Dear Mr. Dunavant

You are very much on target for a change.

While I'm not one to laud much praise on the antics of Jack Dunavant and his "We The People" movement, he hit a cord with his strike at Sentara for ending the labor and delivery unit at the Halifax Regional Hospital.  

And why did they do that?  

GREED!

MONEY!

PROFITS!  Yes, it's a non-profit hospital, but that doesn't mean not making profits, just how they spend it.

Yup!  Sentara is the money machine of hospitals in Virginia, and also one of the largest health insurers in the state for Medicaid and Medicare Advantage plans.

Why end labor and delivery?  Nah!, not because it was losing money due to births.  It just cost too much in risk.  Labor and delivery, and obstetrics are one of the highest risk components in healthcare with the highest cost for liability insurance.

No Mr. Dunavant, taking legal action won't work, it'll just cost a pile of money. And threatening a private company with deep pockets won't work either.  

You suggested that Sentara broke their agreements with Halifax after purchasing the Halifax Regional Hospital, one of 11 hospitals in their vast system.  Here's what was said in 2013 when the merger was announced.  Do we detect any hints from this that services would be cut?  Nope!

Then, Sentara announced the ending of labor and delivery services using profits as a reason.  I think the numbers used by Sentara are suspect, but hard to prove.  Read this.

Regardless of how they came to own the hospital campus, they do and can do with it as they please.  They paid $115 million for it, but I'm not sure where that money went.  Who gets the money when a non-profit is sold?  

Halifax in not alone in losing labor and delivery care.  It's happening all over the country.  That doesn't make it right.  For a County like Halifax, trying to attract and keep businesses, this is a big blow.  Who wants to relocate to an area where the nearest labor and delivery services are 30 minutes or more away.

So, how can Mr. Dunavant make Sentara change their mind about the labor and delivery services?   Well, he likely can't, but he could seek to revoke their non-profit status with the state.  Not likely to work but could be an irritant to Sentara.

It looks like Halifax County is doomed to have less health care, fewer doctors, fewer businesses, fewer jobs, less tax revenue, and less people, PARTLY BECAUSE SENTARA WANTS TO MAKE MORE MONEY TO SPEND SOMEPLACE OTHER THAN HALIFAX COUNTY.

Oh, and there's no way they can build a new and smaller hospital for $70 million.  They're dreaming our misleading the people.  Best guess is it will cost over $100 to complete the project.

And no, they should not give the old building to the County as Ted Daniel's want.  That would be a disaster for the everyone and cost millions just to maintain it.  If you want to do something good for the County and the Town, buy the old hospital/nursing home on N. Main and do something meaningful with that.  We don't need another derelict building and Sentara certainly doesn't want one standing in front of their new shinny hospital.