Retired executive decries Washington hospital's closure of outpatient rehabilitation clinic

Redge Campbell, former director of rehabilitation at Silverdale, Wash.-based Harrison Medical Center, wrote a Nov. 27 op-ed in the Kitsap Sun denouncing the closure of Silverdale, Wash.-based St. Michael Medical's outpatient rehabilitation center.

Mr. Campbell pointed to the corporatization of Harrison Medical Center — the hospital was bought by Tacoma, Wash.-based Virginia Mason Franscican Health and changed its name to St. Michael Medical Center — as a negative for the hospital.

"Watching the deconstruction of our community hospital has felt like death from a thousand cuts," he wrote.

Mr. Campbell argued that the pursuit of profit led to the closure of essential services that benefited the community. 

"There is now a beautiful and expensive shiny hospital on the hill in Silverdale that can't be optimized because prospective employees see what this corporation is doing to healthcare in Kitsap and across the country. I long for the days when maximizing profits was secondary to meeting our community's needs," Mr. Campbell wrote. "I look back affectionately at what Harrison used to be. I look ahead with trepidation at what the system will look like in the future as I need to use its services."

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