Phoebe Sumter Hospital (PSH) starts off governing the hospital by selecting three former bad choices from the Sumter Regional Hospital's (SRH) board. The three, Dr. Michael Busman, Reverend Michael Coley, and Fred McLaughlin, all sat on SRH's board and watched the demise of our hospital along with then Chief Executive Officer (CEO), David Seagraves. Phoebe Sumter's selection of Busman, Coley, and McLaughlin, might be a signal to citizens in Americus to the type of decision-making direction PSH intends to take. We feel Phoebe's decision to retain these three was a wrong one.

Dr. Busman, a controversial physician, has been embroiled in questionable behaviors from being investigated for drug use by the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners, to being sued by The AmericUSmter Observer Publisher Dr. John Marshall and by Dr. Mila Keh, a local psychiatrist, for illegally supporting the removal of their hospital privileges. Keh and Marshall are minority doctors. The local NAACP has lodged numerous complaints against Busman when he was the school board chairman, for what the NAACP saw as a concerted effort on Busman's part to remove or marginalize mainly Black teaching professionals. His racist stance was similar against Blacks at Sumter Regional Hospital.

Reverend Michael Coley pastors a church in Montezuma, GA, and works at Warner Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, GA. Unfortunately, Rev. Coley's tenure on the SRH Board was different than his tenure on the school board. He served well on the school board. On the hospital board, the reverend reacted slowly to the crisis the hospital was facing, and he refused to address claims of patients' abuses at SRH.

Leaders of the community felt that their complaints were not being heard, and that Rev. Coley's blindness to the disparities between White and Black terminations at the hospital was troublesome. The playing field was decidedly uneven for Blacks seeking equality when they complained to the reverend.

Even the removal of hospital privileges of Dr.

Marshall's was off limits for Rev. Coley, even though the case was under the board's purview.

Fred McLaughlin teaches at Fort Valley State University and has commuted to and from Fort Valley, GA for at least 20 years. He has been on the Hospital Authority for more than 15 years. He is worst than Coley as he is much less giving of information and he has an air of arrogance. Our NAACP asked him not to run for the school board on two different occasions because he was ineffective when he did serve on the school board just as he has been on the Hospital Authority. Like Rev Coley, McLaughlin has been fully apprised of the racial discrimination at the hospital. Our observers who attend the Hospital Authority meetings have reported that he rarely says anything. We can't afford to bring someone like that to the new hospital board. Phoebe Sumter Hospital CEO's decision baffles the average Americus citizen as to why these three ineffective and polarizing hospital board "veterans" were chosen. The two most frequent questions are: What rationale the CEO used for keeping these three? Does the CEO want Phoebe Sumter Hospital to fail too? Only the Phoebe Sumter Hospital CEO knows the answer to these two questions. Our investigation reveals that the CEO did not consult any involved Black community leaders or organizations for input to help him in the selection process.

The CEO and his staff failed the community in their vetting process of these three. They should have been aware that this newspaper and other community leaders have been protesting loudly for years to remove them along with Sumter Regional's CEO, Seagraves. Since Phoebe Sumter Hospital decided to retain these three non-performers, the community leaders and this newspaper will remain vigilant in monitoring PSH board's future actions. The community cannot have another repeat of a failed hospital because it lacks sound, positive, and fair board leadership. The hospital was one of the largest employers in this county.

We think fifteen years is more than enough time for someone to prove his or her effectiveness on any board. This community will like to permanently end Coley and McLaughlin's commute to attend board meetings. And given Dr. Busman's racial discrimination patterns and his questionable behaviors, the community will also like to end his return to this important decision-making position. Put simply, Phoebe Sumter should have selected three candidates other than Busman, Coley, and McLaughlin. To not have done so invites questions as to the direction the new hospital is signaling.