The employees of Valley View are proud, hardworking people who are now feeling betrayed by the very county commissioners they voted for to serve them.
Last summer, the employees had formed a successful team to support the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life. They were at that event when Commissioner Terry Tomassetti stumbled, forgetting the words to the proud and patriotic "Star Spangled Banner."
Did they turn their backs on Tomassetti because he forgot? No. But now Tomassetti is turning his back on them, leading the drive to sell Valley View. This move will have long-lasting, most likely irreversible, results that will affect taxpayers and that will greatly impact the livelihoods of the employees there.
We hope Tomassetti and the other commissioners will consider the taxpayers, the employees and those who need the nursing care they receive at Valley View rather than looking at the bottom line, the dollar sign.
The 35 percent of the county's labor force working at Valley View are the very people who elevated it to a four-star ranking by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as was noted in the Oct. 17 Mirror.
We ask that the commissioners and the community recognize the asset Valley View is to Blair County and vote to keep it a county nursing home.
Gretchen A. Jablonski, Altoona
