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Volunteer Directors, Take Note (Editorial)

2 min read

THIS IS AN OPINION

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There is an awful lot still to be sorted out in the untimely demise of Crittenden Regional Hospital, the topic of last week’s cover story by Senior Editor Mark Friedman, ominously headlined “The Death of a Hospital.” And there are forums for that — civil court and bankruptcy court, to be sure, and a criminal investigation has been requested by the Crittenden County Justice Commission.

An investigation is appropriate, given the suddenness of the closing in September and the allegations of mismanagement that have already been made.

We aren’t here to prejudge or even to second-guess. But the revelations made in a sworn affidavit by former CEO Gene Cashman, even taking into account that he would want to make himself look as good as possible, were shocking — especially the part indicating that the board of directors didn’t even have a good idea of how much revenue the hospital had or how it compared with expenses.

It may be that the volunteer directors of the nonprofit Crittenden Hospital Association were being deliberately misled. That’s something an investigation should determine. But the Crittenden case does serve as an excellent reminder to volunteer directors of nonprofit organizations everywhere, and especially the thousands who read Arkansas Business: When you accept the job of director, you have responsibilities.

A couple of years ago, we published an excellent interview with Robert “Bunny” Adcock, vice chairman and co-founder of Home BancShares Inc., who knows a thing or two about board service. And while there’s never a bad time to quote Bunny Adcock, this strikes us as a particularly good time: “You have a duty to be educated,” he said. “You have a duty to be prepared. … We have a duty to read and study the information. … A director has a duty to speak up.”

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