Election Day is  here tomorrow.  There are a lot of serious issues to consider when voting. My thoughts, as I am sure yours are, center around the dysfunction of today’s government and what we can do to get out of the economic mess and get our county back on track.

The choices that our elected officials make for us have serious long term impact on our lives. When I think of all  the various election ads, propaganda and promises going around, it reminds me of the drama and devastation MAS and others experienced with one decision made by elected officials–the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital.

When they decided to close St. Vincent’s Hospital, had damaging ripple effects.  To me, seeing the hospital close was painful but maybe there were lessons for us to learn from.

For many years MAS was proud to be one of the hard-working vendors of this caring institution. Our MAS team was honored to be a part of such a pioneering and historic hospital as St Vincent’s, treated not only passengers on the Titanic, but also AIDS victims in the 1980’s when few other facilities would. When they decided to close St. Vincent’s it was like losing a part of the MAS family. Maybe because it was because St Vincent’s was one of MAS’ original clients and we wanted to keep it that way.
While working with the institution through Chapter 11, St Vincent’s management asked its many employees and vendors to tighten their belts to help the hospital through the bankruptcy process. All involved did what they could to help because we thought taking temporary pay cuts would do the trick to put a struggling hospital back on its feet. For a while, it looked as if things were taking a turn for the better. But the one thing we did not count on was that the core was already rotten; like our government has become, it was rife with bureaucracy and corruption.

Behind the scenes a snowball of bad choices had already begun.  Mark Levin, in a recent New York Magazine article entitled “St Vincent’s Is the Lehman Brothers of Hospitals” lays out details that lead to the hospital’s behind the scenes corruption and demise.

Davis writes “St. Vincent’s plight has been portrayed by public officials and the media as a story of local misfortune—a community losing a vital piece of its infrastructure and a centerpiece of its identity to a combination of mismanagement, the recession, and bad luck. The truth, though, is considerably more alarming.  St. Vincent’s collapse is only the most visible symptom of an ongoing financial emergency facing the city’s five dozen remaining hospitals and threatening those they serve.  In a sense, St. Vincent’s is the Lehman Brothers of the local hospital industry: an institution whose dramatic disappearance, once unthinkable, raises dire questions about the viability of the entire system.”
I wonder if our leaders are taking our citizens down a similar path.  As I listen to various campaign speeches, I hear eerie echoes of the bankrupted hospital as our “wannabe” leaders try to convince us how just one more tax will do the trick!  Or, that this bailout will be the one to build a stronger future!
For MAS the lesson is clear-Let’s fix the core issues first!  Like St Vincent Hospital, our country is more than worth saving from bankruptcy!  When we use tried and true steps, there is no doubt our people will see the logic in it and rally around it.

I think this is just what we are waiting for-leaders who are going to take the most basic steps to strengthen our country’s core and put the USA back on firm footing.

There are a few good choices this Election Day; my advice is to check with yourself, think about what you would do to rise out of a possible bankruptcy and vote accordingly.  One smart choice will lead us to fixing our core. Go out and vote and good luck.