Lynn Says

The view from the new guy

 

September 14, 2016



(This is a composition submitted to the Newsgram from our town's new medical doctor, Michael Lawrence, DO. – Lynn Martin)

There's been a lot of discussion regarding Integris opening up a clinic in Alva since I arrived in town, and I'd like to weigh in from the point of view of an outsider with insider knowledge.

On the surface, it sounds like we're debating the answer to the question of do we need greater access to healthcare. As our situation is no different than that faced by many small communities across America, it's not the answer we should consider, but if we're asking the right question in the first place.

As I see it, the real issue is do we see value in having an ER in this zip code, maintaining as a community a hospital that not only can provide for the scope of our immediate healthcare needs, but also keeps a significant number of our citizens employed? Because that's what we're really discussing; that's what's really at stake here.

In this day and age of shrinking healthcare margins, any entity that positions itself in such a way as to take healthcare dollars out of our community and funnel them upstream is doing exactly that, making what's already a challenge in keeping our local hospital viable and self-sustaining into something more precarious still.

Allowing Integris or anyone else to place a hub here primarily to channel studies and procedures away while our lab sits idle and operating theater lies empty is not the answer. If we want more healthcare providers, then it's going to be up to us to recruit them or train them from within our own ranks, not allow a competing organization with a track record of exclusivity to set up shop in our backyard.

Believe it or not, I'm not anti-Integris, and were I in a position within their organization to increase market share and add revenue streams, this is exactly the kind of opportunity I'd be looking to.

Instead of outsourcing the people and dollars of Alva, however, I'd bring in physicians and specialties that aren't available locally to perform studies and procedures in our hospital benefiting not only our community, but allowing the next generation to train here, all the while making our loved ones' drive to be at the bedside something to be measured in minutes, not hours.

– Michael Lawrence, D.O.

 

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