St. Mark’s Needs A Better Plan

To the Editor: Last Friday, under Jeff

Last Friday, under Jeff Wick’s byline, we were well informed about the current and near future financial lifeline thrown to St. Mark’s. I write today to contend that The Record, a very well-run and successful business, should be the model for St. Marks.

It is frustrating for me to read such a publication which itself excels in an extremely difficult marketplace, and yet will somehow spend “barels of ink” to support a non-profit business whose own management somehow hobbles along hoping for a miracle.

Mr. Piland portrays St. Mark’s as successful, when the very facts he outlines are nearly an exact duplication of what we learned last year prior to the local vote to establish a local tax-funded hospital district. Mr. Pilands reports that now in 2020, St. Mark’s is borrowing additional money from the Federal Government and accepting even more largess from its corporate parent, which offers delayed payment of an increasing debt. These battle tactics cannot win the war.

An independent and careful examination by the Record staff should include attention to demographic trends, customer preferences and existing competition. From that analysis, a business could formulate a plan to succeed in its current business model or make a change and provide a guide for Fayette County citizens to test the direction of St. Mark’s.

St. Mark’s and Community Hospital Corporation will not succeed as an independent, self-sustaining health business if these elements are ignored while it spends another three years riding into the sunset with Federal money.

Scott Rodibaugh

Flatonia