Movement clinic needed

When Deaconess Hospital became a for-profit facility, we were promised that the service to the community would only get better.

They have turned over many health care problems to Sacred Heart hospital, but it was a great disservice to us all when they ordered closed the Movement Disorder Clinic with no provision made for an orderly transfer of patient care.

Their only offer to the clinic patients was to make available, for a fee, their medical records.

A couple of years ago my husband was believed to be suffering from Parkinson’s disease. This diagnosis was not confirmed until about a year later when he was referred to the Movement Disorder Clinic and the wonderful care of Dr. Anthony Santiago, the director.

After extensive testing, the doctor started him on a carefully monitored medications program, which has helped him greatly.

A neurological movement disorder clinic in Spokane is needed to serve the aging population of Eastern Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. It is our hope that this need will be met by our good neighbor Sacred Heart that has already stepped up to cover other functions abdicated by the Deaconess family.

Betty J. Barcus

Spokane