DKH fight

goes on

for funding

PUTNAM — Robert Smanik, president and CEO of Day Kimball Healthcare, made the following statement in response to the state’s move to stop payment on hospital funding:

“For the nearly 100,000 residents in the communities that Day Kimball Healthcare serves, failure of the state to pay the funds appropriated to hospitals is far from an ‘inconvenience,’ as referenced in the communication notifying us of the stop-payment. Rather, it is yet another very real and significant threat to both the health and livelihood of northeastern Connecticut.

“If these funds are not disbursed it will mean that our small, nonprofit community hospital will pay a net tax of $5.6 million this year – an increase of nearly 50 percent over last year - at a time when we’ve already had to make difficult choices in order to absorb previous cuts. Imagine the impact if those funds could instead be directed back toward caring for our community, which is among the most economically disadvantaged in the state.

“This marks the third time in the last year that we have faced the loss of this funding which our organization, our community and our local legislators have repeatedly fought so hard to secure. We will fight for our community once again and we appeal to our governor and the rest of our state’s legislators to consider the literal life-and-death consequences this decision could have for their constituents.

We recognize that balancing the state’s budget is not an easy task. But acting to preserve access to healthcare and the major economic driver in an entire corner of our state should be an easy call to make. Regardless of the politics, we at Day Kimball Healthcare remain steadfast in our mission to meet the health needs of our community and focused on our goal to steady our own financial course in the face of these unprecedented cuts.”