HOLLISTER
Voters will be deciding Nov. 4 between six candidates running for the three seats available on the San Benito Health Care Board of Trustees.
The diverse group of individuals who hope to serve on the board include three newcomers – construction materials supplier Jim West, physician Nazhat Parveen Sharma and retired respiratory practitioner Ernest Rivas. The incumbents running for reelection are Janet Vervaecke, Gordon Machado and Beth Ivey.
Read below for an alphabetical listing of some of the candidates’ views and an accounting of their experience.
Beth Ivey
Ivey has served on the board for 10 years and is currently finishing her second two-year term as president of the board.
“I think that with the current financial crisis and what it is doing to medical reimbursements made to the county, it is extremely important that we have experienced and committed board members,” says Ivey. “Before I came to the board in 1998, I served as director of volunteers at the hospital for over nine years.”
Ivey adds that the wisdom she has gained in her 20 years with the hospital is a “very good qualification” for her to remain on the board.
Gordon Machado
Machado has served on the board for the last eight years and been involved in local business for the last 40.
“I know the value of a dollar and that is an asset to any board,” says the candidate. “I’ve also been involved in local government since the 1970s whether on the city council or the many committees on which I have served.
“I have my finger on the pulse of this community,” says Machado.
Ernest Rivas
Rivas believes that his 25 years of experience as the head of the respiratory department at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital qualify him for the position. “I dealt with physicians as well as administrators and did the budget,” says the candidate.
Rivas says the hospital “hasn’t had a good reputation in the community” for as long as he has been here and that the institution needs a better relationship with the community.
“We need a better liaison between county supervisors and other city fathers so that we can work together to better serve San Benito County,” says Rivas.
Nazhat Parveen Sharma
Sharma served on the board for six years, then ran for reelection in 2002 but was defeated. She believes that there are strong reasons to place her back on the board.
“I will be the only physician serving,” says the local doctor. “I understand vital medical issues and can help the hospital avoid lawsuits and costly litigation.
Sharma adds that she also owns a small medical business in the community and she is familiar with health care rules and mandates.
Sharma says that she would like to see the board shift its focus to what she believes will be the main function of health care in the future.
“We need to put an emphasis on prevention, screenings and immunizations and so on.”
Janet Vervaecke
Vervaecke has the most time on the board of anyone in the election with 12 years of experience.
“I worked at the hospital in ’95,” says the candidate. “I knew it could improve on many levels, so I quit, got another job, ran for the board and won.”
Vervaecke says her motive then was the same as it is now – “to improve quality, affordability and access of health care in the county.”
“No one running matches my combination of education and experience,” she continues. “I am a registered nurse with 28 years experience. I have a master’s degree in Business Administration. And in this era of budget cuts, that combination allows me to see where cuts make sense and where they don’t.”
Jim West
Jim West believes that his two three-year terms on the hospital’s foundation board and his service on the successful Measure L bond and Measure L oversight committees make him an ideal candidate.
“The oversight committee is within 2 percent of its projected budget,” says West. “We have not scaled back or had to go back to the public for more money.”
The board has a need for someone who is a representative of the community, says West.
“The current board has done a great job, but now that we are facing tough times, I want to be sure we have community people on the board,” he says. “It’s going to be an E-ticket ride, and my construction background really qualifies me to handle things when the prices of the materials for the new buildings starts going up.”
