Dear Employees, Medical Staff, and Friends of Civista,

Several weeks ago, there was concern regarding Civista’s ability to meet financial targets related to our bond covenants. I am pleased to inform you that, as an organization, we made the necessary efforts and in fact have exceeded those targets. Although the Charles County Board of Commissioners had been approached by Civista in preliminary discussions about a loan to help meet the financial targets, that loan was not necessary, as we accomplished our financial goals on our own. This was achieved through the teamwork and hard work of the Civista staff. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to express my appreciation to all of you who helped us meet our December 31st financial goals.

Despite this good news, we continue to experience many challenges. As we enter 2009, we are acutely aware of the general economic climate and its impact on our ability to deliver quality healthcare to our community. Although people continue to need healthcare, more of them are unable to pay for that care. Rising unemployment means more citizens are without insurance; others have some insurance but not enough to cover all of their care or with deductibles and co-pays they cannot meet. The need for care does not diminish as people’s ability to pay for it does. As the county’s only hospital, we will continue to provide necessary care to all who require it.

Of course, at the same time, expenses continue to increase and we will all be challenged in the coming months to increase our efforts to control expense so that we are able to continue our mission Additionally, we need to recommit ourselves to service excellence and achievement of key clinical quality benchmarks.

Without a doubt the coming year poses challenges to all of us here at Civista as we strive to meet our mission and achieve our vision for healthcare provision to our community. I am confident that, as a team, we will meet those challenges and Civista will thrive!

Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2009,

Sincerely,

Christine Stefanides, FACHE
President & Chief Executive Officer
Civista Health, Inc.