"The cry for help" remember this everyone?

(Only two people really tried to help the employees during the disasterous 2006 nursing center system meltdown, and they are Kathryn and Bob Knight.)

In the first week of January 2007, an anonymous Kern Valley Healthcare District employee dropped off a packet of information.

The six page report didn't go directly to former CEO, Pam Ott, it was slipped under the door of one of the board members.

The staff had already been trying for months to talk to the administrative staff, but felt there was no other way other than to find someone to trust.

In an email, Ott says that the board member was causing problems, the ones that weren't there.

The board member took the documents to the counsel for the KVHD board of directors. From there, Ott caught wind of the report, and her and former CNO, Carole Dene Gunther, went to collect the information from the board member.

Ott demanded that she have the document, though the board member insisted that she keep the original and they could have a copy.

Reports to DHS went in via the board member and staff.

Clearly, this report shows the staffing problems that Ott and the "sticky three" board members, Bob Jamison, Brad Armstrong, and Barbara Casas, ignored and tried desperately to hide. At the April 2007 board meeting, the board clammed up and would not answer questions, leading to a raucous response from me.

The report will be turned over to the DOJ investigators to utilize in pinpointing who knew what and when.

(I would love to be the attorney to cross examine Miss Ott. It should be pretty easy.)

Click on document to read. The hospital was not even meeting minimum requirements for staffing.