My opinion is that the decision to lay off about 25 employees (at Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center) were made by the wrong upper management personnel that the new CEO entrusted to make these very decisions in which affected the livelihood of up to 25 employees and the patients that were under their care. These employees were blindsided. Most employees have given several years of hard work and dedication to this facility and find out the fate of their livelihood no inclination other than "it could be them" since it was supposedly leaked out and published in a story in the Watertown Daily Times the previous Saturday. I understand the CEO was hired to implement changes and try to get the facility back on track financially, but stating that these changes will not affect the patient care is an unacceptable statement. It is difficult for me to understand how the time, dedication, sacrifices, trust, and care that these employees have given over those years is just dismissed by an individual that has been associated with the facility for less than a year and his so-called team. In the end, the patients from the surrounding community will be the individuals/families who will suffer. I am not an employee of the facility but do have interest in the direct and surrounding communities well being.