Having worked with people who have no interest in financial diversification or in fixing problems of their own creation, I feel it is necessary to express that one person does not speak for the entire community in regards to county financial and healthcare issues.
Disregarding problems and refusing to acknowledge solutions is how issues become overwhelming and people do not want to resolve them. It also keeps people in positions of power and violating fiduciary duties from having to be accountable.
In particular, the stance of begging La Plata County to stay with the District because there are no “major issues” is a response that is not based in reality. The reality is that both Archuleta and La Plata counties, as well as employees at the District, have serious issues with their current health district relationship and the dissolution can result in a healthier relationship with public health for all citizens involved.
When financial issues come up, you can not simply hyper-focus on one part of the solution to resolve a whole problem. Padding the bottom line won’t fix long-term issues, especially when everyone is abundantly aware that there are issues.
The solution is to prepare to take the proper steps after divorce. Preventing divorce is not always possible, lest I remind you that the health district wants to expand the definition of “Public Health” to include Civic and Social Health, which is highly questionable and unconstitutional.
The discussion of dissolution comes from actions in which the District was violating rights of individuals and business owners during the pandemic, and, when they illegally made a formal decision to spend money and create a report to dissolve the District during a work session, the meeting began with a Director informing the others that they need to expand the definition of public health to include social health. They then snidely attacked anyone who questioned their prerogatives in a disgusting show of dystopian government run amok.
It is for these reasons that discussions of divorce are happening, with many groups discussing how to bring about a healthy solution to the creation of a county health department and, in speaking to many people about it, there are those that tell me medical professionals are waiting on the sidelines to be consulted.
Are solvable financial concerns the only reason to stay in this abusive relationship? If the answer is no, then let’s form a committee to list the available solutions.
Consulting with a variety of people with unique perspective on how to move forward in business solutions is called Strategic Planning. There may be seven solutions to financial diversification, but if we are hyper-focused on only one, the task can seem daunting. We certainly don’t want to waste time “waiting and seeing” if our rights will be violated. We should be proactive for the sake of our children and their rights. We must be ever vigilante in protecting the next generation’s freedom, as it is so easy to lose during times of self-preservation.
Beyond that, we get to grow our job opportunities in the area, which brings in more professionals and allows for building for the future of Archuleta County.
Unfortunately, we have a marriage between two counties with irreconcilable differences, that being that some of us are unwilling to put aside our inherent rights for the unlawful expansion of public health. Whether the District dissolves or not, this will continue to be an issue in American politics for the foreseeable future, and Archuleta County residents that I have spoken to, at large, want to define public health in a way that includes Individual Health as a protected right, just as people with disability or medical issues have been a protected class for many years. This is not currently possible with the stonewalling and financial incentives to do just the opposite under the current district.
We cannot pretend we don’t have problems, and we cannot let one person speak for all citizens by saying, casually, “we” just never thought it was an issue. If you can’t acknowledge a problem, perhaps you should check around, as this has been front page news for months and is clearly an issue that needs to be addressed, financial solutions aside.
People have been proactive in discussing solutions that are available, perhaps those that don’t see a problem should let the responsibility of discussing solutions fall to those who are willing to acknowledge the problem in the first place.
Rachel Suh
Pagosa Springs, CO
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