Don't ignore the race for Sarasota's hospital board. Your life may depend on it.

When I moved to Sarasota, I was a relative young’un – at least by local standards – but I still heard plenty of jokes about “gray anatomies” and “God’s waiting room.” Half of my friends saw it as a place people go to die; the kinder half suggested that, given my not-yet-senior-citizen status, I might actually be able to get a date.

It was no secret that beyond beautiful beaches and a vibrant arts community, the area claimed one of the oldest demographics in the country. But unlike many new arrivals, I came to Florida not to retire, but for a job I hoped would sustain my journalism career for years to come.  Even though at that point I’d already endured one bout with cancer, the availability of excellent health care didn’t begin to figure into my reckoning for relocation.

But many retirees are drawn to Sarasota precisely because they’re eager to live as long and as healthfully as they can. Specialists seasoned in gerontology care and an award-winning hospital that consistently ranks among the best in the nation, are important factors in their decision to move here.

Which is why a down-ballot race for Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s board that has in past years drawn little interest, few voters and candidates whose only agenda was to give back to the community, has this year taken on an oversized importance.

SMH is one of only four public hospital systems in Florida and one of just two with a volunteer board elected by local voters. In 2022, five of the nine partisan seats on the board were open and four drew candidates from only one party. Less than 15% of voters even bothered to vote. That resulted in three candidates, all running on a “health freedom” platform that rejected the efficacy of COVID vaccinations and scorned the protocols of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, being elected to the board.

This August’s primary – in which one district and three “at-large” seats are up for grabs – has drawn a number of candidates of the same inclination. The “Medical Freedom Slate” includes Mary Flynn O’Neill, who directs the nonprofit of her brother, former President Donald Trump advisor and conspiracy theorist Michael Flynn; Tanya Parus, co-owner of “We The People,” a “freedom-based” health clinic in Venice that successfully lobbied the Sarasota County Commission to pass a “medical freedom resolution” last year;  and Tamzin Rosenwasser, a dermatologist who has said she is opposed to federal government mandates in medical care and is “a vehement proponent of public hospitals answerable to the voters.”

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Dr. Stephan Guffanti, who has a long-standing grievance against SMH over the COVID care he received at the hospital during the pandemic, is also a candidate.

Though Florida already has a statute – the Florida Patient’s Bill of Rights and Responsibilities – ensuring a patient’s autonomy over personal health care choices, these candidates have pledged (on a mutual website) to “stand united in their unwavering commitment to championing patient autonomy and advocating for patient-centered healthcare choices.”

Depending on the election outcome, they could gain the board majority and with that shift would come not only radical changes in the standards for what qualifies as effective and ethical health care, but the threat of privatization of the hospital. (Private or corporate ownership, which shifts the priority to profitability, has been shown to reduce services, boost costs, increase patient-staff ratios and bring poorer patient outcomes.)

Other candidates vying for the four open seats thus far include Democrats George Davis, a retired family physician who specializes in palliative care; John Lutz, who has more than 40 years of hospital, insurance and consulting experience and Alan Jerome Sprintz.

Pam Beitlich, the hospital system’s soon-to-retire executive director of Women & Children’s Services and Kevin Cooper, a vice-president at Mote Marine with years of working in the nonprofit sector, are also in the running, as are incumbents Sharon Wetzler DePeters and Sarah Lodge. All four are Republicans.

Local residents concerned about the “medical freedom” slate and its reliance on “pseudo-science” have formed two grassroots groups – Citizens for Healthcare Excellence (CHE) and SaveYourHospital.com – dedicated to preserving “medical excellence” at SMH and electing board members committed to science-based protocols. The controversial candidates have also drawn attention from multiple national media outlets.

“It will be a very vigorous race,” said Sandy Stuart, a former lawyer and member of the Sarasota  Memorial Healthcare Foundation, at a recent presentation by the Sarasota League of Women Voters. “A lot of people were caught two years ago not paying attention. This year, everyone is paying attention – including the New York Times, the L.A. Times and The Washington Post.”

Because the outcome could dictate the future of Sarasota’s public health care system, it is critical voters be registered (29 days in advance) to vote in the August 20 primary – which could serve as the final election in some cases – and make informed choices. As we’ve seen with the Sarasota County School Board since the majority was “flipped” in 2022, who prevails can make a world of difference.

SMH is the largest employer in Sarasota County, with 10,000 employees who service 1.5 million patient visits per year. It reinvests its more than $1 billion of annual revenue into the community; the hospital board also decides the millage of the taxes you pay for health care services. (At present, it is a little over half of the maximum allowed.)  SMH is able to offer many services that don’t look great on a financial balance sheet – such as in-patient psychiatric services, labor and delivery, newborn intensive care and a trauma center – precisely because it is nonprofit.

Moreover, its research, reputation and respect are as much of a lure for recruiting physicians as Sarasota’s climate and beaches says Dr. Kirk Voelker, a practicing pulmonologist and medical director at SMH.

Voelker, who grew up in Sarasota and has “watched SMH grow since I had my tonsils out there,” said that, like most people, until recently he never thought about the makeup of the hospital board. That is, until “I saw what happened when it changed” in 2022.” At that time, the new board members demanded an independent study of the hospital’s practices during the pandemic; board meetings turned into a culture wars battlefield; physicians received death threats; and a local Facebook group called for the end of SMH’s taxing authority and sovereign immunity shield against lawsuits.

Voelkert fears an even larger shift in the board composition could have devastating impacts.

“I’ve watched SMH grow from good to great and looked at its trajectory in the future,” he said. “From a physician standpoint, I really don’t care unless it impacts what I’m doing. And this next election it has the potential to impact what I’m doing.”

As for me, I now qualify as an elder. And after a second bout of cancer; a massive infection caused by a stingray; a freakish spinal cord abscess; and two bouts of COVID, I’m still standing – thanks in large part to the treatment and care I received at SMH and from its physicians.

So I know how I’ll be voting in August (and again in November). You should make sure you do, too.

Contact Carrie Seidman at carrie.seidman@gmail.com or 505-238-0392.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Voting in Sarasota's hospital board race may be a life or death choice