Herb Carpenter: The purpose of the LRGH remodel project was not aesthetics

To The Daily Sun,

In reply to Ms. Hebert’s comments on LRGH:

You are correct, Obamacare did give some people insurance and the Medicaid expansion at least gave some uninsured folks basic health coverage. The community however, should give thanks every day that you are not running LRGHealthcare.

You are correct, the LRGHealthcare Emergency Room has taken every person, with or without insurance and with or without the ability to pay. At a minimum, an emergency room is required to perform an evaluation of individuals who come through the door seeking services regardless of their ability to pay. Thank goodness this service is available to you and I and other members of the community.

You are correct, the remodeling of the main entrance was expensive; however, you do not know the funding sources of the remodel and are mistaken if you think the purpose was for aesthetics. The purpose of the remodel was primarily to connect the medical office building to the hospital and provide much needed infrastructure to the entire facility.

You are also correct that if you had been in a car accident or were having a heart attack you would not care what the lobby looked like. That being said you would care about the emergency room which is where you would be entering the hospital.

You are not correct with respect to the closing of the birthing center. It was not closed because of the quality of care. It was closed, despite all efforts to the contrary and in part, as a result of overall revenue for the birthing center not covering costs and the organization could no longer subsidize the loss. By the way, it was closed after full and complete due diligence and was probably one of the most difficult decisions for the leadership of LRGHealthcare.

Next time you have the desire to write a letter to the editor, please think twice. Perhaps get your thoughts down and don’t actually send it. Unfortunately, letters like yours often do more harm than good.

Herb Carpenter

Concord