Roundup: Hospital District trustee candidates

The following candidates are seeking election to the Kootenai Hospital District board of trustees.

All candidates were asked the same questions and given the same deadline and number of words per answer.

Editor's note: We will publish similar profiles about the highway district commissioner candidates later in the week. Profiles about the Community Library Network trustees were published Wednesday.

Chris Nordstrom, Kootenai Hospital District Trustee candidate

• How long have you been a resident of the district in which you are seeking election?

My wife of 50 years and I have lived in Post Falls for 10 years, moving here from San Antonio, Texas, in 2013.

• What experience would you bring to the position?

I am retired from a 35-year career in information technology, having worked for many large financial institutions. My most recent position before retirement was assistant vice president of Network Operations & Technology. As lead engineer, I led a team implementing a multi-million dollar project to convert the enterprise to a modern voice over IP infrastructure consisting of over 10,000 users, 15,000 endpoints at 22 locations around the globe. I have worked with executive management throughout my career on major technology upgrades and implementations.

I served six years in the United States Air Force as an Avionics Repair Technician leading teams and providing training and oversight, in the repair of modern fighter aircraft.

• What is the No. 1 reason you are seeking election?

I don’t believe one needs to be a doctor or medical professional to sit on the board of trustees. The board does not practice medicine; it is an elected oversight function of hospital executive administration.

Above all, I want to be an advocate for Kootenai County voters, residents and patients in the oversight of a modern, efficient, quality hospital that addresses patient needs in North Idaho.

Thomas deTar, Kootenai Hospital District Trustee incumbent candidate

• How long have you been a resident of the district in which you are seeking election?

I have been a resident in Kootenai County for the last 26 years.

• What experience would you bring to the position?

I have served as a volunteer leader in the hospital as chief of surgery and chief of the medical staff, and hospital district trustee for the past six years. I am an independent physician committed to excellent care in our hospital.

• What is the No. 1 reason you are seeking election?

The main reason I want to serve as trustee is my desire to help our hospital provide outstanding affordable medical care to all our citizens and visitors.

Paul Mahlow, Kootenai Hospital District Trustee candidate

• How long have you been a resident of the district in which you are seeking election?

I have lived in Kootenai County over six years.

• What experience would you bring to the position?

My experience in industry was varied involving management and workers, interfacing with regulatory enforcement agencies at federal, state and local level. My Juris Doctor enabled in-depth study and understanding of complex circumstances and the ability to strategize toward the achievement of objectives.

I was also involved in the financial management of budget and programs to achieve and operational compliance with applicable regulations. This experience enables analysis of issues and developing approaches to resolutions.

Considering the current hospital policy situation, common sense indicates stop making the situation worse before one can work on making it better. There were many bad decisions over the last three years. The combination of my industrial experience, military experience and education provide a foundation to serve the public with integrity.

• What is the No. 1 reason you are seeking election?

This board decided in virtual secrecy to turn this hospital into a private hospital after over 65 years as a public hospital without communicating or enabling public involvement.

A. A white paper was released to the public to explain the change on the last day to ask questions about the change of the hospital status.

B. This change in status without public approval was enabled in the Idaho legislative session in 2022 and in less than twelve months this board voted to change the status.

C. The board refused to address or show up for a town hall meeting with hundreds of citizens on a weekend day and decided to host their own meeting at night, midweek, for less than 50 citizens.

The conduct of the hospital toward health workers who worked the most trying days of COVID were terminated if they refused to take the shot.

Editor's note: The third question answered by Community Library Network trustee candidate Tom Hanley was inadvertently left out of the article that ran Wednesday, so we are publishing it here.

Tom Hanley, Community Library Network trustee candidate

• What is the No. 1 reason you are seeking election?

The two incumbent trustees re-running for office are responsible for purchasing at least 330 books containing obscene material, and locating them in the minor's areas of the CLN libraries. For nearly two years, they were informed by a grassroots organization of upset momma-bears entitled Clean Books for Kids https://cleanbooks4kids.com regarding this atrocity. With 36 board-years between them, perhaps they have lost touch with the community.

Idaho statute (18-1514) clearly and conveniently defines the term "Obscene." Just because another statute provides a legal defense for allowing obscenity in libraries, doesn't mean this material must be purchased by the taxpayers and provided to minors.

These incumbents have continually denied this vile material is present in the minor's areas. But as election time arrived, suddenly, they crafted a not-yet implemented and inadequate policy to fix this so-called non-existent problem, the disaster they created.

One of the Democrat incumbents has proudly declared herself to be a globalist. Well, I proudly declare myself a "localist," someone focused upon Kootenai County's Community Values.

For the incumbents using campaign taglines such as "Save our Libraries," and "Protect Our Children," the dominant thought that comes to my mind is, yes, let's save the community from them.