White ribbons are show of support for hospital

LACONIA — Around the city, and in neighboring towns, large blue-and-white banners are appearing, with the intention of showing hope that the local network of health care will be preserved.

The banners, which bear a large white ribbon and the words “Support Our Health Care Providers,” are part of a campaign spearheaded by Chip Broadhurst, who said the campaign has two goals.

The first is to show support for the health care workers, including both those who are on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic, and those who have been furloughed as Lakes Region General Hospital has focused on providing only critical care.

The second goal is to express the wish that an arrangement can be made so that the providers who currently work for LRGHealthcare will continue to be able to provide those services to the local population.

Broadhurst spent his career in health care. He’s worked on the government side as well as for private health care companies, and has served on various boards, including LRGHealthcare’s board of directors. In his view – a view which has also been expressed by current LRGHealthcare CEO, Kevin Donovan – the nonprofit organization is saddled with a crippling amount of debt.

Broadhurst’s hope is that a bankruptcy could erase enough debt so that another organization could partner with LRGHealthcare in order to preserve the existence of a Laconia-based health care network.

“I think the demise of LRGHealthcare as an entity as we presently know it is virtually guaranteed because of the debts,” Broadhurst said. That leaves the question, will the organization collapse, or can the current board and leadership steer the organization into a merger?

“We’re going to lose our health care if this financial crisis isn’t worked out. Which is not a good thing. One of the first things anybody looks at if they move somewhere, or if you’re a business relocating, is, what’s the health care situation?”

The situation hits home for Broadhurst. He’s a cancer patient who used to visit LRGH every week for lab work and medication. Since that service was suspended in Laconia, he now has to travel to Concord, which is twice the travel time. For him, traveling that extra distance is a significant inconvenience. For people with limited means of transportation, it would be a financial hardship, and for someone in need of emergent care, it could be the difference between life and death.

That’s why Broadhurst, with help from others of similar mindset, designed and purchased ten, six-foot-by-12-foot banners and are hanging them from prominent buildings.

Broadhurst would like to see the campaign, symbolized in the white ribbon, take on a life of its own. He said the ribbon was picked both for practical purposes – most people could put their hands on a few inches of white ribbon, he figured – and because the color evokes the clean uniforms most people associate with health workers.

It’s possible for people to make a monetary donation to LRGHealthcare via the organization’s website, Broadhurst notes, and he recommends that people do so. He also wants, though, for people to indicate to the rest of their community that the network is at risk, and that they want it to be saved. That’s what a white ribbon, displayed on a vehicle or pinned to a shirt, would communicate.

“It’s impossible for anyone driving around, or a provider, to see the donation. But they can see the white ribbons,” Broadhurst said. “We’ve got to do something.”