Letters From Our Readers

Nineteen MDI Hospital employees

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SUPPORT FOR MDI HOSPITAL’S BOARD AND CEO DECISION

To the Editor of the Islander:

We are nurses at MDI Hospital and, like anyone else, we were saddened to hear of the decision to close the OB unit. OB has been around as long as any of us can remember, and so many people who live here were born at MDI Hospital. We work with the OB RNs and we know they provide excellent care to their patients. MDI Hospital is small and our coworkers often become our friends. It’s emotional to think about all this coming to an end.

That said, we would like to express our support for Chrissi and the board in their decision to close the OB unit. We understand the many reasons why it is just not feasible, nor does it make sense, to continue to operate OB. Reasons for closing the unit have been well-explained; demographics and decreased volume, safety, credentialing doctors, finances — when taken as a whole there is no way to maintain the OB unit while still continuing to provide for growth in other areas and keep the hospital solvent for the future.

The number of nurses at MDI Hospital who support this decision is greater than portrayed in the biased articles, flyers, and social media posts that refer to “nurses” as one homogenous group of workers who think alike. The State of Maine compels nurses at the hospital to be members of the union and this doesn’t mean all nurses support the stance of the union.

Please know there are many of us who support Chrissi. She made a difficult decision and did not do it lightly. It’s not helpful to demonize her over this. We were aghast at the unprofessional behavior demonstrated by some MDI nurses during the protest that began on the Village Green and proceeded to the hospital where patients were disturbed by the commotion.

We would like to continue in the role we chose as part of our profession — one that emphasizes caring and understanding in a place that truly is a little gem in the world of healthcare. And we want this hospital to have a bright future.

Sincerely,

• Marla Fugazzi

• Kristin McKee

• Scott MacCready

• Charlotte Jeannotte

• Mike Kiers

• Cindy Cyr

• Essie Simmons

• Deb Bumbaugh

• Nancy Driscoll

• Tricia Thurlow

• Jayme Lou Durham

• Margaret Perry

• Kassie Alfred

• Cindy Lawson

• Eve Rottersman

• Denise Keblinsky

• Tiffany Benner

• Scott Straub

• Sheila Hanlon

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Note: This letter was originally submitted to the Mount Desert Islander, before it was sent to us because (the Bar Harbor Story was told by the submitter of the letter) the Islander couldn’t print it because of a policy of not printing letters with this many signatures, which is understandable because it’s a lot of work to verify all these signatures. We were able to verify each of the names listed above. We also kept the original salutation of “To the Editor of the Islander,” because that wasn’t changed in the submission. The “Chrissi” referred to in the letter is MDI Hospital’s president Christina Maguire.

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