fb-pixelSale of gunmaker should aid public - The Boston Globe Skip to main content

Sale of gunmaker should aid public

JOAN VENNOCHI'S recent thoughtful column ("Fine line between morals and profit," Op-ed, Dec. 23) about Cerberus Capital Management, the owner of both the Freedom Group gun manufacturers and the for-profit hospital chain Steward Health Care System, raised many important issues that need to be at center stage in our thinking.

The not-for-profit mission of our legacy health care institutions has a single focus: to care for the sick with compassion and quality, even when our state and federal dollars become more constrained.

We are called on to do more with less. And we will, even when solutions aren't always apparent. For many of our institutions, we cannot call Wall Street to save our bottom lines.

Advertisement



We must work together, as a unified community, to prevent more atrocities, re-define our values and protect the spark of innocence in the eyes of our children. Let's confront what is so horribly wrong.

Vennochi's suggestion that Cerberus reinvest proceeds from selling the Freedom Group in our communities is spot on. Whether or not the company makes that commitment, let us rally to do the right thing for our children, on every street, in each town.

Christine Schuster
President and CEO
Emerson Hospital
Concord