Don't Follow His Lead

Darrel Aubertine used the people of Fulton and A.L. Lee Memorial hospital for political purposes, trying for a quick attempt at success in Oswego County after he won the special election, but Aubertine did not properly assess the situation and has miserably failed by not dealing with reality and misleading the people of that community.

In June of this year, he announced a deal with Oswego Health to keep Lee Hospital open, although, Oswego Health had no idea of the Senator's announcement. The Senator filmed a "You Tube" clip promoting a pending deal and followed that up with a news release. He has shamefully used the hospital and community in his campaign mailings and TV commercials. He used the situation for political gain instead of doing what needed to be done and assisting the facility for transition.

The Health Department has made numerous remarks to the contrary and today The Valley News online reports according to Health department director of Public Affairs Claudia Hutton, failure to deal in reality has cost the hospital funding.

From The Valley News

Because most hospitals that were mandated to close or change the scope of operations complied within the one-year deadline, those facilities were granted closure/conversion funds earlier, leaving those who did not originally apply with less, she said.

“They are receiving about one-third of what was requested,” Ms. Hutton said. “There’s only so much money.”

Still more evidence that Aubertine simply does not understand the issues and the job, from the article.

State Senator Darrel Aubertine’s recent campaign flyers (sic) have suggested that the hospital will remain open. “Protected 200 jobs at Lee Memorial Hospital by standing up to the government bureaucrats and getting the job done,” the flyer states.

His office did not respond to requests for comment, however, when asked following the recent debate held in Fulton if the campaign material was misleading the community into believing that the hospital would remain open, Aubertine said no.“I saved it,” he said.

Read the entire article here

Lee Memorial awarded funding for closure costs

Effective??

This is Darrel Aubertine in June of this year taking political advantage of a dire situation surrounding A.L. Lee Memorial Hospital in Fulton.



Then he features Lee Memorial Hospital again in his campaign TV ad saying he saved jobs, then it is included in a mailer (see below) which proves this is poor posturing for political purposes.

If you read The Valley News article over the weekend on Lee Hospital (see it here) Aubertine has not been effective and there is no pretense here about staying open and he should stop using the hospital as an example.

This is a lift from the article where Claudia Hutton from DOH is commenting.

She added, “The reasons for the Berger mandate have not changed. Fulton’s population continues to shrink. A.L. Lee has low utilization as a hospital and is only 12 miles away from Oswego Hospital, a larger, more modern, and more sophisticated facility than A.L. Lee. Oswego Hospital is also in better financial shape. A.L. Lee has been unable to present the health department with any studies attesting that the community needs it to remain an acute-care hospital.

“We don’t expect A.L. Lee to remain status quo, so we don’t expect that our award to Oswego Hospital will drop in size,” she continued. “This is not cash we’re giving away. It’s funding that will be paid out under a contract Oswego Hospital will sign jointly with the state Health Department to reimburse them for construction and related costs for their emergency-department modernization.”

Someone please define "Still one of us"