As a Springfield City Councilor, I have been elected to represent and advocate for the best interests of Springfield residents. When I think of my constituents, it is my neighbors in Ward 3 and every single person who calls Springfield home. With the recent announcement by PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend to end a 30-plus-year contract with Eugene Emergency Physicians and contract for emergency room staffing with Georgia-based staffing company ApolloMD, the quality of patient health care and the livelihood of a homegrown local business have been put in peril. 

This decision by PeaceHealth leadership is causing me great concern for patients, physicians, nurses, Emergency Medical Service providers and other community partners — and I’ve been in conversation with people on all sides of this over the past couple weeks. I am urging PeaceHealth leadership to come back to the table with the trusted and committed providers at Eugene Emergency Physicians to put patient and community needs before profit.

I understand how the current landscape for health care is challenged — particularly in our communities where we have seen the closure of the University District hospital, long emergency room wait times, impacted staffing capacity and lost revenue. PeaceHealth, however, is a nonprofit hospital, and my decades of serving in nonprofit leadership roles taught me that we put the needs and best interests of the people we serve over the bottom line. In fact, as an elected person in Springfield, I know the people’s interests ARE my bottom line.

I am concerned that replacing long-standing, talented community-based physicians with outside providers will hurt rather than help staff-to-patient ratios; it will create dissatisfied patients and high turnover. The recent no-confidence vote by hospital staff shows just how impacted our providers at every level are by these disconnected boardroom decisions. As experienced physicians who live in our communities and are already invested in helping solve challenges and improve outcomes, Eugene Emergency Physicians’ providers have experience with mass casualty events, wildfires and serving the diverse medical needs of our residents. These are our neighbors and they are invested in our community health.

I am asking for a return to negotiation. Clearly, we are not convinced that this decision made by top executives with calculators at the ready is in the best interest of our community. I am urging PeaceHealth to come back to the table with transparency and a spirit of collaboration. 

Springfield is a city that gets things done for the people who live here and takes the needs and services of the growing medical providers very seriously. These local doctors, their families and the many staff who provide patient care are deeply invested in the well-being of this community and beyond. I need PeaceHealth to bring that lens to decision-making as well.

Have something to say?

Send us a Letter to the Editor. Read our guidelines for Letters to the Editor here.

Kori Rodley is a Springfield City Councilor representing Ward 3. She's a lifelong Oregonian who works as part of the management team at Lane County Developmental Disabilities Services.