first on decorahnews.com: When you send a letter to members of the Winneshiek Medical Center Board of Trustees, do they answer it?

A letter from Decorah resident Patricia Ward to members of the Winneshiek Medical Center's Board of Trustees sparked a heated controversy on Wednesday evening.

Ward wanted to know why Winneshiek Medical Center currently wasn't allowing Gundersen Lutheran Health Plan to be an in-network provider at the hospital.  She sent seven individually addressed letters to the hospital, in care of each pof the seven hospital board members.

The letters happened to arrive at the hospital when board president Ben Wyatt was there.  Wyatt took his copy of the letter and asked Acting Chief Administrative Officer Dave Rooney to respond.

Wednesday night hospital board members Sherry Gribble and David Gehling questioned why Wyatt took the action without consulting other hospital board members and without bringing the item up for discussion at a board meeting.

Gehling told Wyatt, "I'm not going to have you respond on my behalf."  He said the board contains seven members, "not just the Chairman."

Gribble said she sent an e-mail to Wyatt on May 23rd, asking him to schedule a discussion of the letter on the board's agenda--which was not done.  When asked by Gribble why the item wasn't added to the agenda, Wyatt replied, "I can't answer that."

The hospital board reviewed Rooney's letter after determining he had not mailed it yet.  After making a few changes, they approved the answer to Ward's letter.