State of the Hospital-Danville Regional Medical Center: Amen brother.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Amen brother.

I go out of town for medical care
To the editor:
I have been following this LifePoint fiasco since it bought Danville Regional Medical Center. I always thought we had a very good hospital. Unfortunately, I don’t think that now. I read the letter that Coy Harville wrote and I agree 100 percent.
I think if these good ole’ boys were smart, they would hire Harville as their CEO. He seems to recognize that Danville has a problem with LifePoint. According to the Danville Region Web Blog, their current CEO is the fourth in six months. Apparently, there have been several changes in senior management. The chief operating officer is the third since the acquisition and chief finance officer is the second.Why can’t LifePoint keep its senior management?
But that is only just a small problem with LifePoint. There are many more cumbersome problems affecting the hospital, and the nurses and staff are paying for most of them. There is strong discontent running rampant at Danville Regional, and I think our community leaders need to be aware of it. Where are our community leaders? This problem has been boiling over since LifePoint took the hospital and I think Mayor Wayne Williams and Danville City Council needs to look into it. The defeatist way the nurses and staff operate is crippling not only the hospital, but the community as a whole. I think there is more work heaped on the nurses and proper patient care is out the window. From what I have heard, Most of the staff work with an antiquated system that went out in the 1980s and they have received more hours, smaller staffs, regression in equipment and caveman technology.
It is an absolute shame what LifePoint has done to our hospital. We have lost good doctors, nurses and quality care. What Danville has is a CEO with a bigger paycheck. It looks like LifePoint is all about the money and not the needs of the community.
This community needs a good quality hospital like it used to have. It does not need a corporation that disregards the care of its employees or its community. It is unfortunate now that if I want quality care, I need to go out of town.

MICHAEL from Danville

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Letter to Employees, February 7, 2007

Dear DRMC Associates, Physicians and Volunteers: Thank you for all your efforts to provide healthcare to the citizens of the Dan River Region. Providing healthcare, saving lives, and improving the quality of the lives of our friends, family and neighbors is a high calling, and you are answering that call each and every day. Delivering on the high expectations of those we serve is a tremendous responsibility, shared by everyone – physicians, nurses, technical and support staff, volunteers, managers and administration. It’s no secret that to be successful in meeting this responsibility, we must work together. We have seen in our Emergency Department the good things that can happen when staff, physicians and management work together effectively. The reduction in wait times and fewer patients leaving without treatment are ample proof. You should all be proud of this accomplishment. It is our hope that all of us on the hospital team, and indeed the entire community, can come together around Danville Regional and make it a source of genuine pride and positive economic activity for this area. Coming together is way overdue. When Mr. Bill Carpenter, CEO of LifePoint and three other corporate officers were in our hospital in January, they openly apologized for mistakes made at the onset of the hospital sale. Knowing what they know at this point in time, they would have definitely done things differently. LifePoint has committed the support and resources needed to make DRMC a hospital of which we all can be proud. In addition, we, as leaders in different areas of the hospital, commit our time and energy to that same goal. The important thing to remember is that on one person or small group can make this hospital successful. It will take the support and commitment of every single one of us who are connected to DRMC in any way. We need your help to make this happen. Going forward won’t be easy. Any organization of this size and complexity has issues. But it is time to move on, and move ahead. Constructive suggestions are always OK, and in fact welcomed, because there is almost always more than one “right way” to accomplish goals. Bitter, destructive criticism isn’t OK. There’s a reason they call it “holding grudges,” because the only person who feels bad is the one holding them. It’s time for us to let these go. Good things can happen if we channel our energies on positive activities. Never has this been more important than now. During 2006 and 2007 $26 million is being invested to create some good things – the build out of the 5th and 6th floors, the new radiation/oncology equipment, addition of PACS and a new state of the art CT machine. These improvements, coupled with your caring approach, will provide better, more complete care for our patients, close to home. Recent patient satisfaction scores have improved, and will continue to improve as long as we focus our efforts on providing the best care for our patients and support for each other. We also fully recognize the importance of improving staff and physician satisfaction, and the positive impact this will have on the patients we serve. We also have a big challenge that will require everyone’s best – our Joint Commission accreditation review, which will occur sometime in the next couple of months. When you think about it, it is not a stretch to say that the lifeblood of this community is dependent upon Danville Regional maintaining Joint Commission accreditation. Joint Commission accreditation is a key to the continued success of one of the largest employers in the region, and the place where the majority of our citizens come to receive healthcare. An accredited hospital makes the community more attractive for residents who already are here, and also for those people and their employers who are looking for a good place to live, work, play and invest. It also directly impacts the livelihood of all associates and physicians. We need to place a tremendous amount of importance and urgency around preparing for Joint Commission, because accreditation is vital to all of us. While some might think loss of accreditation hurts LifePoint, the real losers are those of us who live and work in this community. We must join together to protect one of our most valuable community assets. Our region’s economic recovery depends on it. So we go back to our original points: we are fortunate to be in a position to serve others, which is a tremendous responsibility we accept every day. All of us want to make this a better place to work, and a better place for our neighbors to receive treatment. We are committed to supporting you and know that together we will make DRMC the very best it can be. We appreciate each of you. Sincerely, Dr. Betty Jo Foster Chairman, DRMC Advisory Board Arthur M. Doloresco President/ CEO Richard A. Smith, M.D. Chief of Staff

State of the Hospital-Danville Regional Medical Center

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Amen brother.

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Letter to Employees, February 7, 2007