hospital merger

[Kenton Bird <kbird@uidaho.edu>]

Dear visionaries:
Can anyone shed any light on the proposed merger of Gritman and Pullman
Memorial hospitals?   I was surprised that the two hospital boards
responded so quickly to the consultant's report recommending a single
hospital in the corridor.  Were there any public forums that I missed
before the boards' decisions (Pullman endorsed a merger; Gritman opposed
it)?
Because of my opposition to any more commercial development along the
current Pullman-Moscow Highway, I initially was skeptical of the idea of
putting a hospital there.  But Jim Fisher's editorial in Sunday's
Lewiston Tribune ("Gritman plays Microsoft when it should be Chrysler")
has prompted me to reconsider.   If you haven't read this editorial,
it's on line at:
http://www.lmtribune.com/11211999/opinion/450886.htm

I also discovered that the executive summary of the consultant's report
is posted on the Pullman Memorial Hospital webpage.  You can download a
version with graphics if you have Adobe Acrobat; otherwise you can read
a text-only version.
You can find it at:
http://www.pullmanhospital.org/Quorum_Report.htm

Even though both hospital boards have been discussing the idea for
months, I'm concerned that there hasn't been enough opportunity for
public discussion.   After reading parts of the report, I have a lot of
questions about the continued viability of two hospitals.   I'd welcome
responses from subscribers to this list who have any additional
information or background.   Does anyone have a list of the Gritman
board members?  (I couldn't find it at www.gritman.org)

thanks,
Kenton

P.S. I noticed that the Vision 2020 archives on the moscow.com page have
not been updated since Nov. 9.  Forgive me if this topic has been raised
earlier and I missed any discussion.