4 SEEKING 3 SEATS ON HOSPITAL BOARD IN PERRY CO.

The race for the Perry County Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees comes at a time when the board is considering major changes in the way the hospital is run. But with three incumbents and one challenger running for three seats, it's not likely the election will determine whether those changes go through.

Only the challenger, Karen Riney, has expressed reservations about the proposed changes. All three incumbents -- Bill Wingerter, Carol Ochs and Todd Petzoldt -- support creating a private, not-for-profit corporation to run the hospital and integrating the administration of the hospital and the Perry County Nursing Home.

Creating a corporation to run the hospital would "position the hospital better for the future," Petzoldt said.

Creating the corporation would take day-to-day control away from the trustees. That way, decisions that are now made in open meetings could be made privately.

"With the open meetings law, you're meeting in a fishbowl," Petzoldt said. "Your competitors can sit in on your meetings and see what you are doing."

Petzoldt said he hasn't seen any potential competitors at meetings, but making the switch would be "proactive rather than reactive" in a time of great change in the health-care field.

Riney said she wasn't sure she would oppose the switch, but "I'm against having closed meetings."

She said she wants to make sure that citizens have input in the way the hospital is run.

Ochs said turning over hospital operations to a not-for-profit would be no different from what the county did with the Perry County Nursing Home in 1969, and that has worked out well.

Wingerter said the step might be necessary "in order not to be gobbled up" by a big private corporation, as many rural county hospitals have been.

All four candidates indicated support for integrating the hospital's operations with the nursing home. The nursing home already contracts with the hospital administration for management services.

Wingertner and Ochs have served on the five-member board for three four-year terms. Petzoldt is seeking his second term.

Riney, 47, moved to Perry County just two years ago with her husband, a native of Perry County. She said she is running for the board as a way "to get better involved in the community," not because of any issues.

But she does want to "make sure that no one is ever turned away because they don't have insurance."

Riney said she has a lot to learn about the hospital, but believes she can learn more quickly because her sister-in-law, Carol Ochs, is on the board.

Riney is looking for work.

Ochs said Riney didn't consult her before filing. Ochs said she decided to run for the board 12 years ago "because I decided I needed to volunteer for something in Perry County."

She said she learned a lot in those 12 years. Asked about her accomplishments, she pointed to what the board as a whole has done -- the renovation and expansion of the hospital and hiring of Pat Bira as hospital administrator.

Ochs, 58, is a stock clerk at Sabreliner Corporation.

Wingerter, 64, vice president and branch manager at Chester National Bank of Missouri in Perryville, said he has been on "17 different boards in the last 33 years," including the local school board. He said he believes in volunteering for the community.

"I like the hospital and would like to see that it survives," he said. He's married to a nurse. All of his family members have had to use the hospital at some time, so he feels he has a stake in it.

He's proud that he and other board members have kept the hospital strong financially in a period when other rural hospitals have had problems.

Petzoldt, 32, said he is running for his second term because the first one was "enjoyable and challenging," and he believes his business expertise is an asset. He is the secretary-treasurer of the East Perry Lumber Company.

"Health care is changing," Petzoldt said. "I've gained enough insight and experience to want to do it again."