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“How can it be legal to
destroy and then manage the competition?” Fedor asked citing
the anti-monopoly implications of ProMedica’s actions.
“We know that this
institution in this community is so vital,” said
Hicks-Hudson. “It’s a research institution, a teaching
institution and people are getting well who come here … we
care about a public facility that we paid for.”
White emphasized the
connection between current crises and what it means to have
a community health facility that treats all who come in.
“Coronavirus and systemic
racism are disproportionately killing people of color – not
‘colored people’ – due to low economic standards, poor
living conditions, stress … we have to go further,” she
said. Addressing the health, education and employment
benefits of the UTMC, she asked the crowd: “Are you willing
to give that away?” She was answered with a resounding “No!”
by her audience.
Fedor and her colleagues –
District 45 Rep. Lisa Sobecki; District 46 Rep Mike Sheehy
and Hicks-Hudson – have reached out to the UT Board of
Trustees and asked the members of the Board, in a letter
dated June 11, 2020, to “assess the implementation of the
affiliation agreement, as well as the impact the affiliation
between the University of Toledo and ProMedica has had on
the College of Medicine and Life Sciences and its hospital.”
In addition, Fedor is
seeking an in-person meeting with Gov. Mike DeWine in order
to provide him with “an invaluable perspective on community
concerns with the implementation of the Affiliation
Agreement and how it has impacted the financial crisis we
face.”
“Bottom line, the public
wants to keep its public asset and not hand it over to
ProMedica by sale, lease, or to be managed,” Fedor has
written to the governor. “An adequate fix depends on saving
UTMC from the crippling impacts of the academic affiliation
agreement and the harm that it has done to our university.” |
