Choosing to redefine rather than disband, the hospital’s Strategic Planning Committee voted last week to rewrite its mission statement and take on a new role. And, with major planning either complete or handled elsewhere, a new name as well.
“We have an administration that is functioning extremely well, and business has been relatively strong,” committee member Dick Fogg told The Sun this week. “This is a good time to step back and analyze what role we can play to keep it going.”
At its next meeting the committee, lead by a facilitator, will redefine and reformat itself. “What can we do to encourage better health care?” Fogg asked. “What positive, constructive role can we play?”
The answer is most likely as a community forum, committee chair Alden Brosseau said, a role the committee has found itself evolving towards. “There is a need for a forum, a communicative body,” he said, with a new focus on discussion and input.
“Everything is on the table,” Fogg said.
The committee began examining its own relevance a few months ago after high-profile issues – hospital location, bonds, questions of taxes and assessments – were settled. It has also become clear to members that true planning functions are being ably handled within the hospital administration.
Brosseau said the committee played a useful role in those major issues, but even then it was more as a medium for public debate and discussion. “It became a different thing. It’s nobody’s fault, but we never did do any strategic planning.”
In March, an ad hoc subcommittee of Brosseau and fellow committee members Dick Kirk and Bill Hutchinson was formed to explore the function of the committee, and where strategic planning should be done and who should do it. Brosseau presented the subcommittee report, with recommended options, to the full group last Wednesday.
When the option of disbanding was made, Brosseau said, “All hell broke loose. There were seven people with seven different opinions.”
Consensus was reached, Fogg said, on the idea to move forward with a new mission – whatever that might be – and a new title. “The name is wrong,” Fogg said. “Let’s call it something else.”
