After more than a decade of work at KVHD, Dr. Hoshang Pormir and Pharmacist Debbi Hayes face criminal charges in their alleged contribution to the deaths of three or possibly more KVHD skilled nursing patients from Aug. 2006 to Jan. 2007, as specified in the state documents.
However, those indictments do not reflect the real or total story of what happened during this time.
And it’s quite odd that for more than a decade these two managed to do what was necessary, passing state surveys, but in six months they suddenly are judged to be the cause of the problems. Well, no, that’s not the case.
There is quite a demonstration of nonsense on the Kern Valley Sun Website, as it seems people are using false names and pleasing themselves with misinformation relative to the side of a few people still at the hospital who hold that there was never a “holocaust” and if there was it was two years ago, “get over it.” ( Nothing I haven't seen before. We did this on a blog in 2007; trust me, you people haven't gotten any better at it. )
We faced tragedy here in 2006/7, when residents of the skilled nursing facility were not taken care of properly as there was not enough staff and even trained staff to handle the 70 residents.
One nurse, straight out of the Nurse’s Aid program, called it a “nightmare” when she worked at the SNF.
She started the same week as another new employee, the Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, who is also indicted in the deaths.
The nurse’s aid was told that Hughes was an old pro and to follow all her directions, she was in charge.
We were all told Hughes was great and would do good things for the SNF, by the ambitious ex CEO, Pam Ott. What we didn’t realize at the time was that the hospital had been tagged in its annual survey from the Feds and the state for using physical restraints.
Hughes was an expert in pharmaceutical restraints and hence the changes began.
Now, there is use of psychotropic medications in nursing facilities there is no way around it. Dementia and other brain disorders can cause violent behaviors and general mental pain, and the use of the medications is not out of order in many cases.
However, some of the medications are prescribed generally by psychiatrists, of which we have none on board at the hospital. (with all the craziness wouldn’t it be a good idea?)
But doctors can still prescribe most of the medications referred to in the indictments.
The major problem a system of checks and balances was not in place because there was no leadership at the facility. And the leader herself ended up only having a one year, city college, RN degree, and two degrees from a funny college called Kennedy/Western.
Pam Ott had some medical experience, enough to know that her team she abandoned to the SNF, while she was selling a general obligation bond, was doing some serious changing. (See Ott interviews regarding the SNF; one was on QAB with Bob Jamison. Now those are scary.)
During this time, Ott and Chief Financial Officer, Chet Beedle, asked Dr. Pormir to start a physician’s group for the ER. Dr. Pormir, who I would describe as someone who just wanted to make things better, a do-gooder, added this responsibility because of the complaints of the community on the doctor charges from an outside registry called EMCARE.
But he was also medical director of the SNF.
While everyone was going door to door selling a vacuums or general obligation bonds, the SNF was falling apart.
There were RN’s during this time calling frantically to try and staff the SNF on a daily basis. It got to the point of people going out on stress leave.
If there are not enough people to work, then it must be reported to the Department of Health Services and the hospital could potentially have to contact family and relocate patients.
Again, you cannot run a hospital without staff and staff you can trust. Funny how that works, when Ott hired Hughes, she literally walked away from the subject of the SNF. Other than to say how “wonderful” everything was. And when Dave Green hired Ott as CEO, he said the exact same thing.
Well, she knew early on things were not wonderful and things were actually getting worse. Her friends on the board, the “sticky three” backed her up and blamed these “rumors” on employees and of course, the Knights.
This hospital is self reporting, meaning the nurses write up reports of any injuries, lack of care issues, staffing problems and that goes to the Department of Health Services.
What if you just didn’t send it in? What if it is altered?
Yes, there would be witnesses to the alteration wouldn’t there. What would you do to those witnesses, threaten their jobs or fire them maybe?
In October of 2006, employees went to the board and made many complaints. The board with one exception checked out the problems. Robert and Kathryn Knight were the only two to come forward and tell the public and the government that there was a serious problem.
Kay Knight was excoriated by Pam Ott for doing this. (So, you think Pam Ott shares no blame Mr. Jamison, Mr. Armstrong, her protectors?) In fact, she demanded that Kay turn over the complaints to her.
Which she did, and was muted as the board, Beedle and Ott, began covering the tracks.
In the indictment there is an Internal Quality report, created by the very people who let this go on. And the government intends to use it. Jeez. The DA is basing its case on paperwork and missing paperwork. (Missing paperwork? Intentional or not?)
In 2007, the SNF was threatened with closure which Bob Jamison said was untrue. Attacks began from the sticky three board members that were just a smokescreen. Ott stepped down, but the toilet didn’t flush completely.
Now, Chet Beedle, the numbers guys, did some cutting to save some money, but then suddenly switched to being practically taken.
THE RESCUE:
Or was it? Did it financially take the hospital out to pay contractors to the run the SNF?
And all the fines which were incurred, did they help? You could’ve have paid dozens of nurses with this money. What were the insurance costs for the lawsuits, which probably have not all arrived yet?
It’s so ridiculous how this was handled. Don Ermel Doyle from Sycamore management heard the cries of the helpless, and the vultures began swooping down on us.
And I’m waiting to find out how the board managed to hire this company without checking with other companies. I’m sorry, that’s obvious; they called it an emergency.
They knew about the problems for eight months and it was an emergency?
And then there was some strange deal to bring in one of the employees of Sycamore as manager of the SNF.
Quality Healthcare Management took over for a princely sum too, but again, was there no forethought as to how this would further squeeze the last dollars from the hospital?
First there is no money for nurses, then plenty when the axe falls and there’s nothing else to do. Well, there was plenty that could have been done, but three board members and a CFO, and CEO, (the funny faced one who has his signature on the second contract), apparently couldn’t make a rational decision.
And these aren’t the only contracts that should be looked at either. This has become the CFO’s claim to fame. Over priced contracts and a short staffed hospital. Congratulations Chet.
So, two years ago what? Who was at fault and didn’t get indicted? All we know is this management lead to the loss of safety for patients and security for its personnel.
No comments:
Post a Comment