Danville Register & Bee
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Good days are ahead for Danville Regional Medical Center, especially with the hiring of CEO Jerel Humphrey, according to the new chairman of the hospital’s Board of Trustees.
“I feel very satisfied that Jerel Humphrey is the right person to be CEO at this point,” said Dr. Frank Campbell, who presided as chairman for the first time Monday. “He has already brought his family here and bought a house.”
Campbell, who replaces chairwoman Betty Jo Foster, is ready to put the problems surrounding the sale of Danville Regional to LifePoint Hospitals Inc. in 2005 behind the board and hopes the community will do the same.
“An important point is that LifePoint realizes they made numerous mistakes in the early months, and they are working hard to correct them,” Campbell said. “The local people should not see any difference in the hospital, regardless of who owns it. That is the goal of the board.
“If we can ever get to the point where people’s memories forget 2005, we’ll be the same as before the sale.”
Campbell said that every member of the board right now believes in the hospital and knows Danville needs it.
The function of the board members has not changed since the hospital was sold, he said.
“We deal with the same issues,” Campbell said. “Although the financial decisions are made by the CEO, we have access to all the numbers. Nothing has changed but the ownership.”
He said that the problems the Emergency Department faces in lengthy wait times isn’t a situation unique to the Danville hospital.
“The emergency room waiting times are bad all over,” Campbell said. “The truth is that our emergency room is not as good as some, but it is better than most.
“We are near the top in Virginia to get them in, get them processed and get them where they want to be.”
For the future, Campbell said the board seeks to restore confidence in the hospital.
“What we need to do is restore the pride and confidence of the people in this community in the hospital - it’s their hospital,” he said. “We also have to restore the confidence the medical community has in the hospital, especially the doctors.
“The board will continue to respect the doctors, and we want them to feel good about the hospital where they practice.
“But we’ve got to be consistent,” Campbell said. “The LifePoint executives and executives in the hospital can’t promise something and (not do it.)”
He has a personal stake in the success of the hospital.
Campbell and his wife, Janet, have chosen to retire in Danville, so he said he is committed to making the hospital the best it is.
Campbell explained what the Board of Trustees does:
• Hospital has to have one to be approved by the Joint Commission.
• Board hears reports about doctors; since the trustees
are the only people who can credential physicians to work
in the hospital. It deals with discipline problems.
• Sees the financial documents the same way as before.
• Every function the board had in 2005 before the sale, it still has today.
Members of the Board of Trustees:
• Dr. Frank R. Campbell, Chair
• Rev. Charles Breindel
• Timothy W. Brotherton, Ph.D., M.D.
• Michael A. Caplan, M.D.
• George B. Daniel
• Jerel T. Humphrey
• Janet Laughlin, Ph.D.
• Thomas M. Oates, Jr., M.D.
• Mukesh B. Patel, M.D.
• Larry S. Patterson
• Richard A. Smith, M.D.
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12 comments:
“If we can ever get to the point where people’s memories forget 2005, we’ll be the same as before the sale.”
Wow....do you think Campbell has spent much time walking the halls or talking to employees? This sounds like board room mentality talking.
I'm going to restate my point here:
RE: “If we can ever get to the point where people’s memories forget 2005, we’ll be the same as before the sale.”
Well, Dr. Campbell... if LifePoint would address the issues that have affected, and continue to affect the employees, maybe we and the community can get over the sale of the hospital. The occasional ice cream socials and sub sandwiches cannot bridge the enormous gap of trust and integrity that is lacking between the employees and DRMC execs as well as LPNT.
RE: “He (Humphrey) has already brought his family here and bought a house.”
Dr. Campbell - Whoop-di-doo! That is just real estate. The employees want to see a commitment to them and their concerns. Address the concerns of the employees and they will make DRMC the hospital of choice for the surrounding areas. Until then, you will continue to see Docs taking their patients elsewhere.
I'm going to restate my point: Frank Campbell must be smoking crack.
well well jerel let's see . where to begin:
Whoo-pee- real estate with your salary it's a buyers market or lifepoint will buy it back for you to move again.
You moved to Pinetag- the home of lot's of Danville's oppressors.
Your daughter at Tunstall hmmm
GW,( which would be her assigned school), not good enough ?
All single patient rooms ?
Then why the new move into the tower with 2 patients per room?
Outsource the lab ?
How about outsource the patients and just draw the insurance checks , I bet lifepoint would love that since lifepoint has made Danville their retirement fund.
Dr Campbell was GREAT for Averett but please , enjoy retirement , DRMC is not his forte'.
Fast tracking patients past the ER to floors is a BAD idea, the floor nurses are so overloaded that just the initial assessment may be hours away , even with the new patient staging idea it won't work . lifepoint has so badly damaged the reputation of DRMC that RN's and few travelers will even come .
God only knows what they've promised Duke since I hear Duke is sending students here maybe they will sell if enough pressure is put on them.
This area NEEDS a non-profit teaching facility not a money hungry pimp that prostitues services to the best insurance payers.
sorry to burst your bubble Jerel.
"RE: “He (Humphrey) has already brought his family here and bought a house.”
Dr. Campbell - Whoop-di-doo! That is just real estate. The employees want to see a commitment to them and their concerns."
Now hang on a second guys...one of the big points of criticism of past CEOs is that they have not moved into the community. If Humphrey has actually bought a house and moved his family here, that is two major steps more than the previous CEO did.
I'm just sayin'...
Dr. Campbell, how long have you been affiliated with the hospital and its board? It seems to me long enough to know better than to tell us to just 'move on'.
Here's a suggestion...taken from the Larry DePriest playbook...
Spend time walking the halls, meeting employees in every department (not just managers and department heads). Schedule some (or a lot of) employee forums with the CEO (and board chair?). Spend time listening and then discuss solutions.
For the community? First, drop the stupid healthcareneighbortoneighbor campaign. Yes we know who works at the hospital...we know they are our neighbors...we know some of them have been there a long time.
Hint to LPNT's PR department...our problem is not with them. We haven't lost trust in the employees...we've lost trust in the organization in which they work. It's very simple.
Wait a minute, I didn't charge anybody $20,000 for that little bit of insight...I'm in the wrong business.
We don't need to hear from the employees on TV...we need to see the CEO. Here's my proposal for a new TV spot...put the new CEO in front of the camera and the script would go something like this:
"Hi, I'm Jerel Humphrey, CEO of Danville Regional. I know that we have some things to improve on to regain your trust. I'm here to tell you that I am committed to that change. Please, feel free to call me at..."
Back in the day, you could put the hospital CEO in front of the Danville healthcare customer...they trusted him and knew him by name. How long has it been since the CEO was present at a community health fair or on the cover of the DRMC newsletter? Oh...wait...never mind.
LPNT has a long way to go to get us back to where we were in this community.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
-Wizard of Oz
Just tough for this crowd of bloggers to swallow the fact that there some that actually ARE working hard to improve things and get on down the road. Are we perfect? NO Are we going to be back to pre-2005 tomorrow? NO, but we're working damn harder than someone who has nothing better to do than piss and whine with this blog.
You just did. Welcome.
"NO, but we're working damn harder than someone who has nothing better to do than piss and whine with this blog."
Thanks for stopping by. Your input has been noted.
There has actually been some information shared on this blog that was never covered in the media or through one of the now numerous citizens/healthcare/leadership/council/commissions.
Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.
Just for the record Dr Frank Campbell is NOT A PHYSICIAN.
His is a Ph.D.
No argument just a clarification.
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