Help Writing a Letter to the Director of a Hospital. Please Read.

Wow - someone ought to hire Lucy! (Or hire her away from where she works now!)

Terrific letter, Lucy!!!!

Dawn

Dear Hospital Director:

My name is E. B, and I am the mother of a beautiful one-month-old baby girl. During my pregnancy, my unborn baby was diagnosed with a congenital lung disease. We didn't know out of the three possible findings: (CCAM, CLE, or BPS) which one she would actually have until she was born. I was followed from 22 weeks until 37 weeks by perinatologist Dr. Ruben Quintero at XXX Hospital. I am writing to let you know that Dr. Quintero saved my life and the life of my daughter.

Often, when a fetus is diagnosed with a lung abnormality, intervention may be needed. Such as they will have to go through the uterus and perform a procedure on the fetus in utero to save the baby. Fortunately, this wasn't necessary in my case. Dr. Quintero monitored me and my daughter throughout my pregnancy. His amazing generosity and his constant reassurance is what brought me and my little girl together.

Our daughter was born perfectly fine. She's a little over a month now and has not needed any breathing treatments and shows no signs of her breathing being compromised. We found out today after a repeat xray - it is definitely Congenital Lobar Emphysema in her right lower lobe. Eventually she will have to have surgery to remove that lobe. She's doing amazingly well right now, so it's not a plan yet.

I was so saddened and disappointed to hear that the hospital has layed off the entire research team for Dr. Ruben Quintero. Without Dr. Quintero and his research team, my daughter would not be here. The first doctor we saw suggested aborting the fetus. Dr. Quintero gave us hope and reassurance that our baby girl would make it through.

I am writing to let you know that Dr. Quintero is a huge benefit to your team of High Risk OBGYN's. I hate to think that other pregnant women who find themselves in the same situation that I did won't have the privilege of being under Dr. Quintero's care. During the 15 weeks that Dr. Quintero monitored me, he gave me so much hope, faith, honesty, and courage.

I understand that health care staff costs money and that any cuts in funding are done with extreme care and a lot of thought. But if there is anything I can do (letter writing campaign, fundraising, grant writing) to help bring back Dr. Quintero and his staff to XXX hospital, I would love to help. Thanks so much for taking the time to read my letter.

Sincerely,
E. B

cc: Dr. Quintero and staff
any other people higher in the health care food chain
Miami Herald
**********
E., what a brave momma you are! Congratulations on surviving such a high risk pregnancy, and congrats on your beautiful baby girl! That is so generous of you to think of writing to the hospital on behalf of your doctor. Good luck to you!

Wow...Lucy nailed it :)

Might I also suggest you write a public "thank you" letter to Dr Quntero and his research staff and have it published in your local papers. Believe me when I tell you public perception and advertising play a role in where the funding goes.

By publicly supporting Dr Q & Staff you are providing him with much needed leverage in the funding battles. Check to see if your local news station does personal pieces on heroes. You could nominate Dr Q & Staff as the life saving heroes that work miracles daily.

Peace and Blessings,
T. B.

Well, for sure, if you haven't already, be sure to write to the good doctor and tell him how he has impacted your life. He needs to know how you feel and will most certainly appreciate what you have to say. Imagine how he must be feeling right now. What a boost to hear that his good work has made a difference.

If you can nominate this doctor and his team for any community services awards in the area...do so and now! Check with local community foundations, the local Catholic Archdiocesesan paper, it's Pro-life and Bio-Medical office, or even Catholic Charities, Social services, the local paper or do a google search and see what he may be nominated for. Get a petition or encourage letters of support from everyone who knows him and his work. This will help his cause with the hospital as well.

Secondly, contact the media with your story if your goal is to sway the hospital's decision. If you can find other patients who will be affected willing to talk about how the hospital's decision is going to impact them as well as yourself, you'll probably have a story they'll (media) be interested in covering. But first, do your homework as best you can about why his program is being cut. There may be internal politics at play that you don't know about. There may be a good and very ethical reason the hospital has done this. While I doubt this and it sounds like it's about money, you just never know and wouldn't want to be surprised.

Believe me, the hospital won't want the bad publicity. It may make them reconsider if the public response to the story means a flurry of nasty e-mails and phone calls, or worse, further overall donor and financial support to the hosptial being pulled etc. As of right now, your letter alone will probably not make a difference. This decision was probably in the works for sometime and was a board of directors decision to balance the hospital's budget. You need ammunition to make them take notice....to hear your voice. Going through the media can help. Even a Facebook page can help.

Lucy's letter is good, but I know for a fact that the Board of Directors will not be phased, and maybe even displeased if you're not careful with wording as they might think the doctor was behind you writing the letter. You wouldn't want him to get in trouble. Take great care to check the wording and send this letter with a petition of supporters. The more people voicing an opinion, the less they can hold over the doctor or accuse him of being a trouble-maker politically speaking.

Sadly, you need to realize you're dealing with a bunch of suits who for them this is just one of many corporate maneuverings to make sure the hosptial stays in the black. It is the sad state of medicine today. If it's not your doctor's program it will be someone else's. In your case, you can only hope to save this program for the sake of your daughter. The public will, if they can hear your story and the stories of the many other patients and most importantly how losing this program at the hospital may affect the community at large via the media. You need to make them see there is still a need for this...because right now they probably think this doctor's work is too narrowly focused to justify the money being currently invested in it.

Third, consider finding a PR firm that might be willing to do pro-bono work and help you to put together a fundraiser to support this doctor's work. Perhaps if you can prove that there are bonafide alternative ways to fund his program, they may reconsider. If you can find private donors or a foundation willing to help support his work, this may be enough to buy him some time. Create a webpage and contact other patients who have had success thanks to this doctor and his program. That will help too.

I'd write the letter only after contacting media and getting a petition put together. You need to go to them with ammunition. It's really the only small chance you have to save the doctor and his program.

Don't wait in doing this. Time is clearly not on your side. The decision has in effect been made already. Your only hope is to change their opinion. The sooner you can get this in the media, the better.

GO LUCY!!!
Where do you work? I hope it's in persuasive writing somewhere!

I think half your letter has been written already!

"....without him and his research team, my daughter would not be here today.."
"...during those 15 weeks, he gave me so much hope, faith, honesty and courage..."

add something like "I'd like to better understand why such an amazing team was laid off ..." and/or "I hope you will reconsider laying of such a wonderful team that I believe has truly saved many lives...."

Get personal. Write what you told us. Include pictures of your daughter. It will mean more to the director and stick with him/her if you tell your story and include some pictures.

Write what you wrote here. Start with the sentence "that without him and his research team my daughter would not be here." Then describe the ways in which he helped you.

I think it's wonderful and refreshing that you want to express how appreciative you are toward this physician and his research team. Please don't be surprised when they don't reinstate the jobs or the programs, however. I know that this is a huge cause for you, but I think it would be better suited that you write your congress person.
I really wanted to rant about the state of our healthcare and how hospitals are dealing, but I didn't think it was appropriate. Ask the doctor where he will go next. Chances are if he's as good as you say he is, some other hospital is already waiting in the wings.

Lucy wrote it for you!!! Great job, Lucy!

Dear Erica,

I respectfully disagree with JL. I would still do the letter. I completely agree with enclosing a photo of your daughter in the letter (real photo, not an inserted digital image on your letter).

In addition to a cc to Miami Herald, also do the Sun-Sentinel, Miami Archdiocese, NBC Miami, ABC - Local 10 and CBS Miami. For newspapers and TV try to contact either the health editor or someone who works in parenting. Consider also sending to South Florida Parenting magazine. The more publicity you get - from a media organization picking up the story, the better. I am so glad you are recovering and that your daughter is doing well. Best wishes to both of you.

I work in media/PR and JL is right on! I wouldn't suggest otherwise. I don't think Christine read JL's advice very carefully. She never said not to send a letter. She said to get her ducks in a row by getting a petition of support in place etc. BEFORE sending the letter.

This is good for two reasons. It builds credibility and a case when the media assess whether or not to cover this, as they get many tips for stories like this daily, that do not make the news. Secondly, it buffers the doctor from internal politics at his place of work.

Good ideas JL.