VENICE — Most of the Republican candidates for seat on the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board attended a League of Women Voters of Sarasota County forum Thursday, and they mostly agreed on the issues they were questioned about.
They were unanimous on one matter in particular: Whether they support maintaining Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s status as a public hospital.
All six held up a paddle saying “Yes” when the issue came up during a “lightning round” of questioning.
Tanya Parus, a candidate for Central District Seat 1, had addressed the matter even earlier.
“I’ve never been on board with privatization,” she said. “I do not support that at all.”
Parus was a vocal critic of the board’s actions during the COVID pandemic and is a critic of the report a consultant prepared about it.
The board was willing to listen to the public early but “didn’t heed the advice of the public” later, she said.
If elected, she’d like to bring some closure to the matter, she said.
She and Mary Flynn-O’Neill, a candidate for At Large Seat 3, are campaigning together as ”Medical Freedom Candidates.”
“Our slate is firmly against the privatization of Sarasota Memorial Hospital,” that website states.
Both defined medical freedom as complete patient and physician autonomy and the absence of government involvement in medical decisions
The goal is “to keep the government out of our lives,” O’Neill said.
Kevin Cooper, who’s running for At Large Seat 2, said he doesn’t know how that’s possible, since SMH gets 70% of its revenue from the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Without that money, “the hospital shuts down tomorrow,” he said.
A patient who has an issue with care can always seek a second opinion or sign out “AMA” — against medical advice, he said.
“If that’s not medical freedom, I don’t know what is,” he said.
O’Neill said that some doctors with a “concierge” medical practice — one in which a patient pays a monthly or annual fee for access to services — aren’t allowed to treat their patients in the hospital.
Sarah Lodge, the board’s current chair who’s seeking reelection to Central District Seat 1, said concierge physicians can have hospital privileges as long as they meet SMH’s standards.
“There’s one in the room,” she said, without identifying the person.
There was also agreement among the candidates that SMH is an excellent hospital.
Sharon Wetzler DePeters, who’s running for another term in At Large Seat 1, said she’d be happy to recite all of its accolades “if you have two hours.”
As an employee of a medical practice, she’s on the floors “every day,” she said, and lauded hospital leadership as “visionary.”
During the pandemic “we did what science told us,” she said.
“There are certain rules you follow,” she said. “That’s just the way it is, to keep you safe.”
Pam Beitlich, a candidate for At Large Seat 3, recently retired after a 40-plus year career at SMH. She said reports the hospital had a vaccine mandate for staff are untrue.
Lodge said SMH accepted vaccine exemptions without question and never imposed a mandate despite threats of the loss of federal funding.
The SMH board knows the role it’s supposed to play in health care, Beitlich said — recruit the best people and provide them the best equipment.
“Our role is not to practice medicine,” she said.
The primary election is on Aug. 20. Voters who are registered Republicans can vote in all the Hospital Board races. The GOP winners will face Democrat candidates Nov. 5.
There are also write-in candidates in each race whose names won’t appear on the ballot.
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