[Editor's Note: This is part 2 of the Grant County Commission work session on Jan. 9, 2024. This covers the presentations by applicants for the GRMC Board of Trustees.]

By Mary Alice Murphy

At the Grant County Commission Jan. 9, 2024 work session, commissioners heard from applicants for a vacancy on the Gila Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees.

Jason Amaro spoke first. He said he has experience in health care for more than 20 years all over the country, as a remote worker in acute and mental and behavioral care. He started off as a business analyst at Fort Bayard Medical Center. He was picked up by a headhunter and has worked for a private company utilizing electronic monitoring systems and optimizing systems.

"The hard part is that it has not been for my community" he said. "I'm really interested in a Board of Trustees position to apply my skill set in my community. One thing that hit hard for me was 'We need to find local people and put them in positions of leadership.' The talent is here; we need to develop that talent. After 20 years all over the country, it's time to come home. I am very cause-connected. If you ever need anything, just contact me."

The next applicant was Gilbert Guadiana. "I am a resident of Grant County. I worked in the mines for 10 years, and after undergraduate work at Western New Mexico University, I was accepted at Harvard and got my master in public administration, after which I worked in California for 18 years, some of which was in county management and oversight of health and human services and doing financial reviews in county government."

He said he returned to New Mexico when his father became ill in 2002. He served at Fort Bayard Medical Center and as the Southwest Regional director for La Frontera. He also served as the nursing home director at Mimbres Hospital where he gained experience in critical access hospitals. "The reason I am interested in the board position is because of the issues with critical access hospitals and this hospital having to fly out people constantly." He said people want the doctor they see in the hospital to be their primary care physician and it's why many seek care in Las Cruces or Tucson. "Critical access has an advantage, but is limited by the 25 beds. If it were designed to be a critical access hospital, it would be more efficient. I agree with Mr. Ponce (Chair Chris Ponce) that we should be able to provide more critical care here at our hospital."

He continued to say that he believes he has a connection with the residents and the physicians. He believes there is an opportunity for collaboration and the leadership should be the one coordinating that collaboration. "It needs to engage in the community. I have dug into the dirt of Cobre School District with community support." He reached his five-minute limit.

William Perry spoke as the next applicant. He and his wife moved to Grant County a few years ago. "It was important to us and we looked at the health care in the area. We were happy to see the hospital."

He said they took care of their son in Arizona at Mayo Clinic, but once diagnosed with a rare disease, it was too late and his death "made us realize the important of the best health care possible. While at Mayo, I became a chaplain at the Florence Hospital for two years, and then we completed our move to Hurley. My wife serves as an auxilian at Gila Regional. I worked to help another hospital become re-certified in Arizona. I have experience as an engineer to help the guide the advancement of Gila Regional." He ran out of time.

Simon Wheaton Smith spoke next. "I have no certifications in medical care. My next-to-last job was boring holes in the sky flying 737s. I do have some medical experience."

He also served on the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). He was one of the founders of the FAA blood-borne pathogen standard and was a regional coordinator of the program, which he has taught to federal agencies. "I have also flown air ambulance. I am the FAA representative that inspected the Gila Regional helipad. I never expected to use the service, but did over a year ago. That addresses an issue of mission."

He had multiple lung embolisms and was flown out to El Paso, where he was stabilized. "If any of you read the Grant County Beat, for 18 months I wrote a 40-page article weekly on Covid, which also included RSV and the flu. I do read Becker's daily. I did an analysis of Gila Regional on health-care related pathogens and then did several other hospitals to compare. I was happy to see how well we did."

Wheaton-Smith has also had cancer treatments at the GRMC Cancer Center, "I can tell you that the radiation program here is far better than two others that I was referred to."

He cited his federal government expertise, as well as having served as a town councilor in Silver City and is now the chair of the Silver City Planning and Zoning Commission. In employee involvement he was one of three in the FAA who drew up the employee flight standards. His first career was in IT, when it was called data processing. He was a member of the British Computer Society for many years, and "quite unsolicited, last month they gave me life membership and also life-chartered." He, too, ran out of time.

Gail Stamler gave her presentation as an applicant. She said although she was not born in Grant County, 44 years ago, she and her husband decided to begin their family in Gila where they children were born and raised. "Residents of our rural community, including Cliff, Glenwood, Reserve and Mogollon live in a different environment from those who live in town. We have long distances to go anywhere. Our community, which covers a large area, is a food desert, with a lot of poverty and seniors living alone far from others. Home health nursing is not available as it's too far to drive. We've lost our volunteer ambulance service after 40 years of service, because we don't have any new EMTs. The hospital isn't here to solve our problems, but it should be aware of them. I believe it is important for us to have representation on the board. During about 20 years, I delivered between 2000 and 3000 babies to residents of our local towns. I had the longest stint of providing obstetric care to the county longer than any other provider. Now that I'm retired, I feel an obligation to continue the care of moms and babies, who are our most vulnerable population in the forefront of our health care efforts. We have rising maternal infant mortality rates and this population deserves the attention of the health care system more than ever."

She spent almost 30 years "wandering the halls at 3 a.m. looking for a cup of coffee or a bed to lie in so that I could stand by a laboring mother. I spent those years alongside the nurses in the trenches, knowing how long they stand on their feet and at their computers. They bring an incredible dedication to their work. I want them to feel they have ample representation on the board. Given that about 70 percent of the hospital staff is female, my personal opinion is that we should have an appropriate ratio of women on the board."

She said the American health care system has become weaponized against providers and patients alike. "No other system is based on the insurance companies being able to delay and deny services rendered and services needed. We've created overwhelming charting requirements, that are not essential to good care and in spite of good documentation, insurance companies still deny payment. Providers and hospitals must hire expensive people to try to wheedle payment out of the industry. It is forcing providers to leave the field and hospitals to close their doors in areas where they are most needed, such as rural communities.

Stamler said she wants to increase the number of providers, including EMTs to provide care in "our wonderful place to live. Our first priority is to survive financially, and Health Tech has helped save the hospital and continues to provide resources. I want to help provide my experience to the hospital to fill the mission of care. I am cautiously optimistic that we can continue to provide care to all of our citizens."

The next article will get into county director reports.

To read the previous article, please visit https://www.grantcountybeat.com/news/news-articles/82291-grant-county-commission-holds-work-session-010924-part-1