Letter: Telles isn’t the best choice for CEO at WhidbeyHealth

Editor,

Based on my experience, Ron Telles is unqualified to become the CEO at WhidbeyHealth.

I was one of the 50 or so people whose allergy injections were abruptly stopped last fall with no warning or reason. There are numerous other Whidbeyites who received B-12 or testosterone injections who were also dropped.

Timing with allergy injections is critical and these shots are necessary to maintain the health of those affected. In my case, I received a phone call two days before my scheduled monthly injection, and I was left to scramble to find a provider.

So, now I — and the 50 others who were getting allergy shots — must leave the island to get this rather basic medical service. It ranges from once a month to twice a week depending on the serum schedule.

Despite repeated inquiries, I have not been given a rational, fiscal or legal reason for the hospital administration’s actions, only excuses that don’t hold up under scrutiny.

Given that I spent the last three years before retirement covering health care and our local hospital district for one local newspaper, I did a bit of research and there is no reason that more than 100 people who need various injections now have to travel off island for this service.

I’ve called numerous times, written letters, gone to a board meeting and tried to arrange a meeting with someone in the administration. As far as I got was a phone call with Mr. Telles, who had his employee do most of the talking. Mr. Telles provided no answers, stonewalled me and, afterward, in an email I obtained through public disclosure, thanked his underling, noting, “I must say you handled the conversation very well.”

Mr. Telles, I am told, was operating under instructions from his boss, Geri Forbes. So, he gets a pass. But recently, through a commissioner, I asked again for a meeting with him. The result: zero response from Ron Telles.

Is this the type of administration we want at our publicly funded hospital?

We can call our commissioners to protest Mr. Telles’ promotion; we can turn out on Monday night at the board meeting to object; we can vote for a new commission at the next opportunity or we can vote with our feet and go elsewhere for more respectful health care.

But one thing we should not do is to accept yet another degradation of heath care options for Island residents.

Sue Ellen White

Langley