'High level of discord'

Danville Register and Bee
Monday, June 18, 2007

Here’s a nomination for quotation of the year: “Your situation bothers me. What shocks me is the extremely high level of discord that you are having here.”

Those are the words of health care consultant Keith Pryor, who was in Danville last week. Pryor is working with the Citizen’s Commission appointed by Mayor Wayne Williams to investigate complaints about Danville Regional Medical Center.
The commission has found the hospital’s problems include staffing levels, poor patient care, emergency department wait times, employee morale and administrative issues - things the people of this community have little or no direct control over.
Pryor proposed a dialogue between LifePoint officials, community leaders and doctors at the hospital. But is that going to help when some local people believe hospital officials are constantly trying to start a fresh discussion?
Legendary industrialist Henry Ford once said, “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”
Promises aren’t going to fix the problems at Danville Regional Medical Center. Only the owner of Danville Regional, LifePoint Hospitals Inc., can fix the hospital’s problems.
Danville only has one hospital, and the future of Danville
Regional Medical Center is key to the future of health care in this community. The Dan River Region needs a strong hospital.
But it’s hard to imagine how dialogue alone is going to fix the hospital’s problems - and restore community confidence in Danville Regional.
What could be done?
The hospital could earn full accreditation (it has received a preliminary denial of accreditation). It could rehire those doctors and nurses that have left the hospital over the past two years for jobs with the region’s other hospitals but still live close to Danville. It could replace the high-tech equipment that was taken out of the hospital over the past two years.
Those things might serve as confidence boosters.
LifePoint Hospitals Inc. came into a bad situation when it bought Danville Regional nearly two years ago. People were angry that the hospital was sold at all. But the problems since the sale aren’t the result of bad communication with the community. Danville Regional needs to fix its problems before it can hope to improve its image with the public it purports to serve.