A large crowd gathered at the First Baptist Church in Hiawatha last Thursday for a town hall meeting on the hospital sales tax issue.
This was No. 24 out of 29 total town halls that began the first of April and are scheduled to go into next week in the county. The meetings are facilitated by Hiawatha Community officials for the purpose of providing information on why they say the hospital needs financial assistance through a sales tax to keep from losing services, staff and possibly eventually the hospital.
This week’s town hall was a little different. HCH invited Tom Bell, president of the Kansas Hospital Association and Joseph Watt, CPA, partner of BKD, Inc., to speak. Also present on the panel to address informational slides and answer questions were hospital CEO John Broberg, Chief of Staff Dr. Julie Rosa’ and retired CEO John Moore, who served as facilitator. At the Town Halls, hospital officials have been providing information on why they feel this tax revenue is needed in the day and age of very challenging healthcare, according to Broberg. At the April 24 Town Hall, handouts were provided and slides shown on a power point that outlined the many challenges Hiawatha Hospital – and other rural hospitals face. They also discussed the sobering affects a hospital closure has on a rural community, such as Hiawatha. Residents would lose access to healthcare, have increased time and cost of transportation to communities such as Atchison, St. Joseph, Sabetha or Topeka and also see a huge loss in the job industry in town as more than 200 people are employed there. This could affect all other businesses in the community — along with the school district, which would lose students and staff.
(Read more: Hiawatha World Online)