Gerlach is a matter of considerable public interest. Why, one could ask, “Aren’t people largely interchangeable, can’t any task, however large, simply be done – even well – by someone else?” Yes, certainly it is true virtually any skillful mechanical or surgical task can readily be handed off to another individual. This chief administrative task, however, is a completely different animal even more so specifically in this case and at this time.
The bottom line of my message is I hope and trust the board will beg Mr. Gerlach to stay on long enough to take the gazillion threads he and others have organized and allow him to fulfill the task our public has agreed to pay for – the building of this new facility. Anything less seems to me at least potentially could abuse a public trust so painstakingly nurtured with thousands of hours and endless promises made which need to be kept. Mr. Gerlach seems to know these promises and has shown an ability to keep them. Any new person, not part of our long community process to try to save this hospital, cannot be expected to manage well this earned public trust. Equally if not more important is simply the business of the vast orchestration taking these next steps with the facilities themselves. To let Mr. Gerlach go at such a time, absent meaningful mismanagement, would be ill-advised to my outsider eyes as I have no personal business with the hospital. I am an interested citizen.
Healthcare is a business of almost crushingly endless needs. When there were newspaper-printed reports of physician’s “no confidence” in Mr. Gerlach I suspected and gathered those people felt their unmet needs deserved to be at the head of one line or another. This will always be true in any hospital probably most of the time. Without any insider specifics I cannot argue anything of this element but I can easily imagine, based upon a 30-year residence in the Valley as a practicing healthcare worker, this is more a series of squabbles than anything else. There’s a lot of money involved in healthcare and a lot of natural competition for control of those resources.
So there still is time if Mr. Gerlach can be convinced to stay. I urge the board and all citizens to urge him to stay awhile longer
Ned Hoke OMD
Sonoma
A fan of Your Place in The Sun
Editor: I just wanted to say thank you for a really sweet and brief write up on my daughter, Olivia.
The Your Place in The Sun contest is a great community project – it allows for creativity big time but also focused Olivia to write briefly, look out for spelling, etc. and pay attention to a deadline.
Thanks.
Julie Boles
Sonoma
Family farms keep things growing
The following student submission is the winning Ag Days Essay for 2010.
When you sit down in the morning for breakfast, do you ever think about what you’re eating or who made it? Well, maybe after you listen to this you might think of family farms when you are eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
First, family farms give benefits to the communities around them and most people don’t even notice it. They supply food and fiber. They are responsible for the soil, water, and crops they grow. Family farms provide the social and economic lifestyle for communities.
Second, even though large factories produce a large amount of food, family farms still produce a good portion. For example, 38 percent of the value of U.S. production is produced by family farms. Another example is that 73 percent of family farms control the majority of farm resources.
Finally, family farms keep food on everyone’s plates. You can always count on them when you’re hungry. Also, they use natural resources to grow their food and have a higher percentage of organically grown foods, which are healthier than factory produced foods.
Those are just some of the reasons why family farms are not only healthy, but helpful. So, remember family farms keep things “growing”!
Isabella Passey
6th grade, Proctor Terrace Elementary School
Santa Rosa