LETTER: Voters stand behind St. Croix County nursing home

To the Editor:

Once again voters solidly supported our county nursing home – more than 11,000 of them. This is a non-partisan issue. The same two-to-one margin was achieved during a presidential election in the fall of 2008 in which a Democrat won as well as during a hotly contested Republican primary in the spring of 2012. For decades, the St. Croix County nursing home had a wide-ranging reputation across the entire county and is worthy of our support.

I find it interesting the last-minute, sneak attack campaign to vote “no” failed miserably. The deliberate misinformation was overflowing in flyers, letters to the editor and emails. Please refer to our website at www.stcroixhome.org if you want to see the facts to refute such falsehoods.

I attempted to refute these falsehoods in a letter to the editor in the Hudson Star Observer. When I checked their website’s opinion section the Sunday before the election, only two letters on the nursing home referendum were found – and both were to vote “no,” even though I know the Hudson Star Observer had printed “vote yes” letters in previous hard copy editions. My letter was not printed in either the print edition or website. As a broadcasting major, I understand the need for impartiality in the press and I find this unacceptable for a local paper to be that biased in their opinion section dedicated to citizen input.

Our citizens understand the need for a safety net. Our nursing home has a different social contract with the community than do private or non-profit homes. For example, there are no free medical or dental clinics located in St. Croix County, according to our Public Health department. Those needing services must travel to Minnesota, Eau Claire or Pierce County.

I find that to be a travesty considering the wealth and resources of this county.

The pattern established for the financially indigent in this county is “go elsewhere.” That could happen to our skilled nursing facilities someday as well. That, to me, is a large reason why the citizenry voted overwhelmingly in support of the county home – they want to know there will be a place that will accept them no matter what their bank account.

On behalf of the Friends of St. Croix Home, our residents, their families and our employees – thank you for standing with us on this health care access issue.

Kim Dupre

Emerald

Tags: letters to the editor, opinion