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Vote yes for Unity Point; no on current CIH trustees

As Central Iowa Healthcare corporate members we will be voting on two very important items: the sale of CIH assets to Unity Point Health-Waterloo and to extend the terms of the present trustees.

Although the sale of CIH and it ceasing to be an independent hospital is a difficult decision, we feel for the long-term viability of healthcare in Marshalltown we encourage you to vote YES on this item.

As for the extension of the CIH current board members terms, we will be voting NO and encourage you to do the same. Here are the facts: First many of us have sat on the hospital board over many years and know what the responsibilities of this board are. The two most important items the CIH board is responsible for is to hire, fire and manage the CEO and to ensure the financial viability of the hospital. It is obvious that neither one of these were achieved.

Last year during the annual corporation meeting, the CEO and board members failed to present any financial statements to the corporate members. This was unprecedented. The CEO and board were deliberately withholding information from corporate members and the community. At the last corporation meeting called in September, 2016, we were told the financial losses for 2015 were $18 million. When asked about the 2016 financials, the CFO at the time said “they are about that bad,” meaning another $18 million loss. That is approximately $36 million in losses over the last 24 months plus the millions of dollars owed to vendors who have not been paid. We have yet to hear the total amount of losses the hospital currently holds. We estimate those losses could be as high as $60 million. We expect the board to tell us the true total on Jan.10.

This is clear mismanagement. We believe that is the current board of trustees. Why was the CEO and CFO not let go sooner? Why were financials withheld from the community? Why weren’t the trustees aggressively addressing the financial losses when they were $5, $10, $20 million. Why has no one stood up and taken responsibility for this?

We want them to take responsibility now. We want to send a clear message to the current CIH board of trustees that we have no confidence in your abilities to manage the organization anymore.

We would like to encourage all corporate members to be present at the meeting on Jan. 10 and vote yes on the sale to Unity Point and NO to retaining the current board members.

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