B.J. FLETCHER: Phoebe Putney Hospital provides world-class care

While I continue to try and contact each of you personally, I wanted to take the opportunity here to thank everyone who reached out to me with your calls, your personal messages, and especially, your prayers while I underwent a medical procedure recently.

The love and concern shown to me by my friends, employees, constituents and my colleagues with the city of Albany were overwhelming, something I will never forget.

While recovering, I had the opportunity to reflect on the care I received at our hospital, Phoebe Putney Memorial. From the professional performance of the procedure by Dr. Craig Mitchell and his staff and the staff at the Phoebe cath lab to the post-procedure care offered by the nursing staff, I received the kind of world-class attention and care Phoebe has become known for. Except for the painful attempt by a staff member to insert a needle into a sensitive area close to a bone in my finger, everything about my experience went as well as could be expected.

While lying alone in my room in the hours after my procedure, I had the opportunity to think about the care I’d received and the professionalism of the Phoebe staff. I thought of the complaints I’ve heard over the years made by a small but vocal group that apparently resents the success of our hospital, and I can’t help but wonder what motivates that group. Certainly they have their reasons, but I’ve always been a person who makes decisions based on facts.

And the fact is I received world-class care at Phoebe, the kind of care that so often means the difference between life and death.

As I thought about all these matters at Phoebe, I kept coming back to one question, a question that I think all of us should ask ourselves: Just where in the world would our community be without Phoebe?

Thank you all again for your concern and care during my medical procedure, and thank you Joel Wernick, Dr. Mitchell and the Phoebe staff for all you do for our community.

B.J. FLETCHER

Albany

EDITIOR’S NOTE: B.J. Fletcher is the Albany city commissioners for Ward 3.