We write in response to John Kacavas’s column, “The Truth about New Hampshire Hospital” (Sunday Monitor, June 17), itself a response to a piece we authored (Sunday Monitor, June 10) where we raised a number of questions about the state of care at NHH under Dartmouth-Hitchcock’s leadership.
When we saw Mr. Kacavas had written a column, we had high hopes he was going to finally outline a plan for how DH intended to address the fact that two-thirds of the psychiatric provider positions at NHH are either vacant or filled by temporary replacements after DH ran us off.
Mr. Kacavas declined to address many issues we raised, instead choosing to paint us as two lone alarmists. From our discussions with people throughout NHH and the state, we know that’s not true.
Mr. Kacavas repeatedly referred to us as “disgruntled” former employees. We aren’t disgruntled; we’re sad and worried about NHH’s future. We have nothing personal to gain by questioning DH’s staffing plan or whether Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeffrey Meyers chooses to contract with DH.
Our goal has simply been to ensure NHH’s patients have the best care possible. We have tremendous respect for the skills and abilities of our former colleagues who remain at NHH. We have no doubt these excellent doctors will continue providing top-notch care. However, there are only a handful of them. Given DH’s plan to staff the other two-thirds of the positions, we harbor grave concerns.
Mr. Kacavas spent much of his piece personally attacking us and misrepresenting our interactions with DH officials while making a number of misleading and patently false statements. We hope DH officials shift their focus to what really matters: finding a responsible, legitimate and sustainable solution to NHH’s psychiatric staffing issue. We’ve left NHH, but NHH and our patients there will never leave us.
Dr. MATTHEW DAVIS and ROBERT MURRAY
Concord