Allen County Hospital’s current facility has served the area’s growing needs for 58 years, truly connecting patients with quality care. In order for us to continue to offer high quality care and retain and attract expert physicians and staff, we need to construct a modern facility that is designed to meet the growing needs of an expanding 21st century patient population.

Some important reasons why we need a new hospital replacement facility:

— Outward appearance of our current facility is deceptive as the infrastructure of our existing building/facility plant is aged and cannot accommodate new wiring, additional wiring and duct work.

— The central patient waiting area is crowded and overflows on busy days.

— Exam and treatment rooms are too small for today’s technology. This includes operating rooms, radiology department, emergency department and lab. All are congested with cramped work space.

— Patient privacy is a challenge due to congestion, including in the emergency room.

— Patient departments are not located close to one another which make it inconvenient for patients and staff members.

— A new, updated facility would attract and retain quality providers and medical staff. It would demonstrate to potential industries that we are willing to do what it takes to improve our community.

Allen County commissioners thoroughly ex-plored both the option of building a new hospital and the option of retrofitting and/or remodeling the current facility to meet Medicare and state licensure standards and our ever-increasing needs. While the short-term cost of building a new hospital that could expand to meet Allen County’s future growth would be higher than retrofitting the current facility, the long-term cost of staying at the current facility would actually be more expensive. The replacement hospital will be designed to expand so that it’s appropriate not only for the current decade but also for the next 50 years and beyond. One other important factor that was considered was the feasibility of continuing operations while doing extensive construction/remodel at our current site. The construction would have taken several phases, causing continual disruption.

I urge you to vote yes on Nov. 2 for the future of our community and the future of our children and grandchildren.

Dennis Skahan

Iola, Kan.

In June 2010, I spent four nights at Allen County Hospital after surgery. The surgeon, Dr. Hall, did a great job. The nurses and staff at Allen County Hospital were great. 

The facilities were a different story. The emergency room where I first went does not have the greatest privacy. When I was taken upstairs for surgery I first had to be taken out the west door of the emergency room and in doing so I had to go by the waiting room where everybody waits for those who are in the E.R. Needless to say, I would rather have had my privacy. A new hospital would take care of this problem.

After surgery I was sent to the intensive care unit on the first floor (south end) of the hospital. This room was not built with privacy in mind. I then was sent to an individual room. Due to the age of the building, each room does not have a separate thermostat. Needless to say, it was pretty warm in the room, but the temperature has to be kept at one temperature to try to satisfy all patients. A new hospital would have thermostats for each room.

If you are undecided on how to vote or if you are planning to vote no for the sales tax increase, please take a tour of the current hospital. Now is the time to build a new hospital, it will not get any cheaper.

Please vote yes for healthcare in Allen County!

Steve Womack

Iola, Kan.

I plan on voting for the 1⁄4 cent sales tax to support a new hospital.

I have been a patient a number of times. Two of my children were born in the present hospital. I was there five years ago after slipping and falling on ice and breaking my ankle. I had real good care in the emergency room and ended up staying four days because of surgery on my ankle. 

Before leaving the hospital, a therapist assisted me in learning to use a walker for the first time in my life.

My husband, Orin, recently spent a week in the hospital from July 31 to Aug. 7 when he died. He had real good care. All the nurses were very kind to him and me.

I was able to spend nights there on a small foldout sofa. I also was able to purchase my meals and they were brought at the same time as his.

I found the ladies who cleaned the rooms very kind and friendly, too.

There are lots of updates that need to be done to the bathrooms, etc.

I am hoping and praying that things will work out so we get a new hospital and it is located on East Street. The location is important because it won’t take people long to get there and it also is not far for an ambulance to get to.

I have lived in Iola for 59 years. Before that I lived in Gas.

God bless,        

Lavon  R. Johnson

Iola, Kan.

Some voters have wondered if Allen County could use some of the revenue from the existing half-cent landfill tax for the proposed hospital project. Currently the funds generated for the landfill are being used for solid waste disposal or for reserves to provide funds for closure costs and cannot be used for another purpose without the approval of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

With regard to the hospital question currently on the ballot, Kansas law allows the board of county commissioners to submit the question of imposing a retailers’ sales tax and pledging the revenue received for the purpose of providing health care services. The revenue received for the 10-year period from such a sales tax must be used for the health care services listed on the ballot.

Sharon Utley,

Allen County treasurer

Alan Weber,

Allen County counselor

It is amazing to me that people think a sales tax of 1⁄4 of a penny — the equivalent of $25 tax on $10,000 — is too much to spend for a local, up-to-date hospital. 

Have you ever taken one trip to the city for medical care? You needed a dependable vehicle, a tank of gas, perhaps a day off from work, a meal eaten out, and a lot of stress and strain. Even the one trip in gas would cost more than $25.  

Have you ever had a loved one in the hospital in the city? You needed a dependable vehicle, multiple tanks of gas, perhaps multiple days off from work, perhaps a motel room, a number of meals eaten out and even more stress and strain.   

Have you ever had to go to the city for rehab? Multiply the gas, food, time off from work, and stress and strain by many times when the rehab for chemotherapy, radiation, occupational therapy or physical therapy is several times a week for six to eight weeks. 

A $25 tax on $10,000 spent is a bargain!

Mary Ann Arnott,

Iola, Kan.

The tea partiers like to refer to anyone to the left of Attila the Hun as a RINO. That’s the way I view the entire Republican Party of today. Any resemblance to the Republican Party of 50 years ago is in name only.

I have been following politics and reading history for 62 years. This election is the worst in my lifetime. For the first time I am afraid for the future of my country. It would be helpful for those seeking office and for those voting to read the Constitution. Something I’m afraid that the majority of the Supreme Court does not do. The national Chamber of Commerce, the Koch brothers, and others are trying to buy this election. The Republican Party depends on ignorance as it spreads its lying propaganda, spreading hate and fear. Its propaganda agent (Faux News) does much of the party’s work, as Glen Beck distorts history.

Brownback has ties to secret religious organizations such as The Family, Opus Dei, and dominionists.

If the extreme right ever gets complete control, you can say goodbye to freedom, to Social Security, to Medi-care, Medicaid, and to many other public services often taken for granted, including public schools. You can also expect that when you go to buy “things”  (“that you don’t need” — Rep. Otto), that at least a 30  percent sales tax will be added. These are not my imagination. It’s from their own rhetoric and ads.

Besides reading the Constitution for one’s self (not depending on what they tell you) it might be good to read “Mein Kampf” and compare to its rhetoric. Vote for the Constitution. Vote for democracy. Vote Democratic.

Phillip Crown

Iola, Kan.

The hospital issues boils to one issue, money. If you are OK with an additional sales tax, vote yes. If you think there are better funding alternatives that won’t raise your existing taxes, vote no.

My biggest what-if is what if the hospital doesn’t make the yearly profit for the 30-year term of the bond payments? Lots of factors will affect those profits as pointed out by Bob Johnson in an earlier Iola Register report. Can anyone guarantee that an actual profit will be made? Can anyone guarantee that by providing a place with new glass and bricks will actually in-crease the market share or improve patient care or attract a new doctor or two? The answer is no.

We have been overwhelmed with signs and ads touting the hospital made $1.5 million last year. That’s wonderful and congrats for a great year but why are we not hearing about the year before or the year before or the year before. I’m not willing to commit to 30 years of indebtedness on one year’s profit and loss statement. Are you?

I’ve been told that HCA manages over 20 percent of all hospital beds in the United States. Do you think our locally appointed Board of Trustees would have that level of expertise?

Join me and a number of other local concerned citizens and business owners who are opposed to this issue in its current form. Vote no and give the commissioners time to study, learn and listen to the citizens and get this very important issue right the first time. Don’t be pressured and don’t be scared, a no vote won’t close the hospital Nov. 3.

Jim Talkington,

Iola, Kan.

Editor’s note: Jim bases the funding of a new hospital on profits, only. There are three legs to funding the new hospital. One is hospital profits. The $1.5 million in profits at ACH is based on a five-year average of the hospital’s most recent performance. 

The other two legs are (1) Medicare reimbursements at about $767,000 a year, and (2) the sales tax revenues from Iola and Allen County at $750,000 a year.

Combined, these sources of revenue are in excess of what is needed to make the annual payment, building up reserves for that “rainy day” if, perchance, the hospital experiences a “down” year. 

No other methods of funding have been identified at this time.