Please allow me to respond to your recent article regarding the
San Benito Health Foundation (Health Foundation). In the article,
an honest hard-working woman of our community, Rosa Vivian
Fernandez, was called
”
the most cold-hearted woman
”
one person has ever known.
Dear Editor,
Please allow me to respond to your recent article regarding the San Benito Health Foundation (Health Foundation). In the article, an honest hard-working woman of our community, Rosa Vivian Fernandez, was called “the most cold-hearted woman” one person has ever known.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Health Foundation, it is our community’s non-profit community health clinic. Our Health Foundation provides tens of thousands of services annually to those in need. Anyone in the community is welcome to receive services at the Health Foundation, whose goal is to provide affordable and accessible health care. Without the Health Foundation, thousands more visits would be made to our already impacted hospital.
I have a problem with the article for a couple of reasons. One, it really bothers me that she was called names in a “news” story. And secondly, my “opinion” is that the person quoted is wrong.
I have had the opportunity recently to work with Mrs. Fernandez at the Health Foundation, as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). With my 20 plus years as the controller of a few of the largest organizations in the county, as well as my experience as a CPA, there are some things I have found Mrs. Fernandez to be the “most” of, which I will share with you.
Mrs. Fernandez has proven to be one of the most:
n Intelligent people I have worked with in this community. I have yet to present a problem to which she doesn’t have an immediate, or direct solution.
n Well educated in her field. She is not just “book smart.” Although she is probably one of the few people in our community to have obtained a Masters in Public Health, this lady really knows her stuff. She knows the workings of Community Health Centers as well as most of us know our morning routines. Directing operations at our Health Foundation is second nature to Mrs. Fernandez.
n Compassionate, caring executives. She genuinely cares about the Health Foundation’s patients, employees and directors. Mrs. Fernandez will lead this organization into a well organized, efficient, effective place of business. And it behooves all of us to support her in this effort.
Mrs. Fernandez has only been here since July. If this community is smart, they will embrace her and offer her support. She is an asset to our community and is doing a job which is sorely needed. I urge you to drop a line to her, a word of support, or even a kind thought when you have the time. She is managing our community health center.
We, as a community, owe it to her to let her know that despite what she reads about herself in the newspaper, we appreciate the service she is giving to this community. Let’s offer support to someone giving her heart and soul to this community, and getting nothing but a paycheck and grief in return. The address is 351 Felice Dr., Hollister CA, 95023.
It would also be nice to see the Free Lance edit the paper a little more keenly and cut the name calling. Although it may make headlines, it is not news when one side of a story has been allowed biased representation, it is editorial. So put it on the editorial page as one person’s opinion.
Bette Grace, Hollister
