After the ongoing questions about ambulance safety, it was encouraging to see the Castle Rock Hospital District Board sit down with the Board of County Commissioners last week to open an honest discussion and channel of communication.
It was especially encouraging to see that Castle Rock is taking strides to being more open and accessible in general, and that some of the concerns we brought up in a past editorial (“Castle Rock Hospital District needs to be more accessible,” published September 28, 2023) are being addressed.
Just from walking into the meeting, we noticed that this time the conference room door was propped open, and there was a sign saying the meeting was taking place.
There have also been improvements to the website. Castle Rock Chairman Dan Stanton has added a phone number he can be contacted at to his information, which is commendable. The webpage with the board members also now has a section at the bottom with information on the meetings, explaining when and where they take place and giving an email address and phone number for more information.
We also discovered that there is staff directory information on the website, it just has to be searched for a little harder. It still doesn’t have contact information, but at least it lists staff members and their positions.
The meeting itself was also a step in the right direction. While it had moments of tension, it was good to see the members of both boards working to be professional and to hear each other out. The meeting provided useful details about the ambulance service and set a good tone for more information being shared in the future.
One concern we might raise was that the actual safety questions and complaints that in many ways led to the meeting in the first place were not necessarily addressed. No specific discussion of how safety concerns are being alleviated took place. It was simply noted that Castle Rock employees have procedures to follow for complaints. The fear of retribution or difficulty having discussions with the board that staff members expressed were essentially pushed aside as not being a concern. We readily admit that we don’t know how Castle Rock policies work, but we truly hope that, going forward, employees with concerns will feel listened to and that their concerns will be addressed, not dismissed.
We believe that this meeting and the changes to things like sharing contact information show that Castle Rock is on the right track and making improvements in accessibility and transparency. We hope this momentum continues, particularly as they work to provide safe and dependable ambulance service to the community.
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