Re: Hospital proceeds with negotiations, Free Lance, April 18, 2025
Instead of the Easter Bunny, we get the Big Bad Wolf and he is trying to blow the house down. The Easter basket from the San Benito County Health Care District over-flowed with attractive colors, all coating a big surprise inside.
The lemon and lime egg streaked Medicare shortages but when cracked, the egg is hollow with unskilled billing. The pink and blue Anthem and Medi-Cal colored egg, when cracked, is also hollow with unskilled accounting.
The prize egg labeled “End of Bankruptcy Request” sparkled with sugar crystals and frosted with graceful swirls and scallops of sugar. Best of all, it displayed a swirled peep hole. Peeking inside showed a green lawn displaying a lawn sign. The sign boldly announced, “Top Secret.”
Chocolate eggs, although hollow, are wonderfully delicious, like our own hospital for which we are supremely grateful. Remember in the pandemic, our essential doctors and nurses gave up their own wellness to take care of us.
We hope ardently when another pandemic occurs we will still have our hospital.
Searching in the tall grass, we found a broken beauty. This discarded one was another egg with a peep hole. Looking inside showed a courtroom with a judge presiding. Pressing a button the judge spoke, “Work it out together!”
Our board of supervisors accomplished that advice and presented a plan to the hospital board approved by the voters in November. Hazel Hawkins CEO Mary Casillas stubbornly and consistently refused to cooperate with that plan.
Look who came to the party. The hard working doctors and nurses who provided surgery, anesthesia, after care, orthopedics and emergency room care, kept the doors open and created surplus funds.
In spite of all the chaos, dedicated professionals kept the doors open and operated the hospital superbly.
No need to bankrupt ever existed. A buyer like Insight, like a big bad wolf well documented with mismanagement plus multiple bankruptcy cases, will have its own cash cow then “blow the house down.”
Mary Zanger
Hollister
