Danville Register & Bee
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Art Doloresco said he wanted to lead the Danville Regional Medical Center into the future on his first day as the hospital’s CEO. That future lasted less than a year.
On Wednesday, he announced his resignation, saying that he will rejoin his family in Arizona in the next few weeks.
“When I came to Danville almost a year ago, I intended to relocate my family,” Doloresco said in a written statement issued late Wednesday afternoon. “Since then, I have changed my mind and decided not to move to Danville.
“The CEO of the medical center should live with his family in the area, so it is appropriate that I leave.”
Doloresco arrived in Danville on July 20, 2006, from Arizona to begin work as the third chief executive to work at Danville Regional since LifePoint Hospitals purchased the hospital in July 2005.
Now, LifePoint will
begin the process to hire a successor to Doloresco.
“We will work closely with the board of trustees and leadership of the medical staff in the selection of the new CEO,” said Jess Judy, president of the Gateway Division of LifePoint, in a written statement.
Doloresco will remain in charge while here for a few more weeks. When he leaves, Ruth McDaniel, the hospital’s interim chief nursing officer, will assume Doloresco’s responsibilities, until the position is filled.
Doloresco will leave, having spent considerable time in recent months dealing with city government. He was called before council on Feb. 6 to answer questions about a number of issues including emergency room wait times. His answers left some city council members unsatisfied.
One week later, Mayor Wayne Williams began setting up a citizen’s commission to study the hospital. The commission was tasked with examining exactly what lay behind people’s complaints surrounding the hospital.
The commission’s health care consultant said on June 12 that he felt the hospital’s biggest problem was a lack of trust between the community and hospital management.
The news came the same week as when the Joint Commission confirmed that it had given Danville Regional a “preliminary denial of accreditation.” The hospital is currently the only Virginia hospital not to be fully accredited by the commission.
Doloresco replaced Michael Boggs, who served in an interim capacity as the hospital’s CEO from March 2006 to July 20, 2006.
The first CEO under LifePoint was Tod Lambert, who headed the hospital’s operations from August 2005 to March 2006.
Lambert is best known for creating a reassignment pool where 100 hospital employees were given the chance to take a new job at Danville Regional or leave the hospital all together. This policy and other leadership concerns drew criticism from the Danville City Council.
“There has never been a hospital sold that was not an earthquake, a seismic event,” Lambert said when he responded to those concerns in December 2005. “It will pass.”
Lambert appeared before council in February 2006 and admitted that some mistakes had been made regarding the reassignment pool and LifePoint’s purchase of the hospital. He left the CEO’s office one month later, citing a desire to move back to Tennessee so that he could spend more time with his wife and newly adopted daughter.
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26 comments:
"“The word ‘morale’ is such a nebulous thing and it’s hard to characterize that,” McDaniel said"
Okay, McDaniel...you are now the big dog. We would highly recommend trying to get a handle on that nebulous morale concept as it relates to employees, community leaders and...most importantly...COMMERCIALLY INSURED PATIENTS who are going to continue taking their $$$ out of town.
"“There has never been a hospital sold that was not an earthquake, a seismic event,” Lambert said when he responded to those concerns in December 2005. “It will pass.”"
Just relax y'all...it'll all be over soon. Trust us.
Not.
The parade of hell marches on.
"“There has never been a hospital sold that was not an earthquake, a seismic event,”
Caused by a bunch of elephant bullies thundering through the halls trampling all that was good and leaving it a jumbled mess.
Now is the time to ENFORCE change.
We CAN make it happen. Band together and unite as one voice and demand excellent, safe, competent care for your patients. Safer staffing for all=better patient outcomes. Look at the research, it is there.
Communication from the higher ups is the first and foremost thing that needs to be addressed. That would help some of the trust issues. Let the community know what is going on, instead of after the fact.
As far as the nurses, the nurses that work there are some of the best nurses around. They have no voice d/t they have no one in the ranks to support them. The nurses need someone who is going to go to the mat for them. They need that support.
For Art I only saw him a couple of times, but when Larry DePriest was there he was out on the floors making himself available and just seeing what was going on. Even on third shift he would make sure everything was being done. On the holidays when he could have been with his family he would come around with refreshments for the staff when they couldn't be with their families.
As far as the purchase of the hospital, it could have been handled a different way. Letting the community know up front the possibility of the sale and having some input. That may have put Lifepoint in a better eye. But who is to say. COMMUNICATION is stongly needed with they higher ups, physicians, nurses and the community. Because in the end the patient and the family comes first. You may be that patient one day.
While the sale of DRMC could have been a good thing, a black cloud continues to hang over the community. The secrecy of the sale by Ashby/"boys at the bank" and their lack of communication along with missteps/mistakes made by LifePoint seem to have doomed a positive outcome. Any new CEO faces a less than welcome reception in large part due to the public's increasing frustration over the downward spiral of DRMC.
The fate of DRMC may have been sealed when Martinsville's Harvest Foundation (foundation formed when Martinsville Memorial Hospital was sold) announced it would give $50 millon to help finance a public university in Henry Co. and challenged the state govt. to match those funds. It's no secret that community leaders feel that Southside Virginia is lacking in opportunities for higher education. Could it be that Ashby, "boys at the bank", and Linwood Wright were afraid that state funds would be diverted away from their "pet project" known as the Institute. Did they push for the sale of the hospital so they too would have money to "play with" and fund their "interests"? Hmmm. . .sell DRMC, form a foundation, appoint themselves to the foundation's board of directors, and decide where the money goes. Their only disappointment was that American National wasn't allowed to oversee the money. When will the story end?
The Citizens Commission meets tonight to finalize their report that will be presented to Danville City Council. While the consultant was hired to serve as a mediator in regard to the community/LifePoint situation and offer constructive advice, it will be interesting to hear what the Citizens Commission recommends. Only time will tell if the public's "high level of discord" with LifePoint will lessen. LifePoint must realize that the new CEO will need superman-like abilities to turn the current hospital situation around.
To the poster above...very well put.
As for the sale being due to a little jealousy of those to our west....ya think???
I'm glad I was there during the DePriest days...we really had no idea how good we had it.
Where is the "CITY LEADERSHIP"????
The leaders sold off the hospital and are hoarding the ill gotten gains. Only the Mayor is taking a stand but none of the boys at the bank are sounding a peep. No eggs thrown at Ashby's house yet but as the titular figurehead he should get a lot more grief than he has to date. There are no leaders here. Only hucksters who sell off what doesn't belong to them and them remain silently on the sidelines. SHAME SHAME SHAME
I miss the good 'ol rail ridings! Send the son of a guns packin and rebuild our hospital. That includes the sorry few given the "right" to sell off the place. Lets see how many of them are coming here for medical care. Why are they silent??? Unfortunately whoever buys DRMC from Knifepoint will be a bottom feeder who will sell off anything of value and then leave the town. It is unrealistic to expect DRMC to care for you in an emergency if it cannot care for you for elective care. Emergencies cost money, usually funded by elective procedures. If you scare away the elective people, the emergencies are not going to have a chance. So.. when you have your stroke or heart attack, and Greensboro is too far away, and time is brain or heart, sorry because you did not stay in town for your "elective" care. You have 60 minutes to save your brain or heart. I would not want to count on Moses Cone. So don't give up, make DRMC the place to go!
mcdaniels needs to start listening to people...not just "her people" but the one's who are working every day in the trenches. If you point out the issues she won't listen. But if you can sell her jewelry or laugh about others behind their back she is right there with you. When will the hard working people committed to quality and professionalism have a voice?
Those people have been stifled. Ruth doesn't want those people to have a voice because they see her as the fake she really is.
She told us her job was to wokr as an interim any where LPNT sends her. perhaps she has such a good reputation because she is never inone place long enough to claim the disaster as her own. She has no investment in this community or the people. Her investment is her 401K.
Why is it that Dr. Ashby is never held accountable. He is the one who betrayed his oath in making these things happen. He ought to be run out of town with the rest of the bank boys.
Not only did the CEO resign but did you all know that the director of the telemetry unit resigned also? Now just what do you think of that?
I say good riddance to Anita!! She only had a couple of years of nursing experience under her belt and then she was put in charge of such a diverse populated unit. She wasn't ready for nursing leadership, and by the looks of her awful disposition, she's not ready to be real nurse either!!
Amen!!Did she spend too much time with Ruth buying jewelry instead of participating in planning sessions about how to fix Joint Com. issues?
Ruth might have had it going on when she first arrived to our DRMC but if you ask me, she has lost a lot of respect by the way she conducts herself with the Starbucks director!
And the Director of the ED resigned. What's up with all the resignations this week?
McDaniel flew into Danville like a bat out of hell. Extended her hear to anyone, put out a few flames but then ..Poof, she seemed to have lost her zeal.
If she were really a leader, wouldn't she have lead us "somewhere" by now inspite of Art?
I'm not so sure she can help us anymore. She seems to have lost a lot of credibility lately and she needs to distance herself from her "groupies" to make it work for her here.
Does anyone else agree or am I totally on the wrong track?
Please fill me in on McDaniel as the hospital socialite... Buying jewelry? Starbucks talk? I haven't heard what she's really like...
Ruth is all surface. when you first meet her you think thank god we have a leader. she is warm and understanding. But then over itme we have found someone who is arrogant, distrustful, and plays favorites. Her office is a social scene and little accountability has been applied to the nursing directors. Some more than others. she has a perpetual shadow in Sharon Yeatts...and how ever misguided sees this fake as a reosurce. yet those directors who are really committed and working hard receive less support and accolades if any. Yet Sharon seems able to do nothing but chat and be available. Ohters work night and day and injest a whole lot less coffee.
Ruth has focused her time in courting the physicians and making promises despite the need to do otherwise and that leaves her in a good light. A good leader must make decisions that may not be popular...she does otherwise.
She underminded Art from the moment she arrived. the two could have balanced each other quite well and performed amazing progress but she did everything possible to assure this did not happen. All the blame went his way and she positioned herself to pick up the pieces and seize the glory.
We need strong leaders who do not back stab, do not play favorites and make tough decisions. She is not that at all. Do not trust this woman.. you will get burned. Her sincerity goes as far as her own ass and those she has deemed worthy of sharing starbucks with. The rest of us are merely tools inher arsenal that can be disposed of in a heartbeat.
And if you are not in nursing...forget it you are not part of her plan.
I'm a nurse , believe me , we're not even part of her plan.
AMEN, AMEN. In showing just how far kissing a$$ will get you. Several of my co-workers called me today and told me that the great Anita Finney was administrative director today. I guess Ruth wants the whole hospital pissed off like telemetry so they can clean house and train all these rookie nurses in the McDaniel way of nursing. It amazes me how one can go so far with barely being out of nursing school for three years and no degree. Amazing.
Sucks to be her.When she runs into the highly trained ,degreed nurses on other floors, the arrogant fool.
Sorry meant to say highly trained and/or degreed nurses on other floors .I don't want to leave anyone out.
Don't worry about Finney doing anything long term but taking care of herself. And with her instability, it won't be long before she's out of here...so long!!!
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