Time to go

Leadership, by definition, requires a following.

Administrators and trustees at Enloe Medical Center found themselves at a loss for people willing to follow their lead when doctors joined nurses and service workers in the ranks of the disenfranchised.

We commend CEO Dan Neumeister, board Chairwoman Betty Dean and Vice-Chairman Mark Spelts for recognizing, however belatedly, the need to step aside and let the hospital move in a new direction. In the words of folk singer Michelle Shocked, the secret to a long life is knowing when it’s time to go. It was time, before the widespread public discontent drove away more practitioners, hindered recruitment of replacements and fomented legal showdowns with staff members who’ve remained.

We encourage the hiring of a CEO with open ears as well as an eye toward the bottom line. To fill the vacancies on the board, we hope the trustees open their ranks to people they should have been listening to all along: care-givers and support staff who work the wards every day.

Only then will the leadership have faithful followers—and the community a hospital it can trust.