2022 Delta Health election: Former family physician Bruce Mixter seeks second term

Mixter was associated with Delta Family Physicians for nearly 25 years before retiring in June 2017. In 2019, he decided to take his hospital and health care management experience to the ballots, where he offered to serve as a liaison between the hospital board and its employees with whom he had come to know over the last two decades.

Nearly three years after being named board treasurer, Mixter has decided he’s not yet ready to leave the team.

“We have a good group of folks on the board now and I think that the administrative team at the hospital are good folks,” Mixter said of the board. “I felt like our job wasn’t quite done–we still had some things that we wanted to accomplish and I would hate to leave now without having seen all the things that we wanted to get done.”

Mixter’s campaign platform is focused on the hospital’s financial and operational stability, as well as maintaining local control of Delta Health.

Investing in more nurses and their retention is a top priority for the hospital, Mixter said.

The board candidate noted that the hospital’s financial difficulties hadn’t been recognized before Matt Heyn took over as CEO.

While the transition in CEOs was a challenging time for the hospital, Mixter said the change has brought in new ideas and solutions that have helped the hospital improve. He cited the board and administrative team “getting a good handle” on contracts, such as physician and vendor contracts.

Now the hospital is focused on stabilizing its finances and overall status, two areas that, if improved, would help the institution achieve financial independence.

“We’d like to see where we’re having positive margins every month,” Mixter continued. “Our cash reserves have been dwindling over the last several years…[and you] never know when another crisis like the pandemic is going to hit.”

He added that the hospital’s goal is to also avoid a subsidiary of a larger corporation assuming control of the hospital. Maintaining control, he said, would allow local residents to have input on hospital matters.

The board is interested in making capital improvements on the hospital, including it’s emergency room, which Mixter described as “old and outdated.”

Better cash reserves could help improve the ER or address miscellaneous issues that need repairing, such as boilers that need replacing in the next few years, Mixter pointed out.

When it comes to the upcoming sales tax vote, Mixter is “cautiously optimistic.”

“I know people are resistant to increasing taxes. I voted for ‘back the badge’ because I thought it was necessary to increase our police force and this I think is very necessary for the hospital,” said Mixter of the 0.8% proposed tax.

While the hospital’s recent Sole Community Hospital designation helps their goals for independence, Mixter added that “every little bit helps,” including the sales tax.

Mixter pointed out that government financing can often forget about smaller community hospitals like Delta Health, who are “surviving on a shoestring.”

Mixter plans to remain in Delta with his wife, where they hope to retain confidence in the local hospital as they grow older and need more care.

“This is a good hospital and I want to be able to continue saying that it’s a good hospital and refer people to the hospital clinics because they do a good job.”

Candidate statement: Why should people vote for you?

Well, first of all, I’d say that I am not a finance guy. If you’d asked me about numbers and accounting, I probably wouldn’t give good numbers for that. But I worked here–I’m a retired family doctor. In the last few years, I worked for the hospital, so I know a lot of the folks in the hospital. I think it has always been a great institution, a great asset for the community.

Cassie Knust is a staff writer for the Delta County Independent and Montrose Daily Press. Follow her on Twitter, @CassieKnust