As chairman of the St. Anthony Hospital Board of Directors, I feel it’s very important to respond to the Other View editorial on the new site location that appeared in the East Oregonian on Nov. 22. There were a number of factual inaccuracies and suggestions that need to be addressed for everyone.

The statement that Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) is planning to construct a $67 million to $85 million health care facility is incorrect. St. Anthony Hospital, along with support from Pendleton, surrounding communities and CHI is planning to build a regional medical center. That decision is final and was made and approved by the local Hospital Board of Directors who have lived and worked in the community for many years. I, and the other members of the SAH Board of Directors made the decision on where to locate the new hospital not CHI. CHI supports and endorsed that decision.

As a community hospital, the mission of St. Anthony Hospital is first and foremost to provide health care services to our local community, which is exactly why we chose the Southgate location. SAH supports the continued economic growth of Pendleton, but we are not in the urban renewal business – we are in the health care business. Our responsibility is providing for the health care needs of our community both today and in the future. In choosing a new location we based the decision on what will best serve the community for the next 100 years.

I question the notion that building a new hospital at the Southgate location would draw development dollars and growth away from downtown Pendleton and impair the well being of the community. Over the next few years, buying land downtown for a new hospital and launching a major construction project would benefit some of the land owners and businesses in downtown Pendleton. But over the long term, the inability of any downtown site to support needed growth would negatively impact the ability of the hospital to thrive and the community itself. As a rule, the growth of the local hospital and the growth of the community are directly related and stifling health care also stifles community growth.

The suggestion that St. Anthony Hospital, as a private, not for profit charitable organization would trim public service activities and endeavor to avoid providing care to people without clear means to pay for their services is simply not true. In 2008, St. Anthony Hospital gave a total of $3,338,453 back in community benefit provided to the poor and unpaid cost to Medicare. Already in the first four months of our current fiscal year the cost of charity care provided by SAH is over $1.7 million. As far as transportation for the needy, SAH will continue to collaborate with the city of Pendleton providing Care Rides at no cost for low-income patients.

On our current campus of 7.5 acres, bound by the railroad on one side and a state highway on the other, St. Anthony Hospital is essentially landlocked. We can’t expand, we can’t provide new services and it would be incredibly costly and inefficient to renovate our current hospital while we are still using it. The minimum amount of space needed for a new hospital, in planning for future growth is 40 acres, not 10 acres as suggested in the Nov. 22 opinion article. Moving the hospital to another land-locked space in downtown Pendleton, with state highways on either side as well as the railroad, is not in the best interest of the hospital or the communities we serve. We have purchased 93 acres to provide room for future growth and to create the kind of healing environment that our patients need and deserve.

The opinion article said that Pendleton’s sustainable economic growth would be better served by locating the hospital in a more central location. St. Anthony Hospital is already a significant economic engine for the community and we have the opportunity to play an even greater role if we can continue to expand the scope and scale of the services we provide.M oving to the Southgate helps guarantee that successful future.

The idea that the citizens of Pendleton and Umatilla County will pay for the new utilities provided at the Southgate site are not true. As with all such developments, these infrastructure costs are the responsibility of the builders. Once these improvements are made, others will be able to benefit from the overall improvements. There are no public subsidies.

I was born in Pendleton at St. Anthony Hospital and have had the privilege to serve on the Hospital Board of Directors for 18 years. This hospital has served the community for over 100 years and our long term goals have the best interest of Pendleton and the surrounding areas in mind as we move forward. Again, this location will provide the flexibility of design and expansion for future needs, needs not even conceived of yet for future medical care. The board consists of local citizens who realize the importance and necessity of community support for a new hospital. This diverse group of individuals makes decisions based on regional and community needs relating to health care, not a group of people outside our community as stated in the Nov. 22 opinion article. Our board has been actively working with community leaders to create a vision of providing better heath care and we will continue to do so in the future.

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Tim Hawkins is chairman of the St. Anthony board of directors.