I and other leaders of Southeast Raleigh were invited to a luncheon today at WakeMed’s Heart Center with CEO Dr. Bill Atkinson. We were given a brief presentation on the New Bern Avenue Corridor makeover to start with before jumping into the heart (no pun intended) of the matter: WakeMed’s proposed takeover of Rex Hospital.

We were given a lot of facts and figures (including a hefty binder) and I’m still sorting through it all, but it was only this evening did I really hit upon the underlying point they were trying to make: this is a battle for WakeMed’s very survival.

I hadn’t gotten that from news stories I’ve read and I had to really sift through what we were told today to get to this understanding, but that’s how it seems to me.

WakeMed is a valued member of my community. Both of our kids were born there and our oldest owes her life to the outstanding care she received as a preemie. It’s hard for me to overlook all of this. I think WakeMed has brought up some pretty good points which deserve to be looked into.