Finances, voter registration discussed by Samaritan commission candidates

MOSES LAKE — Voter registration, cost of the new Samaritan Hospital and staff retention were among the questions discussed by two of the three candidates for a hospital commission seat at a forum July 18.

Candidates Katherine Christian and Brandon Penix answered questions; the third candidate, Elliot DeLong, was unable to attend. His statement was read by forum moderator Alan Heroux.

The seat is for commission District 3, and Penix was the subject of a challenge to his voter registration, which contended he didn’t live in that commissioner district, and was using his business address instead. The Grant County Auditor’s Office ruled his registration was invalid July 17.

Penix said he lived in that commission district now.

“I don’t currently live outside of that area,” he said.

There were some personal issues involved, he said, which he preferred not to specify. Washington law does allow voter registration changes, he said, and he has changed his address.

“That issue has since been brought to appeal,” he said.

Penix said the person who filed the challenge is a member of the Friends of Moses Lake Healthcare group, which supported the hospital’s successful request for a construction bond. He questioned whether public funds had been used in the challenge.

The challenge was filed by Allison Russell, who said in a statement to the auditor’s office that she met Penix in her capacity as the owner of a healthcare consulting firm. Russell said she was familiar with the building listed in Penix’s voter registration and that the building does not include residences. She was a volunteer on the campaign asking voters to approve the bond, she said in the statement.

Christian is the incumbent, having been appointed in 2018 and winning election in 2019. She said she’s been a nurse for 45 years and has experience in the clinical, administrative and financial areas of nursing. She’s also a nursing instructor at Big Bend Community College.

“I believe my clinical experience provides a valuable perspective,” she said.

She served a previous term on the board, she said, and through both terms she’s seen the commissioners respond to preferences they heard from the community, and wants to see some of those projects through.

Penix is a physician, and said he was hired by Samaritan to help set up an occupational therapy department. He opened an independent practice in late 2022.

“Essentially my decision to run for hospital commissioner is based on improving healthcare,” he said.

In his opinion Samaritan has experienced high turnover of its physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, what he called a “revolving door.” Hospital commissioners need to find out why that’s happening, he said. Penix said he also was concerned about the project to build a new hospital.

Voters approved a $130 million construction bond for the project in April, which is in addition to a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Penix said hospital officials didn’t intend to ask for a bond when the project was first proposed, and said he didn’t think the explanation of why the bond was needed was adequate.

DeLong wrote that he too was concerned about turnover among Samaritan staff, and also had questions about the construction bond request.

“Our family was thrilled to hear about the new hospital, but concerns remain about how Samaritan is moving forward as an organization when it required a taxpayer-funded hospital bond, when it was touted as a non-option by leadership,” he wrote.

In answer to a question about employee retention, Christian said surveys conducted by the hospital show that district residents are concerned about turnover.

“Recruitment has been a high priority,” she said, and the number of physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners has increased from 19 in 2015 to 45 in 2023.

Recruitment efforts are ongoing, she said. Hospital officials are working with the Washington State University medical school to bring medical students to Moses Lake, she said, because evidence shows that medical professionals tend to stay in the areas where they train.

Answering the same question, Penix said commissioners should work to recruit physicians and other medical professionals that are a good fit for the community.

“I think we need to better understand the motivations for coming here,” he said. “We need to focus on trying to figure out what it is that draws people to Moses Lake and keep them here.”

Commissioners also need to know why people leave, he said.

In an answer to an audience question, Penix said he wasn’t sure if the current financing would be enough to pay for it.

“Whether we’re able to meet the purchase price and the payments on those loans, I don’t know that that’s been an answer that’s been publicly provided,” he said.

Christian was asked why commissioners asked for the construction bond.

“We did have a plan that did not require a bond, but that was the plan before COVID,” she said.

Construction and hospital operation expenses increased during the pandemic, she said. Board members got a price estimate in summer 2022 and decided the project could not be funded as originally planned, she said.

“We did not want to go to a bond, but we reached the point that we felt like we needed a hospital, but we needed community support to do that,” she said. “The USDA wanted that in the first place. They wanted to know that the community wanted this hospital in place.”

The increase in operating costs will have a long-term effect on the ability to pay back the loans, Christian said.

“We do have a positive margin, but we do not have enough margin to take on both the current operating costs and repayment of the loan,” she said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.