John Redding In His Own Words

The words of John Redding, a member of the Mendocino Coast Health Care District (MCHCD) Board of Directors for the last three years (plus):

April 2020: “Lately, there have been a number of things that seem to work on C-19. For example, Chloroquine, UV light, and today my friend ______ informs me of this. ‘Hospitals in New York are giving Covid-19 patients heartburn medicine to see if it helps fight the virus.’ These are invariably derided by the experts with academic pedigrees.”

January 2021: “Just about a year ago, we learned that referring to covid-19 as the ‘China virus’ was an unpardonable sin. It was said to stigmatize an entire group of people and would incite violence against them. Seems to me that those same scolds are the ones who today are stigmatizing 74 + million conservatives by calling them white supremacists and insurrectionists because ~ 1,000 people entered the Capitol Building, some of whom were left wing agitators.”

2021: “Instead of information, our County Supervisor is posting opinion pieces from the NYT [New York Times], the latest of which ridicules people who have doubts about the vaccine as ‘insane’. He probably thinks that of you as well, although being a germaphobe is what seems crazy to me.”

2021: “I am told by a good source that 120 employees have said they won’t get the jab. If you discount that by 2/3, 40 will be leaving. Here’s why in my opinion—people don’t liked to be forced to do something that makes no sense to them. Some people, gasp!, don’t think covid is a death sentence.”

2021: “I don’t know what you heard or read, but I hear that the Taliban will be going door to door in the U.S. at Fauci’s direction to give people vaccines.”

December 2021: “May I strongly suggest that for your own safety, please avoid contact with the vaccinated.”

December 2021: “His [Mendocino County Public Officer Dr. Coren] comments display a profound ignorance of how the world works... The fact that vaccines of all types are available and affordable is because of patient protection. This is not hard to understand. What is hard to understand is why the vaccinated are getting Covid but Dr. Coren nonetheless insists that vaccines are effective.”

December 2021: “Go to a hospital for any reason but infected with covid, the hospital gets a supplemental $13,000 payment from Uncle Sam. Go to the hospital with a cold, nada. Capice? lol” 

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These are John Redding on social media, writing directly or tangentially about the pandemic. Whether or not an elected member of a healthcare district board should be making public comments about matters better left to professionals in the medical world is perhaps up to readers’ individual judgment. 

Two of Redding’s board colleagues do work in healthcare (he does not). To the best of my knowledge, neither has posted on social media about the pandemic or any other medical issue.

If one ventures back to 2019, Redding can be found throwing his fellow MCHCD board members under the figurative bus a mere two and a half months into his tenure. “I’m sorry to have to say so early into this, but this board does not meet my standards of professionalism.”

In one five minute rant at the end of a Finance Committee meeting in March 2019, John Redding announced his presence with authority. “As a board member I have become increasingly frustrated by my own board… I had an epiphany last week after a couple of contentious meetings with my colleagues… Maybe affiliation is a good thing. It looks better to me now than it did before, not because the Adventists offer better, more professional management. I don’t think that’s the case. I think we have a great team here… but they would provide professional governance, which I don’t think we have here.”

Redding concluded, “I think the biggest problem facing the hospital right now is the board that I sit on.” 

Though Redding did eventually back the affiliation, he has been at odds with Adventist Health when their disapproval hit too close to home. In 2020, Redding proposed a plan for implementing a microgrid system that would provide additional energy in Fort Bragg. On the surface the idea appeared a good one. However, questions arose about a company Redding was a major player in benefiting financially from the plan. When the microgrid project did not get the backing he may have expected, Redding stated, “I am done with AH [Adventist Health] and will be much more wary of them.” 

In another part of that same statement, Redding also blamed a fellow board member. “One of my board colleagues told them [Adventist Health administration], falsely, that I would profit it.” A few weeks later, in a radio interview, Redding grudgingly admitted his company could profit from the microgrid project.

So, how did we get here? I first noticed John Redding when he started to attend finance committee meetings months before individuals filed candidacy paperwork in 2018. He appeared to ask at least semi-pertinent questions from time to time and represented himself as someone who had worked in the corporate world and as someone who might well understand the money woes the coast hospital was drowning in.

I voted for John Redding in November 2018. I also voted for Jessica Grinberg and Amy McColley. Those three are still with us as directors of the MCHCD Board. Grinberg served as vice-chair of that board for a year and as its chair for two years. McColley is in her first months as chair now.

In 2018, John Redding ran on a slate of candidates with Jessica Grinberg and Karen Arnold (Arnold ran for a two year term). All were elected along with McColley to join carry over Steve Lund on the MCHCD Board. At the January 2019 election of board officers, McColley nominated Arnold as chair. When she was voted in with only Redding dissenting, he threw his pen or pencil down on the table in front of him.

In the months to come, Redding repeatedly asked for an agenda item that effectively would have removed Arnold from her role as chair (until November 2020 the board leader was actually referred to as President). The item finally made it to a board meeting agenda in August. After some discussion from Redding as to his perception of the faults of Arnold as chair, he was the only board member to vote for her removal. 

As the time to file candidacy paperwork approached in the summer of 2020, Ms. Arnold balked at running for a another term on the MCHCD Board. As the deadline for filing drew even closer, one person asked Arnold, “Is there any chance you will reconsider and run for re-election?”

Karen Arnold replied, “Not with John on the board.”

Redding has recently been offered the opportunity to relinquish his seat on the MCHCD Board so that he can devote his full energy toward a run for Fifth District Supervisor. For those who hadn’t heard, yes, John Redding has taken out the necessary paperwork to do just that. 

It is not likely that Redding will let go of his MCHCD seat. He will most likely plow forward with both endeavors. It will be interesting to see if he fails in the supervisor’s race in June, will he file for a re-election run to the healthcare district board in November.

In the meantime, the MCHCD Board is still sorely lacking in support staff. Ideally, they could use someone to fill positions akin to executive director and/or office manager, so that the burden of  day to day operations of the district don’t fall only on the board of directors. Unlike the board members, who are not paid beyond limited health care coverage, these are prevailing wage job opportunities. 

By the time some of you read this, it is likely that a special MCHCD board meeting will have taken place on February 17. The main, if not sole, topic will be the situation at the coast’s only full-sized skilled nursing facility (SNF) Sherwood Oaks in Fort Bragg. Past chair Grinberg will act as facilitator on this topic. It is hoped that she will be a bearer of better tidings for the near future of that facility.