I have tried to take some time and evaluate the many pieces of the closure of OLBH. There will be some other things on down in the column, but we will start out with this.

To clarify to the best of my knowledge based on what I read and have heard Mercy Health and Bon Secours merged with Mercy taking the role as the managing organization of the merger.

This means all hospitals from both organizations are now one as the merger goes forward.

From my perspective and some I am totally friends with the leadership of Mercy is likely the most merciless in the healthcare industry.

I would say this for certain: coming out and making this announcement with no warning was bad enough. This is magnified by the facts that it was also announced it would be closed by Sept. 30 and then going breakneck speed to close it in 30 days.

I realize there are some issues in place but of course now that many have productively found new positions I would suppose they have to move on forcing the closure much earlier than September.

Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital is the only hospital I have ever been in with the exception of my birth at St. Mary’s.

That is in part why I feel so abandoned by this group.

As with all business I am certain there is some type of financial formula that must be met to maintain solid operation.

With that said, though, when the Sisters founded this hospital with Dr. Boggs among others, it was founded to heal the sick and help the poor.

As an operating entity it was protected under the non-profit status it had established with its mission. Now that mission has stopped and there should be no more non-profit protection.

With the payroll loss to the city coming the organization should be required to pay taxes to the city of Russell, the Russell Schools, and the county of Greenup.

That’s how I feel and while they’ll have some legal excuse I am confident it should be allowed.

Add to that at this month’s Greenup County Fiscal Court meeting Greenup County Attorney Michael Wilson approached the court with a suggestion of imminent domain to prevent allowing the building to sit and decay.

I can go on, but I believe I have made it clear my feelings about all this with the exception of one thing. While many medically trained personnel will be able to find positions there are many clerical and support personnel members that very likely may not.

I hope that those who in some way celebrate this as some sort of victory when services diminish in the name of finance and alleged profits to a non-profit organization I find that simply put awful.

My last thought on this is this. If non-profits are supposed to invest into their own organizations with excess funds to avoid falling out of non-profit eligibility then why didn’t Mercy invest excess fees in this hospital to allow it to operate?

I have my opinion on this and what will really happen in the future but not unlike many other topics I will wait and see. No gloating if it does – I will just say it was what I predicted.

And so, for another week, thanks and thirty.