Hospital fills operating board

PALMER -- Valley Hospital Association seated three new members to its operating board of directors at a meeting of the VHA association board Monday, June 17. Most of the discussion revolved around the need to place people on the operating board with expertise in legal and financial matters. Association board member Karen Vosburgh, the executive director of Alaska Right to Life, asked each candidate if they thought euthanasia should be practiced at Valley Hospital should it become legal in Alaska.

In the end, the association board seated two ministers and the general manager of a local dental practice to fill the seats. The new directors are Nancy Campbell, a minister at Gospel Outreach Christian Center, and candidate for the state house of representatives, district 13, which includes Palmer; Deborah Prator, manager and co-owner of Aurora Dental Center in Wasilla; and Stanley Tucker, Pastor at Pilgrim's Baptist Church.

Prator and Tucker were shoe-ins for their seats because they were the only applicants for two seats reserved for VHA Association Board members. Campbell and four other candidates applied for a seat reserved for a person from the corporation's rank-and-file membership.

VHA is an incorporated community hospital run by a split board of directors. The association board has 15 seats that are filled on a rotating basis in annual elections. The association board's responsibilities are limited -- their main job is to select members of the operating board which establishes policies for the corporation.

At Monday's meeting, association board members discussed the operating board's needs, prior to interviewing each of the candidates. The hospital is facing two inter-related challenges in the coming years. The first is to raise capital for rapid expansion, the second is to decide whether or not a partnership with a larger health care corporation will be required for the expansion. The need for a large capital partner is identified by a strategic plan adopted by the hospital. Underlying these issues are the hunt for property -- CEO George Larson has recommended 80 to 200 acres -- and the choice between various capital partners, which could be for-profit or non-profit corporations. Some of these decisions will require bylaw changes, action by both boards, or action by a vote of the membership. All of these decisions will require action by the operating board, which meets monthly and has the reputation for being one of the most intellectually taxing board-service opportunities in the Valley. It is also a strictly volunteer position with no payment for regular business and reimbursement only in the case of travel for business outside the Valley.

"I think our biggest need right now is in the financial area," said Kathleen Kelly, who currently sits on both boards and is a past operating board president. "The hospital is a business, and we want to run it according to best practices and raise the bar."

Current operating board president Rick Johnson told the association board that legal knowledge was another area in which the operating board currently needs more expertise.

"We're lacking a little bit right now in those areas," Johnson said.

Dr. Greg Lund, a physician who sits on both boards and who once served as chief of medical staff for VHA, wanted a candidate with no political strings attached.

"A good member of the operating board is a person who comes in with an agenda of what's good for the hospital … if anyone has any other political agenda then we don't need that person," Lund said.

Each candidate was scheduled for a five-minute interview with the association board. Campbell, Prator and Tucker all told the board they were opposed to euthanasia, when Vosburgh posed the question. They also expressed their desire to expand the hospital and protect market share.

Campbell was asked about her candidacy for the Alaska state house, and how she would manage her time if she had both jobs. Campbell said she could attend VHA board meetings via tele-conference during the legislative session, adding that past operating board members had attended via tele-conference. As for finance, Campbell told the board she had experience in the restaurant business with a family-owned, five-store chain and as a bookkeeper for her church. The next day, she told the Frontiersman it might be valuable for VHA to have a legislator on its operating board.

"I also think that if I get elected and go down [to Juneau] that could be a benefit to the hospital," Campbell said. She said she supported VHA's current strategic plan and recognizes the need for the hospital to expand and move west.

"I think if we don't move on it and expand now, the opportunity will be lost," Campbell said. "As far as Palmer goes, it seems like if you talk to people about the hospital and hospital concerns, they seem to understand."

Campbell also said VHA will continue to provide health care services in Palmer after a new hospital is built.

Campbell and Tucker were appointed to three year terms on the operating board. Prator was appointed to fill a vacant seat that expires at the end of June 2003.