The Board of Directors of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Silver City is protesting the closure of Gila Regional Home Health and Hospice, without public notice or the opportunity for public comment.

Gila Regional Medical Center is our community hospital. It belongs to the people of Grant County. We have benefited from its caring services for decades, and we are more than grateful for them.

When, not long ago, GRMC found itself in financial trouble, we were grateful also for a new leadership team, and we acknowledge its accomplishment in reducing indebtedness by $7 million in less than a year. But the apparent urgency to reduce the debt to zero is, we feel, too costly for Grant County's communities.

Part of GRMC's mission is the care of the elderly among us. Home Health and Hospice Care have been an extremely important and greatly appreciated part of that care. Their services to our families have been both professionally and lovingly given. We were therefore stunned at the sudden decision taken by GRMC's administration to terminate those services, approved by what seemed almost a secret vote of the GRMC Board. We would have hoped for more transparency from a publicly-owned organization.

There is no assurance that the services performed by the caregivers of GRMC Home Health and Hospice can be adequately provided by the "alternative services" mentioned in your press release. Certainly they will not be provided in the same way.

The taxpayers of Grant County are entitled to a voice in decisions regarding major service changes in their community hospital. We strongly urge GRMC's administration and Board to reconsider their decision. We call on our County Commissioners to respond with transparency to the needs and opinions of the public that elected them.