DEAR EDITOR:

Niki Frenchko’s April 5 editorial on the predatory strategies used by private equity firms to strip health care organizations such as Trumbull Memorial Hospital and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital of their assets and community value was outstanding.

She adeptly explained how these unfettered financial investment companies have caused staggering damage to communities such as ours. And she chastised our country’s political and regulatory forces for sitting on the sidelines for years, unmoved and uninterested by the devastation such wealth-building enterprises create.

Health care is complex, and public leaders seem hesitant to educate themselves and speak out. Throughout my entire health care career, I’ve never read such perceptive commentary by an industry ‘outsider’. It is hard to reconcile Niki’s wise assessment with her perplexing and unproductive behaviors within our community. On this issue, though, she deserves the public’s — and policymakers’ — careful attention.

JANET YANIGLIS

Liberty