Could be a happy new year...depends

Two newly elected Kern Valley Health Care board members were sworn in last Thurs, Dec. 4, 2008, at the final monthly board meeting of the year.
Victoria Alwin and Robert Gross DO, along with incumbent, Robert Jamison, swore their oath to the valley before a small crowd of onlookers.
Applause rang out after the members repeated the oath given by board member, Kathryn Knight.



Although the new members were sworn in, former chairman of the board, Bob Jamison sparred with Kathryn Knight over the fact that the organizational meeting which seats the board members, would not take place.





After much ado about the legalities involved (the hospital’s by-laws say the vote for the different seats occurs the first meeting in Dec.) the board’s legal counsel, Scott Nave, broke with Jamison and help set up a special meeting, which occurred Wed., Dec. 10.




Information from the special meeting to seat the new members is that our new board configuration now has Kathryn Knight as Chairwoman of the board; Vice chair, Dr. Robert Gross; board secretary, Victoria Alwin; Armstrong Treasurer and Jamison has the
2nd vice chair now.


The new board members will have their work cut out for them as the hospital faces many obstacles and challenges including an on-going investigation of some staff members that was spawned from the Skilled Nursing Facility fiasco last year, where the facility was almost closed down.
According to Dana Simas with the Department of Justice, there is an investigation taking place, but at this time little information is available for release.
The DOJ and relevant agencies from the Attorney General’s office, cannot disclose the agencies or staff involved so as not to jeopardize the laws surrounding the investigation.
Simas said as soon as any charges are filed, then there will be specific information available.

“Currently, we have no charges filed against any KVHD staff.”

Luis Farias, with the Department of Consumer Affairs, explained that the process of investigating situations such as the one at the KVHD Hospital, requires tedious work.

“The investigator will generally interview the complainant, witnesses, and the subject of the investigation. The investigator will also gather documentation, such as patient records, personnel records, etc., from relevant sources. After all pertinent information is collected, the investigator prepares an investigation report which is forwarded to the licensing authority. When necessary, expert review of the case is conducted and an expert opinion provided. Investigations which provide evidence that the practitioner has violated the Practice Act and that the violation warrants formal disciplinary action will be resolved by informal or formal proceedings which may involve referral to the Attorney General's Office for prosecution. If no violation can be substantiated, the case is closed and the complainant is notified. If a case involves unlicensed or criminal activity, it is referred to the local district attorney for prosecution. The entire complaint review, investigation and legal review process may take an extended period of time depending on the complexity of the case. To preserve the constitutional rights of the accused during the complaint and investigation stages, all information is confidential, may not be discussed, and is not public record.”

Farias could not provide specific information about what agencies are involved in the investigation or which agency initiated the probe.

“The case is still under investigation.”

Farias and the DOJ will release information as it becomes available to the public.

As the hospital marks it’s 40th birthday, it has received a special present in that there are new board members now stepping in to keep the hospital alive for its next birthday.

But the past cannot be forgotten; the mistakes must not happen again or become hidden and fester. History is the teacher.

Brad Armstrong, who had long been quiet about the heavy financial losses incurred when the district attempted the skilled nursing facility construction project during the 1990’s, said he saw the problems and does not want to see them happen again. The hospital still has a debt of more than 14 million dollars, which is actually down from 22 million from that project.



However, Armstrong did not mention the failed bond, Measure M, from 2006, which was 12.5 million, for new buildings rather than upgrading the building for seismic compliance.
The hospital paid an architectural firm at least $30,000 for plans that were inadequate and now have been brushed under the carpet. (for now)
The board voted unanimously at the meeting to begin negotiations with another architectural firm, NTD, as they must research potential construction projects including the state seismic requirements for the acute care wing.
One speaker, who has been outspoken about the construction projects, Wally Hyer, told the board it is a bad economy and people will be burdened with more property taxes if the hospital attempts another bond.



And if you haven’t taken math or don’t like numbers, you will likely not understand what the CEO, Rick Carter, and CFO, Chet Beedle have to say about how much money the hospital is making or not making or breaking even??





If that didn’t make sense to you, it’s not really your math skills; It really didn’t make sense.

Finally, I was asked by the husband of a departing board member, what is my agenda.
I have no agenda, but I had a responsibility to report violations as a member of the media. It’s written in the Brown Act. Even the public has this obligation. And that is what I did.

Look for more video on our YouTube site………………………… http://www.youtube.com/orderbipolardisorder

hope for a new beginning

This blog is to inform the Kern River Valley about the truth as I've witnessed it of what has happened to the Kern Valley Healthcare District.

I’m sure everyone one of you who has taken the time to read this now have an understanding of what has really happened at the district.

We’ve had some really bad times in the last few years; we had a CEO with funny credentials that came from a college called Kennedy-Western University. Now it’s Warren National University:

Find out more about KWU/WNU here and these are the findings of a 2004 FBI investigation on the college.

The next CEO, hit the road pretty quickly coming into a shark tank isn't easy, I'm sure.

There was a cover up about the Skilled Nursing Facility which went on for two years. The only board member willing to give out the information about the possible closure last year, was Robert Knight. The only reason it got press outside our area was the fact there was a public notice put in the Bakersfield Californian giving the KVHD a month to make corrections or it would be closed.

With the sticky three board members, Armstrong, Casas and Jamison making all the decisions and voting exactly how they please, the district shut it’s doors to the public and hid out, truncating the board meetings. However, the number of Brown Act violations is incredible. No notice to the public for the strategic meeting ; making decisions without the other two board members; and shutting down the public when they try to speak at the board meetings.

They have stood by their decisions such as Measure M, the conflict of interest with the architectural firm which is part of another group the hospital paid; they have short staffed the hospital and fell into using the Nursing registry which is an expensive alternative to keeping employees in the valley and happy; And they paid close to a million dollars to a company in the SNF which was unable to fix all the problems prompting them to use another company now currently employed.

Hopefully, there will be more change other than putting on a party hat and saying everything is good.

The public deserves information that is true and complete. Not another round of consent agenda and let's go home.

We will watch and see.








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No more monkey business

Talk show villain and Kern Valley Healthcare District incumbent board candidate, went on his Friday talk show from QAB, this morning, Oct. 31, 2008, and used the show to launch his political platform while attacking all the other candidates.

Though Jamison said he "paid" for the time on the radio, he continued to play commercials during his weekly show. Conflict of interest came up as a topic relating to something else, but here we have it, Mr. Conflict of interest.

For instance, Mr. Conflict’s employer at the radio station also owns the ambulance company which serves the Kern Valley Healthcare District. He would tell you that he would not vote on anything regarding this contract. So, duh, on his poison position against other candidates.

Should this candidate be allowed to talk about district issues, reasons he should be re-elected, and still be ethical?

The FCC may not approve of his tactics and the elections department may become involved as well.

Mr. Jamison went on to even bring up issues of current employees, by name, at the hospital. That's potential lawsuit material. It also certainly must be illegal for a board member to attack an employee.

Unethical, irresponsible and desperate, are terms I would use here regarding this sordid business of utilizing a media outlet for his own needs, or festering anger.

Please pass this email along to all who will be voting this coming Tuesday. I will update you on anything which may occur as a result of Mr. Jamison's actions.

My hope is that all the other candidates are given a forum so that they may tell their side of the story. Jamison would not even allow callers, but did bring on one who "agreed" with the man.

It's a sad day when we cannot even have control over our local politicians who are here to serve us. But we do have a vote. Cast it carefully.

UPDATE: It seems that Mr. Jamison paid only $150 for an hour of air time. I think that is a deal and I hope the advertisers realize they could get such a bargain.

The FCC has been alerted that the radio station has once again, allowed their DJ/board member, to dominate the airwaves with his KVHD agenda.

And how is the ambulance business? Will the same owner let Jamison jump in an emergency vehicle, put on the sirens, and chase voters around the lake?

Town Hall Meetin' And Cheatin'

The public confusion about the troubles with the Kern Valley Health Care District was apparent, last Monday evening, Oct. 27, at the Senior Center in Lake Isabella, at the "Town Hall Meeting," when candidates for the KVHD board of trustees were asked questions which seemed out of touch with the real problems going on at the district.

The meeting began with each candidate giving short biographies as to their backgrounds and the reason why they are running for the board.

Bob Knight, who said he has more than 40 years experience in the health care industry, relayed a startling message to the 50 or 60 people in the audience, that Chet Beedle, the Chief Financial Officer for the district, told the board that the hospital may have to consider some serious options as they have no assets left.

No further questions were asked and none of the candidates commented after Knight revealed the depth of financial trouble the district is currently in.

Knight was joined by all the other candidates, incumbents, Bob Jamison and Barbara Casas; Hospital dietician and educator, Victoria Alwin; write-in candidate, William Van Lente (pronounced Lentee) who owns a management consulting firm; and Dr. Robert Gross, local physician and hospitalist. And from Canada, on the set of a movie he is producing, John Blythe, made the forum via telephone. (there were technical problems as he could not here questions or answers from the other candidates).

Currently, there are three members of the board whose seats are up for grabs. Jamison, Casas, and Knight all attended what could be considered an eye opener of a meeting.

Incumbent, Jamison, explained a story that at the last board meeting in Oct., he had to deal with a disgruntled customer whose wife's CT scans were priced questionably. He said it cost what it should and they even gave him a sliding scale price.

When I arrived at that last, official board meeting, Jamison and the unknown customer were yelling so loudly their voices carried down the hall and straight into the dining room where the SNF residents were having dinner.

But it was not until late in the event, after almost two hours, that members of the audience were allowed to ask their own questions. One person in the audience had a lot to say, when given the chance, and none of it flattering to the hospital.

Diane Jones was obviously upset by some of the answers she heard from the current board members about the problems they percieve at the hospital. She implied that the hospital would have more money and customers if it could get the billing straight and end the collection problem.

Though many of the questions by the moderators were tally type questions to see who believes in issues such as term limits, dress code, top problems, etc., when the audience was allowed it's brief time to speak, issues of a pointed nature were brought up. One gentleman asked if there would be a conflict of interest if Dr. Robert Gross as the hospitalist was elected.

Though Gross answered the question that he would obviously not be able to vote on any actions regarding his "subcontract" with the hospital, the questioner persisted. In the Local Health Care District Law booklet for the state of California (which can be downloaded on line), it deliniates that in fact it would not be a conflict of interest.

Here's one of the entries regarding the topic on page 19:

1. The officer abstains from participation in the making of the contract.

2.The officer's relationship to the contract is disclosed to the body or board and noted in the official records.

3. if the requirements of paragraphs 1 and 2 are satisfied, the body or board does both of the following, without any participation by the officer: finds the contract is fair to the district and in it's best interest. Authorizes the contract in good faith.

Another question involved term limits which most of the candidates agreed on. In the Local health Care District law booklet, there is no mention of term limits, except to say single terms are of a four year duration.

Victoria Alwin, outspoken, refusing to use a microphone, transmitted her message to the audience with certainty in her voice, said she has been in the middle of all the investigations in the SNF, and has experienced first hand what it's like to deal with the Department of Health Services.

She went on to say that after working at the hospital on and off for 18 years, she has seen a lot of things happen.

Alwin did not let the issue of the investigations drop even after, Jamison, tried to refute her claim that the state is watching vigilantly because the hospital has not passed the standards in the SNF even after spending close to a million in fines and having to hire a management company.

One audience member mentioned, JCAHO, the Joint Commission, an accredidation organization hospitals pay to make sure they operate in good stead and avoid costly situations such as the one's that have occurred at the hospital.

Alwin agreed and Jamison disagreed that using JCAHO would be a possible money saver. The fees for the service are minor in comparison to the fines the hospital has had to pay.

"The Joint Commission of Accredidation of Healthcare Organizations is a non-profit organization that rates hospitals and other health care facilities. JCAHO accredidation is a prerequisite for hospitals to be reimbursed when treating federally subsidized Medicare patients.

Mission: The mission of the Joint Commission is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accredidation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations.

JCAHO website: http://www.jointcommission.org/

Another subject, a sore one, was brought up regarding measure M, a general obligation bond, which failed in 2006 by a short margain. However, the CEO at the time said that the 12.5 million dollar bond to meet state seismic buiding requirements, would not have covered all the expenses because the plans were flawed.

In a previous article in 2007, it said that along with discovering that septic tanks with leech lines exist under the planned site for the new acute care building, the CEO said the original money would not cover the project which would have to be changed.

"We do have some problems with the project shrinking in that it has reduced space that we previously had considered essential working areas. So, we may end up having to say we can't live with less square footage; that we need to look at a higher bond in the end."

What if we had given the bond to the hospital in 2006; paid the higher property taxes, and then found out they didn't have the right figures or plans, and they had to come back to the community for more money? Would we trust them again?

A question was asked about the Senate Bill 1953, regarding the seismic retrofitting or rebuilding of the hospital. The 2006 bond was supposed to cover all costs associated with the upgrade of the facility. According to Jamison the district sent a letter to the state asking for extra time, possibly through 2030, to fix the problems. He said there are no guarantees they will get the time and he said this could cause the hospital to close down.

However, if the hospital had the money, it could potentially bring the acute unit up one level of code, SPC1 to SPC 2, which would guarantee the hospital has the time to carefully investigate costs, prepare realistic architectural plans, and truthfully involve the community. There is a document I can post that says the very same thing. It was done when Knight was CEO.

Although, John Blythe, was on the phone dealing with glitches, he managed to tell the audience that the debt from the first project, in the late 1980's, which included adding the SNF, OR, and cafeteria, is "killing the hospital."

He referred to figures at around 22 million. Research proves the hospital originally was given a performance bond to build twice as many rooms for the SNF. This was originally 13 million dollars. Contractors have been blamed; lack of oversight was blamed; but all in all, the state of California, division of Cal Mortgage, insured the hospital to borrow all the way up to 22 million.

Even with the extra monies, the board was unable to finish building the extra rooms for the SNF; which had it been done, the project would have paid for itself and there would be no debt.

Blythe focused on the debt because the hospital is not supplying all the staff it needs or all the medical equipment it requires.

With the whole country being bailed out of debt, it would be prudent to look at what the debt has done to the hospital, and how it even could obtain that much money when the property itself was worth less than 5 million at the time.

WEBSITE for the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, which includes Cal Mortgage and seismic information. http://www.oshpd.cahwnet.gov/

One of the more interesting quotes comes from incumbent, Casas, who told the audience about her platform or "stand." What makes it so odd is the fact that she is the one who wrote the email I entered into this blog, under "Brown Act" violations. The email clearly tells of three board members who will even cancel a meeting to make sure they have quorum.

Casas also went on to say there were no board members having meetings prior to the actual board meetings, she said that was nonsense.

According to the Brown Act, which has regulations for local board meetings, contact between a quorum of board members, whether through email, intermediaries, telephone or personal contact, to discuss or debate action to be taken is strictly prohibited.

Asked about how the acute care unit is doing, Casas blamed insurance companies for not paying the district it's price and having to send patients to Bakersfield. She also said that the hospital is short staffed and that happens sometimes.

Write-in candidate, William Van Lente, (which must be spelled correctly if the vote is to count) was moderate with his responses and said his background in organizational development, which helps businesses transcend their difficulties, is part of the reason he decided to run for the KVHD board.

Asked why he was not a registered candidate, Van Lente said he was considering a position out of state during the time frame to register, and he didn't want to run for office until he knew what would happen with the job. He said former CEO, Robert Duncan, was the one who thought his skills would be valuable on this board.

One of the more contentious questions involved the right for a husband and wife to be on the same board. A few of the candidates said they think it is improper, but the Kern County Elections office has a different view.

"They're elected, not appointed or hired, it's the people's choice, that's who they're serving," said Sandy Brockman with the county election's office. "I don't see it as improper. There's nothing in the code that says they cannot."

Brockman said she had heard of a father and daughter on a board and that everything worked fine until someone in the public didn't like the way they voted. "Then they made an issue about it," she said.

The meeting was moderated and questions were asked through Cathy Perfect of the Kern Valley Sun Newspaper, a representitive of the Squirrel Valley Homeowners Association, and Joan Amos with the Hospital Foundation which raises money for things such as mammogram machines.

There are more video clips available for veiwing on YouTube, go to http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=OrderBipolarDisorder&view=videos We've had our own technical difficulties with the video, so if you have a problem with sound or quality, please let us know. Thanks.

Public Meeting? Where was the public?

Let's talk about the visibility of the board of directors. Apparently, there was a "strategic planning" meeting where the KVHD board, administrative members, recently got together to discuss goals for the upcoming year.

(This is a Brown Act violation...see entry on Brown Act)

This was supposed to be open to the public, but for some unknown reason, hmm, the public didn't show up. Well, with the exception of two insiders who happen to overhear the date of the meeting while at the hospital.

Where were our invitations? I would have liked to have been there to hear what new, brilliant ideas were bandied about. And I certainly have a few suggestions of my own.

• How can we properly staff the hospital without paying horrendous amounts of money to the registry? Answer: make it a decent hospital where people like to work and the employees will come running.
• Can we possibly save money by cutting corners such as administrative costs( for instance expenses paid to administrators who live outside our valley); or even have qualified staff who will keep the hospital from paying fines for substandard care? Answer: absolutely. (see salary comparisons above)
• How can the hospital afford to reconstruct the ER, which is the most profitable portion of the hospital yet in terrible, structural, shape? Answer: Stop paying fines, stop using the registry, take a paycut at the top, stop getting repeatedly sued and the money will be there.
• Why is Bob Jamison still desiring to go to the public and get a general obligation bond which would raise property taxes? Well, BJ, has not seen what the economy is doing right now. Good luck on your bond, Mr. Jamison. Yes, the seismic issues have to be addressed, there's no doubt, but where's your plan? It's not from that architectural firm we paid good money for the drawing above, is it?

This health care district needs help, yet to my knowledge, no notice went out to let people know what the district is currently facing and what it can do about it in the future. There are so many bright, talented, and intelligent people in the KRV who would be good advisors and contributors; but they were just conveniently blocked from participating.

One final story I found funny was at the lunch break at the meeting, the two members of the public were told they could not eat on the KVHD ticket. No lunchy for the public. The Chairman apparently told them they could go find food somewhere else and come back. (how nice). However, the two board members who have consistently treated the public with respect and courtesy, offered to share their meals.

Confucious say if board wanted to save money on food then they should have brown bagged it, and spent their lunch money on things like medical necessities for the hospital.

Who can you trust at KVHD?

There has been undoubtedly a conspiracy to own the board of directors by three board members. They have teamed up to make sure they have the majority vote on everything. These three entitled members have slandered, attacked, ridiculed, the other two board members with impunity. They even purposely cancelled a meeting because one of their own was off and they would have to vote without them. That's called a "Brown Act" violation.

However, the two board members not in the majority have stuck by this valley even under attack. AT the last board meeting in Oct. 2008, the chairman of the board was yelling at a public speaker who wanted to tell his story about the cost of CT scans at the hospital. Apparently, the chairman didn't have time to listen to the community because he wanted to truncate the meeting and watch the debates. When the two other board members backed the speaker and asked that he be allowed more time, the board members were reprimanded rather loudly. In fact, the residents of the skilled nursing facility were having their dinner right next door.

Who are the two board members who tried to allow the public to speak? Robert and Kay Knight. They are not part of the entitled three members who have thus far, oh, let me list this stuff for you.

• The Knights were against Measure M which was an ill conceived construction project without a true plan. But the other board members voted to have this valley pay with their property taxes for something that never was viable. (will show you the sketches that were created that show they didn't even have a spot to put a new ER and acute care unit nor did they really know the amount it would cost)
• Also, the Knights voted against using the architecural firm currently being paid by the health care district. There was conflict of interest between this firm and another being used by the hospital.
• This architectural firm was part of the fiasco out at Tehachapi. The firms "pre-fab" units were initially okayed by the Office of Statewide Health Planning, but have since been heavily scrutinized because of budget runovers and other problems. But they still get paid by KVHD. (Until recently, when a new firm was brought in)
• The sticky three, we will call these board members, have used their other positions in the valley to spread their agenda as if it is the only one. The chairman has a job where he was able to use his position to take on board issues and broadcast his opinions to the valley. He also had a blog where he put up offensive materials against the Knights. (I have these blogs and recordings of the radio show)
• The sticky three plus their old leader, not only tried to quash the other board members, but they went after the employees too. When the employees came to the board for discussion they were sent packing. Then in an effort to thwart something good happening, the so-called leaders began pulling out employee files to pressure the very people holding the hospital together. I saw these files, I taped the whole thing.
• On to the Skilled Nursing Facility and it's problems: the hospital CEO and the sticky board members lied two years in a row about the problems that were happening in the SNF.
• The hospital was near closing it's doors to the SNF in 2007 when CMS/DHS came in to investigate some serious complaints. There were penalties that the hospital had to pay in the hundreds and thousands of dollars.
• But did the hospital's top board members try to stop the onslaught of bad news and bad care in the SNF? No. In fact, the owner of a company who handles out of control problems in Skilled nursing facilities, read in the paper what was happening at the hospital. He came to the meeting and gave them his card and they took over the SNF.
• The board members did not seek out help, it came to them and they took it. And boy oh boy did it cost them a pretty penny. The company had to stay for almost a year to get things almost straightened out. But never finished and lost their high paying jobs.
• Only the Knights told the public that there was serious issues in the SNF and they were the only board members willing to talk about the extreme cost issues.