Sarasota County Public Hospital Board member Victor Rohe told the audience at the America First Southwest Florida Caucus meeting recently that the four seats up for election on the Aug. 20 primary ballot are key to flipping majority control of the board.
“The hospital board race is the only race in this county that can change the majority of the board or of the commission,” said Rohe, one of three “health freedom” candidates who won seats on the public hospital board in 2022, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Any other race, if you analyze it – all the other races, the majority will remain the same, regardless of how the election comes out. That’s not true in the hospital board.”
Like Rohe, the other eight members on the board are Republican, but most do not share Rohe’s view on how the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, anchored by its public hospital in Sarasota, should be governed.
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.