As registered nurses and Fallbrook Healthcare District residents, red flags went up for us when we read last week’s Village News. How can this be?

For those who may not know, our little community hospital is operated by the largest for-profit corporation in America – Community Health Systems (CHS), which made $265 million in profits in 2013, according to Fortune magazine.

It seems the healthcare district has already spent some of our money on a consultant’s report and held months of closed-door meetings leading up to the article.

We know that during that time, CHS has closed down the Cardiac Rehab unit, leaving the former patients scrambling to find the money to re-open]it themselves.

Is the $2 million bailout going towards re-opening that unit or improving patient care, or is this just a bailout?

Before this deal is approved and our precious tax dollars are handed over to a private business, the healthcare district board should give the public a chance to hear the results of the consultant’s report and weigh that against how much CHS has taken out of our community over the first 15 years of the lease, and whether this corporate operation of our hospital is going to be forever dependent on a taxpayer grantee that every year will a profitable one for CHS in Fallbrook.

Donna Bergh, RN

43-year Fallbrook resident