8 of 9 Kootenai Health Trustees Skip Town Hall Because They “Felt Unsafe” – The Trustee Who Came Was Met With Applause and Respectful Orderly Dialogue
They Are Simply Afraid Of The Truth
On Saturday, the Kootenai County Women Republican Federated (KCRWF) held a Town Hall event to discuss the ongoing crisis at Kootenai Health. Hospital CEO John Ness and all 9 Trustees were invited by KCRWF president, Carla Mattare, to interface with the community, receive feedback and address recent allegations that the hospital would be restructuring from a Hospital District with elected trustees, to a 501(c)3 hospital model with appointed trustees.
Unfortunately for everyone in the community, the Kootenai Health CEO John Ness, and 8 out of the 9 trustees declined Mattare’s invitation. Instead of meeting with their constituents and community members, Katie Brodie, the chairwoman of the Kootenai Health Board of Trustees, chose to hide behind false claims of “safety” concerns to avoid having to actually talk with concerned citizens.
According to Ed Bejarana, the event’s moderator and host of the Idaho Speaks Podcast, an anonymous letter was sent out to hospital staff on November 11th by the communications department stating:
“As Kootenai Health leaders we want you to know this invitation has been declined by our board chair. Over the past two years we have observed or participated in public meetings in good faith at city, county and regional entities where our commitment to respectful dialogue was not reciprocated. We welcome productive, respectful conversations with members of our community. Unfortunately, these experiences did not reflect these shared values, and in some cases even felt unsafe for our attendees.”
The claim was met with groans of disappointment by the concerned citizens in attendance.
One Trustee did attend the Town Hall event: Steve Matheson.
Matheson, who also serves as County Treasurer was greeted with thunderous applause and given a warm welcome by everyone in attendance. He went on to spend the next hour and 38 minutes engaging with the community in productive, respectful, transparent dialogue.
At the end of the meeting, he was given a standing ovation, and community members calmly lined up to shake his hand and share their concerns with him, one by one in a very respectful manner.
State Representatives Vito Barbieri, Ron Mendive and Tony Wisnewski also sat on the panel to answer questions related to legislation.
Nobody was harmed or injured at the event.
We will be covering the details of what was said at the event, including the timeframe for the transfer of the Hospital to a 501(c)3 Non-Profit, and allegations of violations of Open Meeting Laws in a subsequent article.