Democrat Vicki Lynn Nighswander has filed to run for Central District Seat 1 on the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board, which oversees Sarasota Memorial Health Care System.
Nighswander becomes the fourth Democrat to file for one of the available seats, guaranteeing the Aug. 20 elections will be closed Republican primaries for the hospital board seats.
"We feel very fortunate to add Ms. Nighswander to our slate of candidates as we believe she will provide voters this fall with a far better alternative to those running under the GOP's Medical Freedom banner," Sarasota Democratic Party Chair Daniel Kuether said in a prepared statement.
The nine-member public hospital board sets policy for the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, which includes all Sarasota Memorial Hospital campuses, related healthcare facilities and clinics and First Physicians Group.
Board members receive no compensation and serve four-year terms.
A victory by three “health freedom” candidates in 2022 means that if two like-minded candidates win seats this year, a group that has questioned the hospital's use of federal guidelines for COVID-19 treatment and vaccinations during the pandemic would hold a majority of seats on the nine-member board.
The four Democrats have more in common with the four Republicans in the campaign endorsed by the Citizens for Healthcare Excellence Action Fund, a political action committee chaired by Dr. Kirk G. Voelker, a practicing pulmonologist as well as a member of the Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation board of directors.
Teresa Carafelli, who served from 2008 to 2012, is the last Democrat elected to the Hospital Board.
Approaching the Nov. 5 general election, 151,419 voters are registered as Republicans in Sarasota County, compared with 86,231 Democrats and 85,848 voters registered with other parties.
Democrats tout experience in health care
Nighswander has a master’s degree in public health from the University of Michigan and worked for the Washtenaw County Public Health Dept. Ypsilanti, Michigan, as an environmental health professional, health educator, HIV/STD program and clinic supervisor, and health services supervisor.
She also holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Heidelberg College, in Tiffin, Ohio, and a master’s of art in teaching.
While at Washtenaw Public Health, Nighswander was recognized with an Unsung Hero Award and she was instrumental in developing many programs with local, regional and state significance.
“COVID-19 wasn't our first pandemic and won't be our last," Nighswander said in a prepared statement. “But to be sure, whatever lies ahead, Sarasota Memorial Hospital has a critical role in communicable disease management and keeping us safe."
All four Democrats have varying levels of experience with healthcare or hospital administration.
Nighswander – who will take on the winner of the primary between incumbent Sarah Lodge, the current hospital board chair and Tanya Marie Parus, a former EMT and co-founder of We the People Health and Wellness Clinic,a concierge medical clinic, with Victor Mellor– brings with her that public health background.
At-Large Seat 1 candidate Alan Jerome Sprintz – who will take on the winner of the primary between incumbent Sharon Wetzler DePeters and Dr. Tamzin Rosenwasser – served in senior administrative positions at Olympia Fields Osteopathic Medical Center, Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, and South Suburban Hospital.
At-Large Seat 2 candidate John A. Lutz – who will take on the winner of the primary between Kevin Cooper and Dr. Stephen Guffanti – is executive vice president of integrated delivery systems for the nonprofit Capital District Physicians Health Plan, and has more than 40 years of hospital, physician practice, health insurance and consulting experience.
Dr. George Davis would take on the winner of a primary between Pam Beitlich, the recently retired executive director of Women & Children’s Services at Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, and Mary Flynn O’Neil, executive director of America’s Future, Inc., a non-profit organization chaired by her brother Michael Flynn, a national security advisor for former President Donald Trump who last year criticized the hospital's response to the pandemic. He practiced family medicine in New York State for 37 years, specializing in end-of-life and palliative care.
A change from 2022 for the Democratic Party
The decision by the Democratic Party to field a full slate of candidates in the formerly low-profile races for a seat on the hospital board is a result of the 2022 election, in which the party eschewed fielding candidates in favor of urging Democrats to vote for Republican candidates aligned with the administration of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System.
Thirteen of the 14 candidates who vied for board seats in 2022 were Republican, the other was a Libertarian.
That resulted in a crowded Republican primary, in part because Tramm Hudson – who is retiring from the board this year – promoted an alternate slate of three candidates because he thought the hospital administration had too much control over the hospital board.
One of those three, Brad Baker, was successful in his bid for Northern District Seat 1.
But the primary jumble helped clear the way for a “health freedom slate” critical of Sarasota Memorial’s COVID-19 response to win three of those seats.
The most recent impact of those victories could be seen when Northern District Seat 2 board member Victor Rohe unsuccessfully tried to have Sarasota Memorial Hospital embrace the controversial medical philosophies of Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo.
Campaigning directly against ‘medical freedom’ candidates
So far Nighswander and the other Democrats have ignored Beitlich, Cooper, Lodge and Wetzer DePeters backed by the Citizens for Healthcare Excellence Action Fund and Voelker.
Instead they all squarely target the four candidates touting more “medical freedom.”
Flynn O’Neill and Parus are the last four members still aligned in what was to have been an all female “medical freedom” platform, while the two doctors, Guffanti and Rosenwasser, have aligned.
Forums planned prior to the Aug 20 primary
The elevated profile of the hospital board race prompted both Sarasota Tiger Bay and the League of Women Voters of Sarasota County to host candidate forums prior to the Aug. 9 primary.
The Sarasota Tiger Bay Club forum for At-Large Seat 1 and Seat 3 candidates is set for June 6, and the forum for At-Large Set 2 and Central Seat 1 candidates for June 20.
More information on those forums can be found at https://sarasotatigerbay.com.
The League of Women Voters of Sarasota County forum will be from 5:30 to 7 p.m. July 11 at Frances T. Bourne Jacaranda Library, 4143 Woodmere Park Boulevard, Venice.
The forum will be followed by a 30-minute meet-and-greet session. for those present.
Registration is required and will be available after June 14 at the League's website: https://www.lwvsrq.org
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Democrats field candidates in all four Sarasota hospital board races
