Here is a link to the Citizens Commission website...
http://www.danville-va.gov/page.asp?menuid=2820&sub1menuid=2824&sub2menuid=10761
In addition to contact information for each of the commission members, there is also a "Public Comment Form" and a "Comments" archive.
I encourage you to visit their site often and provide them with valuable information to assist them in their mission. Please encourage others you know who may not visit this blog to visit the Commission's site....it's very important that they get feedback from all levels in the Danville region (including employees, patients, and the general public).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
33 comments:
Thanks Sentinel Event,
I would encourage everyone to use this blog to vent, snipe, make digs, and occassionaly joke about the sadness of the situation. Use the forum at the commission website to state facts clearly and to the point, much as you would in a letter to the editor. Our credibility will skyrocket if we do so. A few wisecracks or personal attacks might muddy the water and cause the real points to be lost to those who need to hear them most. Just my 2 cents. Good luck folks, at least "something" is happening.
Steve
Totally agreed...even on this blog, we wander off onto other paths (i.e. religion), but the core group seems truly interested in sharing experiences and nuggets of information. Comments to the Commission need to be 'just the facts'.
Just posted a comment about the commission website under 3/13. But will repeat the remarks again. The web site is: www.citizenscommitteedrmc.com. The homepage contains the names and images of all committee members. Under each name is a link to each members individual email account which allows citizens the option to email a committee member directly. The homepage also provides a link to a public comment form page. Here the public can enter their comments into the database. They also have the option of entering their email address. The homepage also contains a link to a comments page where citizens can view comments that have already been posted. A PDF file link will be placed on the comments page representing each day. The file will contain all of the comments submitted to the site for that particular day. Be aware that the comments that are submitted to this site via the public comment form will not be posted to the comments page for viewing until the following business day. Citizens will be prompted with this message after they submit their remarks.
Seven citizens attended the Citizens Commission meeting on Tuesday. Two of those individuals were Dr. Gary Miller and Councilman Sherman Saunders. Citizens were given the opportunity to voice any concerns regarding the hospital at the end of the meeting. Don't know if this will always be an option when the committee meets. Dr. Miller did an excellent job of expressing his frustrations with the current hospital situation. It is not only the doctors but the nurses, technicians, cleaning staff, etc. that can best present what are the ongoing problems at the hospital. Hopefully they will email the Citizens Commission members. Every citizen in Danville and the surrounding area needs to make their voice heard and inform the commission members. The next meeting wil take place on Thursday (3/15) at 5:15 pm in the Municipal Bldg./4th floor. The committe members are currently working on developing a citizen survey as well as the dates/locations for the public forums.
To those of you who get the old-fashioned paper version of the Register & Bee, has there been any coverage of either the Citizens Commission or of the latest accreditation status in this week's papers?
Also, there have been no new editorials or letters to the editor posted to the R&B site since Mar 7. What's up with that?
Can anyone help me?
Is the DRMC Heart Center still connected to Duke--or not? DRMC has no straight answers, but they have removed the references on their website. When you ask, they answer by saying that a Duke cardio-vascular surgeon still does some surgery here. That's hugely different from Duke affiliating itself with our heart center,
If you call Duke, they say they have no further connection with the DRMC Heart Center, though the CV surgeon still goes there. They recommend the Heart Center in Roxboro that they ARE affiliated with. So what's going on?
How can one make an informed decision without knowing an answer to this question?
"Can anyone help me?"
I took the liberty of copying your post and forwarding an email to each of the members of the Citizens Commission. Maybe they will ask that very same question tomorrow night.
The only affiliation DRMC has with Duke now, is to receive a relief surgeon for vacation coverage for the current Danville CT surgeon. LPNT severed the other pre-existing contract related to nursing, training etc. shortly after assuming their reign.
Perhaps tomorrow evening Mr. Doloresco can also give an honest answer to the Citizens Comission regarding the hospital's accreditation status. When the question was posed last evening he could have told the truth. The hospital board and the medical executive committee were notified yesterday that the hospital had received a preliminary denial of accreditation. Notice was also being given to the physicians in the community as well. It's unbelievable that the newspaper has not reported on the accreditation status or the information concerning the Citizens Commission web site. It might behoove them to always have a reporter present at the meetings.
In tomorrow's Register & Bee...just in time for the Citizens Commission meeting:
"Hospital gets preliminary accreditation denial
from staff reports
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Danville Regional Medical Center gets a preliminary denial of accreditation from commission that rates hospitals.
Danville Regional needs to make a number of improvements to get this rating returned.
Read Thursday's Danville Register and Bee for the full story."
On WAKG's website:
(DANVILLE) -- DANVILLE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER (DRMC) has received a preliminary denial of accreditation from the agency that evaluates 15, 000 healthcare organizations and programs across the country every three years. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) evaluated DRMC four weeks ago. Their website states that a denial of accreditation is " . . . usually determined by the number of not compliant standards that exceed established thresholds at the time of survey." The decision is subject to appeal and hospital CEO Art Doloresco says they have already begun the process of addressing the requirements for improvements identified in the report. He also says, "(DRMC) is accredited today and we have every intention to remain accredited." This means the hospital will continue to participate in Medicare and other insurance programs.
In a letter to employees prior to the review, Doloresco said, "It is not a stretch to say that the lifeblood of this community is dependent upon Danville Regional maintaining Joint Commission accreditation . . . (which) is a key to the continued success of one of the largest employers in the region, and the place where a majority of our citizens come to receive healthcare."
** News Flash **
The faithful and skilled employees who guided DRMC successfully through the the last few JCAHO's is no longer with the hospital. Seems she went in the now infamous "pool" that LifePoint put "redundant" staff in when they took over. Her replacement then ended up in the pool also.
Sooooooo with the experienced and talented no longer maintaining credentials etc. and being proactive with JCAHO requirements we failed. Well imagine that, the folks in "dumbville" had a plan that worked better than LifePoints.
I wonder if the added cost of becoming compliant will be greater than or less than what she was being paid?
The above post is so very true! Lfpt has bean counters running a medical facility, they should only be there to work on budget matters. They have stockholders waiting for dividends, not reinvesting profits for the good of the facility. And I can't help but think of how many times Mr. Art answered City Council with"...we will prove our worth when we pass our SURPRISE inspection." The sad thing is that it was a SURPRISE. Dixie Doss
"...we will prove our worth when we pass our SURPRISE inspection."
So the inspection instead proved LifePoint's worthlessness?
Arrogant, baseless words come back to bite.
yeh yeh yeh yeh............give it a rest
I KNOW ONE OF THE GUYS THAT SOLD THE HOSPITAL. HE STATED THAT IT IS HORRIBLE WHAT LIFEPOINT HAS DONE. I ASKED HIM IF THE GUYS WHO SOLD THE HOSPITAL ARE GOING TO HELP GET US OUT OF THIS MESS. HE SAID AS FAR AS HE KNOWS NOBODY HAS EVER ASKED THEM. I THINK SOMEBODY LIKE THE NEW COMMISSION NEEDS TO ASK THEM TO HELP. ITS GOING TAKE MONEY TO GET RID OF LIFEPOINT AND THEY STILL HAVE THE $200 MILLION DOLLARS.
Give it a rest? Where are you from? Accredited for at least the last 12 years and in less than 2 LPT has managed to "cut" back for profits enough that now the payor base is in jeopardy. Doesn't take a lot of brains to figure out that math. Way to pump up the team and get them behind the new owner and coach. Piss poor decisions = piss poor results.
Have Mercy! Could ALLCAPS now be on our side..up until now she has always said we should give the for profit guys a chance.
As far as the "boys" go, no one "asked" them to sell the hospital with what appears to be limited research, why should someone have to ask them to fix their error? One true test of a man is someone who can say "I was wrong, now lets fix that"
I find it fascinating the gossip and lack of facts by so many anonymous bloggers. DRMC did not severe the Duke Heart Program. It was a priority to renogotiate the deal and in fact was executed before LPNT fired the first guy dumb enough to be their CEO.
Second the boys at the bank specifically dr br ashby and ben davenport repeatedly are quoted as saying the inmates are running loose at the asylum. seems they were unable to run the place and smart enough to find someone ignorant enough tobe their fall guy. How sad they sold their community down the river.
Ms. ALLCAPS must live in another world. Somehow, she lives in blessed ignorance of the power of greed and hubris. For the people who sold us down the river to admit they were wrong is not in the realm of the possible. It is a terrible mistake to think that they care about anything or anyone other than themselves and their own pleasures.
That said, the new Commission should go through the motions of calling upon them anyway--just to cover that base.
Come on, you need to lay off poor old Ashby. He's a victim in this. The bank boys have tricked him and used him and abused him from start to finish. All he wants out of life is to be one of the Bank Boys, and they know to keep him just barely out of that inner circle so he keeps on kissing their backsides.
Of course Ashby is a terrible person as a manager, but please remember that he is just a pawn for the real creeps who have brought down our hospital.
The poster who put Dr. Ashby
and Ben Davenport should pause to reflect on the fabulous contributions Ben has made to this community. Nobody is perfect, but you will find his name on whole buildings at schools in the area. Has anyone ever seen Ashby's name up in lights. These guys are totally different.
"HE SAID AS FAR AS HE KNOWS NOBODY HAS EVER ASKED THEM."
ALLCAPS,
You seem to have an inside track to one of the gang, so can you lead this approach? Maybe through your efforts and those through "official" channels like the Commission, these folks can be brought back into this as part of the solution.
Ben's name is on this hospital right now. It's a has-ben hospital.
Come on folks...the personal attacks don't help our cause. If anything, they weaken our credibility.
"I find it fascinating the gossip and lack of facts by so many anonymous bloggers. DRMC did not severe the Duke Heart Program. It was a priority to renogotiate the deal and in fact was executed before LPNT fired the first guy dumb enough to be their CEO.
Second the boys at the bank specifically dr br ashby and ben davenport repeatedly are quoted as saying the inmates are running loose at the asylum. seems they were unable to run the place and smart enough to find someone ignorant enough tobe their fall guy."
Two points to the above:
1) I have to assume "failure to renegotiate" = severing the relationship. Please explain the difference.
2) At least the inmates were smart enough to maintain accredidation and turn enough profit to keep the asylum fully staffed and expanding.
I also noted YOU posted anonymously.
Also posted on the Citizens Committe website:
Committee Members, I am sure a lot of what you will hear will seem like people on a witch hunt. I myself have researched a lot of LifePoints history and posted items about some of their other hospitals. Please remember their past actions will be indicative of their future actions. We once thought Danville was an anomoly for them, (we didn't fit their mold). Now I'm not so sure. If you will look into how things happened in Palo Verde and Needles among others you will see a disturbing trend. Nurses leaving, key staff cuts, physicians seeking priveleges at other hospitals, physicians leaving, all occured at those hospitals in a very similar fashion to what is happening here. Needles got so bad they didn't even have an anesthesiologist. They are known for abandoning hospitals that can't be made profitable, regardless of what that does to the community. It wouldn't even surprise me at this point to see them move some of our services to Martinsville where they are more firmly entrenched, they have done that in the past too. Those of us passionate about saving DRMC are anxious to see what their next move will be. Since they are so secretive about their plans, studying their history is one way to predict that. Thank you for what you are doing. Hopefully your work will keep us from being like one of the aforementioned communities and scrambling at the last minute to keep our hospital open.
Your point about Danville and Duke
and the Heart program is not correct Duke Cancelled the program just a few months after Lifepoint took over. They knew.
How can we (the employees) make factual comments to the commission if Art is at the meetings?
I believe it's called "The First Amendment" and a Right to Work Law.
The Citizen Committee may also want to keep a civil rights lawyer
handy cause if Lifepoint holds true to form they will fire people and/or manipulate them to fire them for their opinion or more likely than not,for the employees Statements of facts.Research Lifepoint like the fab five should have done before selling something that they DID NOT OWN.Get them out of town as fast as possible it is a road to disaster.
Just a note about the First Amendment and Right to Work: The First Amendment protects citizens from the government only. It will NOT protect someone who bashes their employer AT ALL. This is not a civil rights issue. Right to work does not permit an employee to “bash” their employer and expect to keep their jobs. Lifepoint doesn’t owe you anything … and they know it!
The only potential I see for protection would be in the whistle-blower laws … but I would imagine that this would have to involve the reporting of a crime of some sort.
While I fully support the citizen’s commission, you have to understand that it really has no power other than reporting back to the council. City Council has no power over the Hospital (and didn’t prior to the sale). Danville Regional Medical Center is owned by Lifepoint and is beholden ONLY to its stockholders. It reports ONLY to its stockholders.
I totally agree that Lifepoint should move on, and that the “five” should turn over the funds to a group of citizens who care about the healthcare needs of our community. However, if you are an employee of the hospital you have to remember the saying about biting the hand that feeds you.
That said, keep up the outstanding work … just be careful.
"However, if you are an employee of the hospital you have to remember the saying about biting the hand that feeds you."
Sad, but true.
At least there are other hospitals within a pretty easy commuting distance. Believe me, I'm starting to watch their want ads.
The post above stated "City Council has no power over the Hospital"
If you follow the events that are playing out in Needles, one section of a story stood out in my mind. This community realized what was happening to its ONLY hospital (sound familiar) and decided that action had to be taken to ensure continuity and quality of care. Here's the part that shows me the elected officials understood their role and responsibility to their constituents (those are the people who voted for them and put them in office for anyone who doesn't know)....this is from a Mar 14 article in the San Bernadino newspaper:
"But given that it is the only hospital in the eastern part of the county, the facility deserved help even if it's a money loser, said Needles City Manager Richard Rowe.
"As we see it, the county has a different mission than that of a for-profit corporation," he said.
[supervisor] Mitzelfelt said he hoped that rising population and income in the hospital's service area would ultimately make the hospital profitable. Even if that's not the case, he said, it still fell upon the county to make sure that Needles has the medical care "that their residents deserve."
His colleagues appeared to agree.
'While we've had the luxury of not having to meet these needs for some time, that doesn't mean we don't have an obligation to do so," said 3rd District Supervisor Dennis Hansberger.'"
"Power over the hospital" and reponsibility for healthecare are not the same thing. The council can't really tell Lifepoint how to conduct business. That leaves them with options to try to get Lifepoint to sell to the city (where are we going to get the money ... they have no power over the "five" either) or try to negotiate some other change of ownership.
Let's hope they are successfull in helping along a change.
Post a Comment