The Sun Journal headline (Feb. 14) read, “Recession or not, some Maine hospitals haven’t skimped on pay for their top people.”

My suggestion: “Despite recession and millions in overdue state reimbursements, Maine hospitals continue to invest in their talent and facilities, and strive to provide better quality care to more people.”

The 3,100-plus employees of Central Maine Healthcare and its leaders (i.e., the CEO and the unfairly chastised CMH board) remain committed to the community and moving forward (e.g., the $30 million emergency room expansion).

Peter Chalke has invested decades into CMH and the community, spearheading significant efforts (e.g. the heart center, Dempsey center, Dempsey Challenge, LifeFlight). He has been, and should continue to be, paid as a person who gets important things done well.

“CMH was the only one to raise pay company-wide … without concession to the weak economy.”

Is it bad that nurses, housekeepers and, yes, our leaders, were financially rewarded for results and have money to spend in the community? That increase was the smallest in many years. Do people need to have pay reduced, or to get done, to make a concession? Should we pay just what we can get away with? During the recession, pay for health care personnel nationally has continued to rise, albeit, at a much slower rate.

Which surgeon would you want us to hire? The “good enough” one that is available if we skimp on pay, or the “good one?”

Matthew Brucker, Cape Elizabeth

Editor’s note: Matthew Brucker is a compensation manager for Central Maine Healthcare.