So what do you think that hospitals, rural hospitals can do to have that effective communication? and have a voice that lobbies for them?

We do have some organizations.

There's the National Rural Health Association that has done a tremendous job of being advocates for rural health, has brought a lot of voices to the table.

to help has unified rural America to identify those things that are the most pressing so that they can lobby against that.

We do have a day of lobbying like everybody else does in Washington that you can go and meet with your legislators.

We have for our state, the Kentucky Hospital Association, which is associated with the American Hospital Association.

The issue with that is that is all hospitals, not just rural or critical access hospitals.

of

Mm-hmm

... and so many that are coming on the future, uh, horizon.

I think that probably for me, uh, it is, has been to identify what is necessary and what is not necessary within the organization as we have, uh, rapid growth, but, um, problems with, uh, fiscal security, um, what's coming down the pipe, and how do you plan for that.

Um, making decisions that may not be the decisions you wanna make with your heart, but you know have to align the purpose of your organization-

Mm-hmm.

Uh, to try to prepare for what the contingencies are as they come, to know and evaluate, uh, your priorities, know what's important for you, know what, uh, areas you s- can succeed in and have the best, uh, ability to pursue.

Uh, you know, I'm former military, and we used to have, um, a tent in the hospital called an expectant tent in, when you were out in the field, and that's where they would send people that they did not have the resources to help.