Dear KVHD/meeting 12/5/08

Good evening, KVHD Board of Directors.

It’s a new age for the district with two dedicated professionals taking their seats on this board tonight. They chose to take on this great responsibility of keeping the district growing and afloat. It won’t be easy and I thank you both.

But before we head to the bright new future there are things that have taken us off course in the past.

We cannot hide from these things nor can we ignore them.

I’m going to say now that yes, with definite back up from the department of justice, that there has indeed been an investigation into certain hospital staff.

Once again this hospital did not notify the press or the public when questioned about the investigation.

I will say that there are rules regarding the disclosure of such an investigation and the people and circumstances surrounding it.

However, what we heard repeatedly from the current chairman, was that this is all gossip and speculation, that there was no investigation.

Mr. Jamison, “No comment,” would have been a better choice rather than evasion.

But the chairman has done this before.

Let’s go back to 2007, when a legal notice appeared in the Bakersfield Californian, that our skilled nursing facility would be closed in July of that year.

Again we heard that it was all the dream of a reporter and her search for a smoking gun.

Prior to the threatened closure, the former CEO, had many excuses for what was going on.

First we had a shortage of CNA’s; next we were told there little problems with some tags; then we were told there was a change in the laws regarding restraints; then we just didn’t have a psychiatrist on staff; it then changed to having terrible employees and finally she flew the coop.

And Jamison, Armstrong, Casas, Beedle, and board attorney, Scott Nave, let this go on.

They heard her excuses but did nothing, but lie to our community.

They also knew about the CEO’s funny resume from a diploma mill, called Kennedy/Western University.

No human resources director of any worth would have hired someone with those non-credentials.

Then as the CEO stepped down, in came a company that handles problematic Skilled Nursing Facilities.

How did they get this company?

Well, the owner read the paper and handed a business card to the board and he was in.

Was that due diligence? That was like watching the barn burn and hoping the fire department might notice.

But the money paid to this company to possibly fix the problems is spectacular.

Not only did the district incur fines and penalties for its lack of leadership and professionalism, but added with the payroll for the new SNF, staff, the figures rolled up into a big wad of bills closing in on two million dollars.

Let’s just look at what that money could have paid for.

Regarding SB1953, the seismic program, requiring hospitals to upgrade the buildings for safety, that money could have been used to retrofit the acute care wing and allow the hospital until 2030 to finish. Now we’re writing letters begging for more time.

That money could be used to begin a building project for the ER which is a flood zone during the winter.

Or that money could have been designated toward retaining employees and keeping away from the nursing registrar which is another leak in the life raft.

But apparently there is still more money to spend, because current administration salaries are seeing increases from 7 to 19%. Wow.

Flashback to 2006 and Measure M, the bond measure which was to upgrade the hospital seismically.

We all now know that the 12.5 million the community was asked to pay on their property taxes, was not enough money for this project and the project was flawed anyway.

The former CEO admitted it herself in the newspaper that even had the district gotten the bond, they would still have to go back to the community for more. And we were even told that there was a cushion added to that amount.

Also with Measure M, there was a definite conflict of interest as this district had entered into a contract with a company called Rural Health Design Network. The owner’s husband owns the architectural firm that Armstrong, Jamison and Casas voted onto the defunct building project. The Knights voted against it

The architectural plans were a joke, a bad one; there was no room for these modular buildings so they randomly drew them theoretically on top of an old septic system with leach lines. We paid for that.

Now for Brown Act Violations. The Brown act is a list of laws that boards such as this one, have to follow.

I have at least two emails I turned over to the board attorney, (point here) regarding the former, sticky three, board members and there reign of power.

They would cancel a meeting if they didn’t have the majority.

They did not want the two other board members, Bob and Kay Knight, to vote and possibly change what they had already decided amongst themselves.

But the harassment of the Knights by Mr. Jamison, putting up blogs on his radio website degrading them, was so far out of line its unreal.

I have many emails and audio tapes with slanderous content regarding the Knights. They were blamed for everything from the lack of morale of the employees, to actual robbery of computers at a former CEO’s house.

And it didn’t end there.

When the administration heard criticism from one of their long time employees, they actually went out of their way to undermine this person and his assistant.

One of these same employees was vilified and slandered on Mr. Jamison’s talk show a few days before the election.

It is unethical at the least for a public official to go on the air and begin a diatribe about an employee of the district he serves.

I certainly hope this employee takes some action.

The laws governing this district seem to be bent and broken wherever you look.

For instance, privacy laws, called HIPAA.

The radiologist for the hospital often times reads scans and x-rays while attending meetings. That’s illegal. Doesn’t the board or the board attorney understand this?

And a board member, last year, disclosed personal, private health information to a stranger, without batting an eye. It’s on tape.

Finally, thank god, there is a new beginning here. I’m hopeful and happy.

(Well, that was earlier this year, as I thought there might have been a change. And there was. Rick Carter left us, opening the door for a possibly effective, intelligent, leader, in the new CEO, Tim McGlew. Mr. McGlew, so far has shown himself to be concerned, busy, and administrating. What a great idea. Have the CEO actually run the hospital. Thank you, Mr. McGlew, and I hope we have many good years together. The past must be adjudicated, and the hospital will be getting more and more press as the pressure cooker heats up. But once past this, we can be assured that we all understand this will never happen here again. I don't care who you are and why you looked away, but trust me, this will never happen again.)