Let's vote on turning Winneshiek Medical Center into a Mayo hospital

Winneshiek Medical Center Board of Trustees President Ben Wyatt recently told Decorah Newspapers that a Mayo Clinic Health Systems takeover of the Decorah hospital "is the best thing that could happen to the community."

This might surprise you, but I feel that a Mayo takeover of the hospital is a legitimate option.

The problem is not Wyatt's vision for the hospital, but that he didn't share it with the public until recently and hadn't taken any steps to give the public a voice in that decision.

So if this option represents the way Wyatt thinks the community ought to proceed, then it's time for him to schedule a referendum on the issue.  That would involve convincing the other WMC trustees that his vision is a good one.  Then it would involve convincing the public that the hospital ought to become a private hospital.

The basic question that needs to be settled right now is whether Winneshiek Medical Center is a community hospital or a Mayo hospital.  If Wyatt wants it to be owned and run by Mayo, it's time to give the public a voice on this issue.  The hospital board has been too secretive about its goals.  If it truly wants to turn Winneshiek Medical Center into a private hospital, it's time to explain its reasoning--and let the public decide the issue.