Letter from Maureen Dill

Healthcare Issues Must Be Tackled

More recently, we are hearing from family members and colleagues who, for a host of reasons, are now turning to other area hospitals for care. Some, like myself—forced to seek out new physicians, due either to doctors leaving Bassett or because of a physician having decided to curtail their practice—are meeting the same obstacles, in that many healthcare professionals considered to be worthwhile replacements are not taking new patients or they, too, are planning to leave this area. I know of an EMS person who willingly traveled back and forth to an Albany hospital seven days in a row because of their concerns of having their family member treated at Bassett. I’ve also heard that ambulances transporting patients to the Bassett ER are made to wait an inordinate amount of time (with their patients still in the ambulances) before they are admitted to the ER.

There is absolutely no excuse for healthcare inadequacies such as these to be allowed to continue as they are in a county that prides itself in its services. We must all do everything possible to promote political will to tackle these shortfalls in service in Otsego County.

Maureen Dill
Morris