Bristow's Hospital Crisis: City Leaders Must Act Now
Dear Editor,
Bristow is in a hospital crisis. We need to band together to make certain we don't join the growing list of communities where hospitals have shut their doors, never to reopen.
Now, if that message sounds familiar, that's because it is. Bristow is in the same situation we found ourselves in back in 2009. But, boy, things are different- not in a good way!
Back in 2009, nearly 90 percent of voters supported a 1-penny sales tax to support Bristow Medical Center operations - and replace it with a new hospital.
Today, we still don't have a new hospital. And, together, we've paid millions of dollars in the hospital sales tax. (Where is the money? Stay tuned. We have questions!)
There are two things that deserve some daylight. First, our hospital is losing money every year - and has since 2015. Second, our City has provided the hospital with only $100,000 toward operations over the last six years. That doesn't even begin to cover a fraction of the losses.
Where the City directly paid some $2 million of the hospital sales tax dollars to architects and engineers to produce plans for Bristow's new hospital. Bristow Endeavor Healthcare, which owns the current hospital operations, is on board. And the plans are approved by the State Health Department. But, still, no new hospital.
And the City will have paid close to $50,000 in "hospital operating funds" over these last three months to lawyers. The lion's share of those funds go to a big Oklahoma City law firm that is paid to fight about a contract disagreement with the hospital.
That's the very hospital that has suffered and continues to suffer financial losses from keeping the doors open. Bristow Endeavor Healthcare continues to deliver healthcare for our community- and they are the right organization for our new hospital.
If the City and the hospital fail to settle their disagreement, you can expect to see those legal costs skyrocket. And, efforts to build our new hospital will be stuck on high center - going nowhere.
Where are the rest of the millions of our hospital sales tax dollars? Why hasn't the City spent the hospital funds on the hospital? How many millions did the City collect?
Every one of us who bought anything in Bristow over nine-year tax period paid hard-earned money to support the operations of our local hospital - and to build a new hospital. Think about it. Every loaf of bread, cup of coffee, diner meal, school supply, lawnmower, holiday decoration or anything else you purchased in Bristow, you paid an extra penny on every dollar to fulfill that hospital promise.
We are fighting hard for Bristow's new hospital. We expect the Mayor and the City Council to do whatever it takes to get a new hospital built.
Bristow's hospital is a vital part of Bristow's future and the viability of our community. And the hospital is vital in different, more personal ways to each of us in the Bristow area. For the two of us, our husbands each had life-saving care at our local hospital.
hether you cuss or pray, or both, please speak up to our City leaders. We need to do whatever it takes to build the hospital that Bristow needs, deserves - and has already paid to get ready to build.
The future will judge our City leadership - and our community- on whether we built a new hospital or stood aside and let our hospital die. Quit fighting. Start building.
By Helen Marie Varner and Sharon Vanorsdol