Four candidates are seeking three spots on the South Lyon County Hospital District board of directors.
Scott Huntley, who moved to the Mason Valley right after college in 1991, would like to see enhanced care at the hospital so patients don't have to go outside the area for tests and other health-care needs.
He also said increased care levels at the South Lyon Medical Center would cut the need for expensive transporting of patients to Carson City or Reno.
Huntley, a firefighter, also said the hospital board needs to address what has become a national issue - cutbacks in Medicare reimbursement that he said has reached crisis levels.
"Individuals need to be well aware that there is a national need and a crisis as far as reimbursement," he said. "I feel that a lot of folks don't understand the national crisis we're facing."
Sandra Jurey, an incumbent who has been on the board for just a month, having been appointed to fill a term, said making the tax - that is set to expire in 2014 -permanent is important to her.
"We will lose 25 cents per person," she said. "We're a county hospital; we treat everyone, including people who can't afford to pay. All these other hospitals are private now and there's a lot of people who don't get the care they need. We have to have that money."
Jurey, co-owner of Jurey Bookbinding Services, who has lived in Nevada for 46 years, has been on and off the board since 1988. She said the hospital needs to improve and can't do it if funding sources diminish.
She noted that the majority of new residents are retired, and to attract younger people, the area needs more hospital services.
"We are a drawing card," she said, "but we can't be if we don't have the backing of the community and the financial resources."
Deborah Giomi, another incumbent, said the board has been working to improve the condition of the medical center.
"It's an old building, and it has many needs," she said.
Giomi, who with her husband, Joe, owns the Ace Hardware store in Yerington, plans to continue what she has been working on; improving the hospital step-by-step.
She added that she is running mainly because of a lack of interest on the board.
"Nobody else wants to," she said. "There's no interest in my board."
Beverly Hanson, owner of Beverly Hanson Insurance Inc., has been on the board for 12 years, and said she is running again because health care is important to the area's many retirees.
• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111, ext. 351.