Access small providers

In response to the article, “Consumer loyalty essential to local restaurants’ survival” (BDN, Nov. 14).

As the administrator for my family’s small business, Cummings Health Care Facility, I too agree that the pressure has never been greater for small locally owned businesses.

We have been in business for 33 years and have seen many changes in health care, one being the increasing number of large corporate-owned facilities throughout the nation. Unfortunately, unlike the restaurant chains, things inside these large facilities are not all the same.

Most administrators have no vested interest in the facility or its reputation and cannot make decisions without first consulting with “corporate” – somewhere out of state. Staff resident care, poor resident outcomes, and giving all facilities a bad rap. Supporting our locally owned nursing facilities also helps keep the community’s economy vibrant and stronger essential in rural Maine today.

Most folks having surgery or recovering from an illness in the hospital are not given the option of nursing facilities in their area, though there is a state law stating hospitals must do so. Hospitals now own their own facilities or have “swing beds” so are able to keep these folks in their own system, thus resulting in small private facilities becoming a dying race. Regulations and laws make all facilities, hospitals and nursing homes, offer skilled services but as a small family-owned operation have to fight to keep our census up and the business viable in our small community.

Increasing regulations, insufficient reimbursement and lack of cash flow are making it more and more difficult to stay privately owned. Hopefully, we small providers can hold on and consumers will access our care so we too are not added to “that long list of places that exist only in our fond memories.”

Melinda E. Goslin

Administrator

Cummimgs Health

Care Facility Inc.

Howland