Hospital commissioners plan for communications event

CHELAN – On May 8, the Lake Chelan Community Hospital Board of Commissioners will hold a communications event at the Chelan Senior Center starting at 5:30 p.m. Refreshments will be provided.

The event will serve as a way to generate open discussion between the Hospital Board and the Chelan community in a town hall style forum.

Mary Signorelli, member of the communications committee, mentioned that “communication” is a major goal of the event. “We want to be able to give them an update on decisions that we have made … and bring the public up to speed on where we are with our facility, with our committees, with our strategic plan,” Signorelli explained.

The last time the hospital brought the community together was two years ago and so much has happened since. Signorelli states that the event will fill in gaps to the questions the community has. “It’s time,” she said.

Agenda topics are but not limited to: committee reports, facilities, strategic plan and pillars, updates on EMS program and a Question & Answer session. The idea is to present to the public where the hospital was, where they are now and where they want to go. “We are making changes, we have made progress but we are still not there,” said Phyllis Gleasman, Board Chair.

Leading the workshop was Mary Murphy. She stated that she would like at least 50 percent of the time to be for interaction with the public. “We represent them and I know people may want to raise their particular questions, concerns, ideas and requests. That would be a time to do that,” Murphy added.

The board also discussed the idea of having a facilitator to help with the flow of the event. Some of the names that were brought up as possible facilitators include Concie Luna and Mike Steele.

The two-hour public forum will also include an educational part for the public regarding the Board functions. “In addition to what our board is, we should include what our board is not,” added Murphy.

“We don’t have that many people coming to our open board meetings; I would like to see a larger group of people be able to participate in this,” said board commissioner Jordana LaPorte. LaPorte hopes that the time, place and agenda will generate more interest.

During the regular LCCHC meeting on April 23, the board approved the agenda for the public forum and finalize all details of the event.