Sarasota Hospital Board At Large Seat 1: Audie Elizabeth Bock

Name: Audie Elizabeth Bock

Age: Senior 

Family: None in Florida

Bio: Lived and studied in Berkeley, Boston, Paris and Tokyo. Harvard-educated professor at major universities in the U.S. and abroad. Directed and served on boards of numerous nonprofits. Elected state and local offices California and Florida, currently completing two-year term on Sarasota Soil & Water Conservation District.

Why are you running for office? 

Sarasota Memorial Hospital, one of the nation’s top 100, is part of the reason I chose to settle in Sarasota. I am a former — and possibly future — patient at SMH and a taxpayer with a strong interest in helping it continue to be a premier medical system for the pride and safety of all Sarasota County. 

What are three priorities you hope to accomplish, if elected?

1. I have worked on disaster preparedness and public safety both as a state legislator and as a county elected official on both Fire Protection and Conservation Districts. While Sarasota County copes simultaneously with COVID-19 and hurricane season, the city of Venice and the county have failed to provide financing for the originally planned hurricane shelter at the new SMH Venice, where most of the population lives. This is highest priority because Venice has no qualified shelters, and existing shelters can accommodate only half as many people under COVID-19 guidelines.
2. Second priority is speedy resumption of elective procedures, which generate needed revenue.
3. Third priority is on-schedule completion of SMH Venice hospital and the Cancer Institute at the downtown Sarasota location.

To improve operations, what should be done differently?

Although the oversight conducted by the current board and management is superior to most hospital systems, there might be economies and expansions that can be planned once the COVID-19 disruption is over. Telemedicine and increasing volunteer participation might be part of this. 

What skill set will you bring to the board?

The current board displays an excellent variety of skills, but perhaps my elective office and various kinds of nonprofit board experience can be helpful. I can also compare my experience of totally different medical systems from having lived and worked overseas. Ours is better.

SMH reported $193 million in uncollected/bad debts last fiscal year. Your reaction?

The figures reported online by SMH, which has a very transparent governing practice as a public hospital system, show significantly less: $34.32 million. This is nevertheless an unhealthy issue for the successful operation of SMH, so analysis and collection should be pursued.

New hospital in Venice to open 2021; should SMH have a hospital in North Port?

The location of the Venice SMH at the Laurel Road exit from Interstate 75, is 15 miles—15 minutes on I-75 and River Road—from downtown North Port. This is less time than it takes to get from northeast Sarasota County to downtown Sarasota SMH. It will serve well for the near future, but because North Port is the largest and fastest-growing city in Sarasota County and 16th in the state, it will probably soon need more than the SMH ER/Healthcare Center it now has.