To the Editor:
Thanks to Jeanette, Cindy, Linda, Doug, Larry and Linda for all their help with our petition to get the residents moved to the first floor at Sunnyside Health Care Center. Thanks to the 1,455 individuals who believe this is what should be done for the betterment of all the residents. We believe that a big mistake was made and should have been corrected long ago.
As we explained to the CEO and board director, downsizing from 88 to a 44-bed facility has been the only intelligent decision they’ve made. With the downsizing, residents should have been located on the first floor, and rehabilitation relocated to the second floor.
Both floors of Sunnyside had skilled nursing services. The residents would receive the same care no matter which floor they were on.
We asked many of our signers which floor they would prefer to be on in case of a fire or other catastrophic event. Unanimously they chose the first. Ask yourself that question. They cannot guarantee the facility would never be engulfed in smoke and flames no matter how good their sprinklers or fire retardant doors and walls are.
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The residents and families cannot access the first floor using the elevator on the nursing home end of the hospital, weekends, holidays, and after 5:30 p.m. work days. The distance they must travel to get to the patio on the first floor is about 3-½ times farther than if they were located on the first floor.
We have 1,455 signatures on our petition to move the residents to the first floor. The CEO and board refuse to take us seriously. They accused us of being pushy, bullying and harassing when asking people to sign.
I received a request to donate generously to the Hospital Foundation. Have they listened to us and the 1,455 who signed our petition? You know what I did with it?!
Ronald R. Riel, Cloquet
