Candidate Profile: Jerry Snyder, candidate for commissioner-at-large position No. 2

Jerry Snyder, if elected to serve on the Adams County Public Hospital District No. 2 Board of Commissioners, would be the second member of his family to do so. His father, Les Snyder, served the district many years ago.

Snyder is running for election for commissioner-at-large position No. 2.

For Jerry Snyder, a self-employed farmer and rancher, serving the district is a natural step in a long line of community service work.

The 60-year-old has a lifelong history in the region. He graduated from Washtucna High School in 1969 as salutatorian. After graduating from Big Bend Community College with honors, Snyder went on to Washington State University. In 1973 he earned a Bachelors of Science degree in education and agriculture mechanics with minors in botany and chemistry.

He and his wife, Gretchen, have been married for 32 years and have two adult children, Sarah Anne and Jason.

The fourth generation wheat grower has a long history of leadership within the agriculture industry. In 2006 he was the Washington Association of Wheat Growers president. He served the Adams County Soil Conservation District as a board member for nine years, chairing the group for three years.

Snyder served as the Washington State Grange agricultural lobbyist and has been the state Grange’s deputy agriculture specialist.

For 12 years he was a member of the Adams County Farm Service Agency committee. Raising cattle as well as wheat, Snyder is a member of the Washington Cattlemen’s Association.

He was named Farmer of the Year by the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce in 2005.

Supportive of local endeavors, Snyder has twice led the Ralston Grange.

He is active as a youth counselor through the Stayin’ Alive program in Ritzville.

He also owns Frost Valley Auctions.

Among special honors he has received, Snyder earned the Air Quality Service Award in 2010, and has been named Outstanding Volunteer by Life Care Center of Ritzville. He has received the D.A.R.E. Community Award and was presented a Hero Award following the Palouse School Fire.

During the campaign, Snyder has not accepted campaign contributions.

“I am doing this on my own because I respect the people of the county and we need healing and good healthcare,” he said of the decision.

Snyder’s candidate statement calls for unity.

“Healing needs to occur between the healthcare entities,” he said. “We need to stop the fiscal bleeding and form viable coalitions between all the healthcare facilities and personnel in the district.”

Why do you want to be a hospital commissioner?

“There’s several points and these are in no particular order. One the family would support me should I decide to do it. That’s probably my top priority. The second was I absolutely positively hated the infighting among our communities. I detest it.

“Third we need quality healthcare and we can provide that in this community because we have all the necessary tools.

“We have the doctors. We have the facilities. It’s just a matter of getting together and making it work. I know it can work. We just have to find the common ground. And being a lifelong resident, I love this way of life. And, we have got to preserve it.”

Your father served the board, at a time when Adams County had just one hospital district. He helped create the new district?

“Yes. The essence is basically the Othello hospital, with the most patients, wanted to take over all of Adams County and we couldn’t afford to let that happen from our side of the county because of the distance to travel for healthcare.

“And so in the end the county got divided. Dad and others on that board, Juanita Lyle and others did that. Otherwise you would not have East Adams Rural Hospital. It wouldn’t be here.

“And trying to keep doctors was tough too. In six years they had five doctors come.”

Why is it important for the hospital district to remain viable and well supported?

“We, the people of this district, for our needs and care need this hospital to remain open, not to mention the freeway traffic and the health of the East Adams County region.

“We need to look into the future and see if we can expand our long-term care, assisted living facilities here in Ritzville. There are many former residents who have moved to Spokane due to their needs and our current (long-term care) facility is at capacity and usually has a waiting list.”

As an observer what were your thoughts in terms of the handling of the contract process with the former physicians? Could it have been handled better?

“Not being privy to all of the information I can only give my opinion as an observer. All I can say is I would have gone to the physicians and I would have said ‘what will it take to make you happy?’ That’s how I would have handled it.

“There’s hearing and not listening. I play a radio in the shop when I am working. Do I hear it? Yes. Do I know what’s going on? No.

“That’s the way I felt the board was with the community. People finally got up in arms, which is obvious with the January meeting. This is the people’s feelings out there. They are very upset. They have a mob mentality. The only way you cure a mob mentality is to educate them as to what’s going on and let them help make the right decision.”

Some claim the district’s leadership isn’t listening to the community. How can you fix that?

“Everybody gets to know what’s going on.

“The last election we talked about openness and I never saw that happen. I never saw the kind of openness of sitting down and talking with people. I saw the board make their decisions along with the CEO and it seemed to be just ‘we will do what we want.’ We have to do what the community wants along with what’s lawful and along with what’s good patient care.”

As you are meeting and talking to folks in the service area what are they telling you? What are their concerns?

“Will we have doctors? Will we have a facility that’s a good emergency facility? Will we have a facility that’s a good diagnostic facility? How quick can MedStar get us to wherever we need to go?”

The district’s clinic patient volume has fallen dramatically. Will the district be able to continue offering clinic services?

“For the hospital to survive people have to have confidence in their healthcare providers. This includes doctors, nurses, x-ray technicians and CT scan technicians. No one person can fill all those voids. I do not know what the future makeup, or the environment will look like with the current situation with the clinic downtown and the hospital.

“But for all of them to survive they are going to have to work together. There’s going to have to be some kind of compromise. Compromise means both sides are a little bit mad. Both sides don’t get exactly what they want. In order to work together you have to do that.”

Is expanding to serve Sprague a good idea?

“Not until we’re leveled out. Not until we have our feet on the ground.

“I think it’s a great idea. The bigger the area, the more the people that come in, I think it’s a wonderful idea.

“But, why would you want to enter a healthcare area that’s not really solid yet? Is it going to be better healthcare for Sprague? Are they going to want to come this way? How close are they to Spokane? For an emergency, it’s probably better off to climb in an ambulance and go to Spokane from Sprague than come to Ritzville first.

“Now for basic, every day medical services, yes, it’s a good idea.”

Where are you on the idea of new construction versus renovation?

“I have seen the study that was done on the existing hospital. I also know if you’re going to rebuild your house, we have very good quality construction people in the community who might be able to do the work at a better price. Duff Construction built the fire station.

“What do we need to do to fix it? I don’t know. What are the costs? I don’t know. Some people may tell you it’s better off to do new. If we have to and it’s the only way, then we will go that route. But I have a very hard time throwing something away. The prime example would be the old high school versus the new school. There’s all sorts of reasons why it couldn’t be fixed up.

“And, maybe the hospital can’t be fixed. Occasionally there’s the old truck that needs to go down the road. But everything has got to be looked at. And it has to be bid on and you have to be confident in the people who are going to do the work.”

When Paul Lewis resigned commissioners opposed a national search in favor of saving money. Since then the district has spent thousands on lawyers, contract consultants and advisors. Are the spending practices contradictory?

“I guess the first thing I would say is, to not vet or check a person’s resume and find out why they were terminated by a previous employer would be the fault of the board. There’s a reason they were terminated in another small community and that should have raised a red flag.

“Second you cannot just hire your friends because they are your friends. They have to be capable of doing the job.

“I do not fault any one person. I fault collectively what has been done. And I can’t believe there isn’t someone out there who wouldn’t want to fight to be the CEO of East Adams Rural Hospital because of the good community that we’re in.”

Snyder also recalled that his mother was frequently utilized by area school districts as a consultant when it came to searching for grant funding. He said he would like the district to look for more funding opportunities.

“There’s got to be grants and things of that nature. Perhaps the USDA branches for rural communities, etc. There’s something somewhere that will fit our needs. But that search needs to go on and on and on. There are monies that are available. We have just got to find it.”

Snyder said the district’s capital reserves are not a license to spend.

“Just because we have some, doesn’t mean we need to spend it. A goal that I would have is to make this hospital self-sufficient. Not only investing the millions of what we have, but properly using what extra does come in. I think with $8 million, give or take, you should be able to make 10 percent on that money even with the stock market the way it’s whacked out now.”

Do you support the idea of the district’s administrative leaders living outside of the county?

“No. In order to keep things viable in a community you have to become a protectionist in your philosophy. You cannot continue to have that kind of money go outside of the district. You cannot fund and keep things operating. There’s been over 300 people leave this community in the last year. Pastor John Hunsberger did a study and checked out why they left, death, etc. You can’t have that kind of attrition rate in a small community and survive.”

So, you would require a CEO to live in district?

“My initial thought is yes.”

If you had the power to make some immediate changes, what would they be?

“We would have a new CEO of the hospital. We would have an interim in the meantime. We would go on a search with the community’s help to find someone who would fill that slot and not at the costs that we’re spending right now.

“I would meet with all the heads of all of the departments and say ‘whatever you have to do to make patient care your top priority, do it.’

I would sit down with the people at Hometown Family Medicine and I would say ‘what do we have to do to make you happy?’ In this community it’s a triangle of healthcare. The doctors are at the top. The hospital is on one corner and Life Care Center and Rose Garden are on the other.

“Successful healthcare hinges on the people’s trust in their healthcare providers.

“Then I would go to the community of Lind and I would say ‘how can we serve you?’ I would go to the community of Washtucna and say ‘how can we serve you?’

“I applaud Lind for refurbishing their clinic and making it functional again.

“I would do my best to recruit. I believe we need another doctor, one that can help in the emergency room and with working at the hospital.

“In the middle of all of all this, I would inform the people every step of the way about what’s going on. They would know.”

Do you feel there is a lack of trust on the community’s part?

“You don’t lie to make things look better than they are. You have people coming out of the board meetings just scared. Upset. That kind of garbage has got to stop. And, if you can’t trust your leader, then you better find a new leader.

What would you look for in a new physician?

“Someone that’s going to care about the community. Someone who just doesn’t treat the problem but treats the person.”

What are your thoughts about the strategic plan? Was this the right time to implement a new plan? Why or why not?

“The strategic plan cost too much to make; is too far ranging, because five years is very hard to predict. There was no mention of how to curb spending. It will take some radical cuts and planning to get this behemoth under control.

“No it is not the right time to implement a new plan. Not with the current facility in need of repairs that have been put off for too long when the needs were known.”

Who should play the lead role in reuniting the community in support of the hospital district?

“The hospital board members and anyone associated with EARH. This would not be a one-time article in the newspaper, but a working relationship with all concerned and an openness to everyone concerned or living and using the facilities within the district.”

Whoever that is, what could/should they do to accomplish that?

“A 24/7 attitude of bending over backwards to let all concerned know that the health care providers, governing body or the hospital, and its employees, care. By providing affordable labs and competitive care that is not a burden on the patient.

“I believe several meetings with the community on sharing what we have to provide as well as informational meetings about long term care, insurance and Medicare could help relations as well as create new ones.”

How would you improve the current rift between the district, Hometown Family Medicine, friends and neighbors? What specific steps would you take?

“If there are individuals who are the cause of this problem and they are employees of the hospital they may be asked to leave or asked to drastically change their attitude. Then, the board members need to publish their phone numbers and make themselves available with the CEO to go to different community groups and have face-to-face meetings. There, questions can be asked and rumors stopped.

“Doctor Sackmann and Doctor Eckley need full open privileges at the hospital and not partial privileges.”