POSTED: 2:24 pm PDT August 3, 2007, UPDATED: 2:26 pm PDT August 3, 2007

For the second week in a row, a Monterey County success story is the focus of our KSBW Editorial Board. While there are still many chapters to write, this developing success story belongs to Natividad Hospital and recent news that it's operating in the black. Three million dollars in the black! And according to hospital sources, that's a twenty million dollar turnaround! It's the first time in more than two decades hospital ledgers aren't stained in red.

Many deserve a round of applause for their work on this. To both Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital for contributing a combined eight-million dollars over the past two years and equally important, providing administrative expertise. To the consultants from the Huron company -- initially seen by some hospital staff as handmaidens of the Grim Reaper, now respected for helping successfully navigate Natividad through a financial valley of death. And to county supervisors who -- unlike their ham-handed handling of the county's General Plan process -- actually carved a path for success by showing the foresight and wisdom to let go of Natividad's business operations, set up an independent board, and allow a private firm to lead the turnaround.

We've certainly come a long way from those TV commercials where emergency lights flashed, sirens wailed, and the announcer told us "Natividad is closed," he then implored, sending more tax dollars was the only solution. Hmmm. We like the hospital's current path and their success to date. We hope Natividad continues on its long-road to full recovery and good health.