The hospital that raised me

Dear Neighbor,

Before I ever cast a vote on Sarasota Memorial's board, I mopped its floors.

As a Pine View student, I interned there — a month in every department. Computers. Food service. Admissions. I even observed surgery. I learned this hospital the way you learn a family business: from the inside, one department at a time.

Decades later, the people of Sarasota County trusted me with something I never imagined — serving as Treasurer of that same hospital's board. I take no salary for it. I take no pension from it. I take no PAC money. The kid who worked every department now watches the books, and the only people I answer to are the ones reading this letter.

Here's what your hospital looks like today, straight from our audited reports: straight-A patient safety at both campuses — something only about 15 percent of America's hospitals achieve. One of the nation's best maternity hospitals, and the only one delivering babies in Sarasota County. A staff pension funded at 113 percent — a promise kept, not deferred. A new hospital open in Venice, and North Port on the way.

But the number I care most about is zero. That's how many shareholders Sarasota Memorial answers to. Your hospital belongs to you — and there's a ballot on your kitchen counter right now that keeps it that way.

Five minutes. Mark Brad Baker. Mail it back.