Letters: Thank you, MCH

It is a very sad time for the County of Madera with the closing of our Community Hospital.

I have lived in Madera for 69 years and served 37 years on the hospital Board of Trustees, having worked with all five CEOs during this period.

I would like to thank the many volunteer board members I served with; many of them long gone and some who have been still serving for many years. We would not have been able to operate our hospital without the dedication of our employees,our doctors and our hospital volunteers.

To all, I say, “Thank you,” especially our local nurses who are working next to “Contracted Traveling Nurses” making four times their salary. Every hospital has a shortage of nurses and has to contract for help.

To those who want to review the hospital financials, I challenge you to do so and tell me if you understand them as they are very different from city, county and business financials. Our hospital has been audited every year by professional hospital CPA auditors. We are also inspected every three years by the federal and state government. We have always been an “accredited hospital.”

— Anna Da Silva,

Madera