Johnson succumbs: RIP to the best dog

The pet owner's nightmare holiday weekend, and before it could end, "Johnny rotten" died. We're in grief today in honor of our friend. Hope all your pets are well and make sure, even if they've had shots, that they get a Parvo booster.
Apparently, the virus is rampant right now.
Story is on: http://krvpetcorner.blogspot.com/

My puppy, Johnson is sick, but while I sit by his side, I must tell you about something...

Well, it's a pet owner's struggle to not have the pets get sick over the holidays or anytime for that matter, but my new addition, Johnson, is very ill and I am sitting here nursing him, waiting and hoping that he will make it.

I'm covering our pet situation as Johnson is hovering near life and death, likely with Parvo, as the virus is apparently alive and well here in the valley.

However, Walter, my boxer, and the Thanksgiving dinner buzz kill, started the holidays with a blood fest during pie as he ripped his toe nail in two.

But that was just the beginning. I have no idea if Johnson will live or not, the story is on the pet blog. Putting it on the blog was a convenience I might add, as I don't have to call and let everyone know the status, they can just look. Thank you everyone who has been writing and calling for your concern, I will update as things change for the better or worse. (Much like I do with the hospital. I just hope it's a happier ending for Johnson.)

http://krvpetcorner.blogspot.com/

But while I'm waiting and worrying, we need to begin talking about what is happening at the Kern Valley Healthcare District.

The finance committee meeting:

We are basically on a downward spiral right now, and with no accurate projections and a volatile economy, the finances at KVHD are dire at best.

With the recent analysis written by CFO, Chet Beedle, regarding the closure of the retail portion of the pharmacy as an attempt to stop some of the bleeding in the district, it has become apparent now that there are urgent problems.

That particular analysis is being reviewed by another consultant, and as of two days ago was not finished and not available for public viewing.

The first analysis was a comedic attempt to utilize decade old data and blame everyone from the distributor to the employees so that the outlet looked like it needed to be cut out.

We don't need to lose services, we need more services to bring in more money.

They can't keep cutting or there will be nothing left.

Pay your bill: You too KVHD

You provide a service and you collect the fee for the service. That's a general business rule or common sense.

But in healthcare you have other issues which effect that particular hard and fast rule.

Patients who have a serious medical condition must be treated in the ER, by law, whether than can pay or not. (isn't that nice of the government to make us all feel so equal)

With the CFO claiming that more than 30% of the patients are uninsured, cash customers, many without the cash, there is an obvious problem with collections.

But there are programs as we've discussed before that could be used by some of these patients depending upon their financial standing, and all it takes to find out is some information.

Right off the bat the hospital CFO admitted they should do a better job insisting that patients fill out forms which could bring reimbursement to the hospital.

Then there's the back log of collections. Without knowing the particulars, as they are rarely shared, there has been a billing issue and a collection issue, leaving much money unaccounted for.

In another post, I reported that Sierra Kings District, former home of our former, elder abuse charged, CEO, Pam Ott, filed for bankruptcy.

But in their plan to restore their hospital financially, they too, are looking at trying to collect monies owed.

Write off's are great, but they're no good unless you're making money at the same time.

There was mention of putting liens on people's houses and other harsh methods of collection, but I'm not sure that the KVHD wants to push people that far at this point in their shaky reputation.

We are a small community, and these sorts of things get around fast (bloggers, what are you going to do?) and the first elderly person tossed from their home over a KVHD bill, will most certainly be part of our new website where we will be doing video interviews.

But as we have spoken about the pharmacy's situation, Mt. Mesa Clinical Pharmacy, it seems the suppliers of the medications has the same ideas about collections as we are bandying around at KVHD.

A representative from Cardinal Health explained to me that the reason the pharmacy is on a COD basis is simply because KVHD was not paying them. And he said the same thing Chet and the CEO, Tim, had mentioned at the meeting: you provide a service and you want to be paid for it.

KVHD's rob Peter to pay Paul system of accounting, (very bureaucratic chic I might add) is an example of what the cause of the problems are concerning everything at the hospital.

Yes, they need money, but they need to "make" money. And with the bi-polar economy, they are going to have to be on top of it, and play it smart and fast. Something that can't be done because of certain impediments to progress. (certain people)

Remember who you are KVHD

We are a public hospital and we may have to remember that regularly as we seem to forget this is a "service" to this community.

I'm sure it's irregular, but almost twenty years ago I was treated by a doctor and owed him over a thousand dollars because I wasn't insured at the time, but we made another arrangement: we bartered.

(This was in Santa Maria when it wasn't the big suburb of LA; it was a country town with the ability to treat each situation differently, with personal considerations taken into account. Big business and big brother have stomped out the ability to operate that way. But there's always hope)

I've told you on this blog I ran a plumbing business, so what I did was install a furnace in this doctor's rental house, and poof, no more bill.

We have to think outside the box, but we have not seen that here at KVHD yet. We're waiting.

I believe we need to decide who and what the district is to this community it serves.

Are we mere business folk or are we serving the valley, it's issues today and those we could help or hinder for tomorrow? I'd like to know and may have to ask the board and administrators.

There has been no open discussion about cutting top salaries and benefits that I know of, and no furlough days, no personal salary reduction as some Kern County employees did voluntarily early in this recession.

But the staff have taken big cuts, going sometimes from full time, to part time, to per Diem with no benefits.

If I were a KVHD employee, I would think in the back of my mind if I took less so that there would be more to help keep the doors open, I couldn't do it.

Why? Because of the irresponsible way the money has been spent and continues to be spent because of the person in charge of the finances and his two amigo's still left on the board of directors.

So, what will they do?

At the beginning of the meeting, Beedle made a point of telling us that in his comparisons with other "like" facilities, he found that all these other hospitals had general obligation bonds.

What's a GOB? A general obligation bond is paid for by the community with property tax dollars.

And now there are those at the hospital who would like to try and sell us one of these deals and then they would pay off our long term debt.

Gosh, isn't that interesting that I have said that debt is our anchor, and have argued that for years, now do I get credit?

I'm going to tell you something which is the truth, we do not have an adequate tax base, with lower property values, the percentage of property tax dollars going to the hospital is minimal.

It's true the hospital needs help, but much like the bailout fiasco provided by the federal government, they left these same top employees who drained the various corporations of money due to lousy business practices in place to do it all over again with a new pile of money.

We're not going to do that. I promise I will fight tooth and nail any "bail out" scheme which doesn't include a change in management. (it would have to be a reorganization)

No bankruptcy for us: right Cal Mtg.

I made mention again, of the fact that Cal Mtg. who insures our debt, and would have to pay it off if we default, is the only agency in the California government with money right now. They could take the hit, we should have done it ten years ago, and we would probably have a brand new hospital with services doctors and nurses would come from all around to work at.

No, we didn't do that. We were taken over basically by Cal Mtg. in 1999, as the hospital faltered under the debt. High dollar consultants came in and took a lot of money out of here under the guise of helping the hospital.

Back to square one.

In this economy we would be hard put to get this bond in the first place, but there's no way I myself would vote for a bond giving money to the mismanagers who put us in the situation we are in. That would be very stupid.

Next Wed, at 5:30 pm, in the hospital cafeteria is your chance to discuss these issues with both your elected Representatives and the administrators at the regular monthly board meeting.

The past again....

I've been tagged for talking about the past as we are supposedly trying to put it behind us. Gosh, that's true for some things, but it doesn't apply to money.

Everything that has been done to ruin this hospital's finances didn't happen today: it happened over a period of time until we have the situation we have now.

So, at I left off the blog story, with the "pre-McGlew era," and that's where we will start the next post.

Board meeting: don't forget WED. Dec. 2, 5:30 pm in the hospital cafeteria.

Mountains of Papework, thank you, it was worth it...updates and whatever happened to the Grand Jury Investigation? Apology to the first time reader...

The mountain of paperwork here in the mountains...

I've been on another mission, to organize all of the paperwork I have collected over the years from the Kern Valley Healthcare District. It's quite amazing how much I have, and how much room it takes up, especially when I keep it on the floor and on the bed, and on top of other surfaces.

So, I've been reading and laughing, and enjoying the second look at all this wonderfully damning material.

And after a full week I can say I'm finally half way through it. But it has been worth the time, effort and pain, to do it. (The wonderful people at Sienna Wellness put some shots in my neck, and put me back on my bicycle yesterday, and I am so grateful and you will be too.)

The Kern County Grand Jury Investigation:

I was just remembering our old friend Ed the Grand Jury investigator we called out in 2007. I found his email and phone number amongst the rubble of paperwork and wondered what had happened with him.

Last thing I remember is sitting in an unmarked car with him in front of Burger King, handing him over tapes and DVD's as well as emails and a list of witnesses, (something out of "All the President's men) and then he just disappeared.

The last I heard, he had spoken with Mr. Jamison, part of the "sticky three" board members who held back public information, (I will show you some laws I found about this) mismanaged and literally gave money to favorites, brought on a charged defendant in an elder abuse case and abused the media for his political purposes, and micromanaged the district breaking laws along the way.

Then he was gone. Did he think Mr. Jamison sounded more credible than email and audio and video evidence?

Well, I'm going to contact them again, now that the state mind you, not the county of Kern, but the state, brought charges regarding the elder abuse and the investigation with the Grand jury fizzled out.

What happened to Kern County? Where did they go? I want my evidence back, maybe I can take it to someone who cares.

I'll update you on this quest. I'm sure there's a record of the complaints. I say complaints, because there were many who backed this investigation up. He spoke to witnesses long before the state of California. Maybe they should share some information. I'll call the state and ask if they have the investigation done, by Big Ed, county investigator. If they don't, wouldn't you think that they should? He had fresh stuff, unlike the state, who came in after the parade finding only confetti and paranoia.

So, Ed the investigator just walked thru, a cursory glance, while people were fired (hey found the record of the "last thirty, dirty days" of Pam Ott too. It's been fruitful to look back.) residents were in jeopardy, and the media was twisting or unable to alert the public in a proper manner.

Get back to you on this. Let's ask Jon McQuiston our first district "county" supervisor what happened to the back up we called out in 2007.

Political Dodge Ball

Egovonix: the government style of ebonix, speaking in it's acronym ridden government tongue. Governmentese or whatever is difficult to understand thus leading to a hiding place for those in the complicated morass of laws and politics.

This healthcare district being so influenced by state and federal regulations is a tangled web of documentation and having to learn it myself, and then explain it to an audience is difficult at best.

And I still don't understand the point that ignorance of the law is no excuse, yet we need lawyers? Wouldn't that demand the law and it's peculiar vocabulary practices and rituals with gavels, bibles, and robes, be easy enough for us all to understand???

But the average person remains an outsider, kept out by the language, the money, the power, segregated, yet in charge of the vote. Politicians use the media, their own media now with the advent of mass communication via the Internet, and collude to keep us on the outside away from the handshakes and deals which go down. (though all politicians deny this and claim to be victims of the media, misunderstood, and misrepresented, they feed each other.)

So in regard to understanding this blog and not get lost in translation, my recommendation, is to recognize the complex nature of the situation we have at hand here in our isolated valley. We have financial malpractice of a general nature going on, which if we (we meaning the people with influence and power, and those elected to do their jobs) acquiesce one more time on correcting this situation, it may be the end of things.

I want to mention that people who read this blog need to understand that there are various layers of information I am putting forth, and I'm speaking to several different audiences at once. There are many "inside" jokes that the average or god help you, first time reader encounters.

And then there's the over flow of information, which is what I like to do: back it up with paperwork, video and those juicy quotes.

I'm in the habit now of putting up my posts right onto the blog, and when they are finished, as I add and subtract, then I push the finished stories to the top of the list. Dates and times of the original post changes. So, there are three under construction now.

I'm sure it's annoying for some of you and I'm sorry if it's an inconvenience to have to read me twice or even three times. (I feel for you.)

But along with this virtual journalism putting a story together while everyone is watching, I get feedback before I republish, and can hone the organization and layout again.

Isn't that great?

There are now over 210 posts on this blog, and there will be more to come as we make our journey toward justice, compassionate medical care for all, media responsibility, political oversight, and up the ladder we will go and address more issues on top of this.

Phew!!

But my activism started out young, yes, I was spreading fliers around my neighborhood trying to aid the late and great Jacques Cousteau on his mission to stop pollution from killing the oceans and the natural environment. I cried over reefs (?) as a child. What will the fish do?

My early fliers included pictures of orcas and I could draw sharks too. (A lot like I'm doing now, just with actual photos and spellcheck)

Help stop polushun donte littre your kiling the animals

That was my message. I hadn't acquired any grammar skills at that point. (I'm still working on it as you can tell.)

My homemade fliers, conceived in a seven year old mind, were interesting to the neighbors. I moved on to stopping forest fires next: that Smokey the bear... you know what I mean. After that I went into a deep childhood depression over nuclear bombs too.

UPDATE:

So, some updates: The Mt. Mesa clinical pharmacy is the issue at hand, and the financial hoodwinking going on at the hospital in regards to such.

The next issue will be compassionate care. That should always be the issue, and I hold it in high regard. The Rural Health Clinic product review, coming right up.

How you can obtain records at the hospital. Thought it was only me, you too can question the healthcare district. Let's discuss it.

Grand re-opening of the pharmacy...Board of Directors hold doors open

November meeting KVHD Board of Directors:

They looked out over the audience and wondered "who are these people?"

The KVHD board of directors, not used to seeing traffic to the microphone, were inundated with comments regarding the Mt. Mesa Clinical Pharmacy.

Now known by me, as the Kern Valley Public thrift store District, as the thrift store is supply many of the upgrades being done throughout the hospital.

The "jewel" of the district, according to Chet Beedle, KVHD CFO, is the Rural Health Clinic, making money, and getting new equipment, and I've heard there's even new cabinets. Wow, that will make them better over there (complete sarcasm here in case you think I'm being serious).

I don't know how that's going to help the services, but we are obviously pushing money over there, while the pharmacy sees cuts in staffing and no plan for bringing the pharmacy back in black.

But the public wanted to know why. Yes, telling them it's staying open is one thing, supplying the products, the customer service, that's a whole other story...

KVHD Board Chairwoman, Kay Knight, last month haulted the closure of the pharmacy, as she and three other board members voted to look again at the financial figures, citing the importance to having access to prescriptions on the south side of the lake.

As board members heard the sounds of voices, more than one, mine, at the last meeting. The importance of taking care of people here in the valley was the talk of the meeting. Victoria Alwin, Secretary of the board, pictured here, to the left.

Dr. Robert Gross, DO, look left, handled most of the questions regarding medications being asked by some audience members. Dr. Gross was thanked by an audience member for helping out in a situation where she could not get another doctor to listen.

CEO, Tim McGlew, pictured here trying to talk over a snoaring Bob Jamison, who made his point to shut down the pharmacy at the Oct. meeting, McGlew announced that they will give the pharmacy another try.

But what are we going to try and do? Just see what happens or get some of the money going to rural hellth clinic and move it into the pharmacy, that's what I would do.

Jamison is on the radio right now, "buy local." Well that's what we're going to have to do now. Shop local at the pharmacy if you're over here on the south side, make sure to stop by.

(Bob are you going to buy local. BOBBBBB????)

So, you wanted to be a Kern Valley Healthcare district board member, well

So, you wanted to a Kern Valley Healthcare board member or even administrator in the wake of state criminal charges, state budget cuts, federal healthcare reform, an uncertain future, and a poor little pharmacy that could.

I wanted to hear more from the board of directors tonight at the meeting, more in the way of questions, throw in a few thoughtful suggestions, maybe some input generally, but I didn't hear any; I don't know where they stand on all the things discussed; in other words I didn't learn alot from them.

An unusually scant finance report followed.

But the public had a say, people had a say tonight and the whole table full of board members, a CEO who did defend the CFO and his original analysis of the pharmacy, though he modified it later (more on that), a Clinical Control Officer, the Control Officer, a lawyer of course, and an adminstrative secretary, (the minds behind the hospital) heard what was on the public's mind: the pharmacy and employees.

It was very specific to the topic as much has been said about the pharmacy in the paper on the blog as there were initial reports of instant closure, as was being reported as the pharmacy was losing money.

But resident reiterated the necessity of this little business our hospital cannot run. They don't have the money to stock the shelves with medications,, although they did specify it was "hard to get" medication, which is not specific enough, and they seemed to be against spending the money to run the pharmacy properly.

I heard little from the board as the chairwoman deferred to the CEO, Tim McGlew and Chief Financial Officer, Chet Beedle. Board members were too quiet.

The public, many being new to the KVHD scene, was inquisitive and polite. But the board was overwhelmed, but Dr. Gross did add as much information as he could to the different medication scenarios arose during the questions.

I say this because I know it's difficult to deal with the public, and being a public servant really requires some thinking before leaping.

There's so much confusion that arises from the details that go along with this hospital, its role as a public owned entity (we pay property taxes) with elected officials.

We have been, I have been, in the past mostly, stonewalled by these people. They assumed by just not answering they could get away with this sort of behavior with no recourse, and they are right, they have accomplished just that.

It's a pattern here, like kids who see other kids getting away with things, they pass along he bad habits, and I've seen hints of it here.

I must say there are those who are speaking out, the CCO, Cynthia Burciaga, has more than generous with her lists of projects and the successes, the numbers of staff used 3.2 or better, but sometimes we don't understand what that means or the context of the numbers. The effort is appreciated.

On the pharmacy, because it has been such a concern, it will remain open, with some limitations put on it, such as hours, staffing. But little in the way of revenue generation talk was produced, and the subject was dominated by the public concerns.

I know that several of the board members do care about what has happened, but I would like to see and hear more input. We need a strategic planning event. (We can all bring our own lunches)

I also realize our new CEO has his hands full coming into this situation with the financial as well as fellow administrative members.

A citizen who has been around and has been both political as well as cheerleading for the hospital, gave speech, I kid you not, on the great job current finance officer, Beedle, was doing and has been doing.

She gloated about his turning around a bad situation and she agreed with his faulty assertions about the pharmacy, though that's not how she put it.

Marge Swendleson, yes, she would say something like this, that would be expected, but our CEO, defended Beedle by saying the auditing firm which reviewed the pharmacy agreed with Beedle but they want to keep the pharmacy open for the public.

When I said Beedle should go right along with his analysis which in turn has cost the pharmacy business and reputation, McGlew said Beedle has 25 or 2 million years of experience, I guess he just wanted to throw that in.

The night found the board and administration facing questions from the public and the answers weren't there. I am asking for stronger goals and direction.

Yes, we have to look at every part of this operation, and all its services. We have telemedicine on its way. Some people who have been to college recently have taken classes where the teacher is somewhere in the bathtub or cooking, and they teach the class via television.

This way the hospital can consult with specialists other doctors who can give their input on a patient, help diagnose whether a patient should be moved or can they be taken care of here at home.

The skilled nursing facility always a topic got top billing as making money, less than expected, but more than hoped for.

But I reminded Mr. Beedle after his glowing report from Swendleson that he and the two members of the board voted, allotted a lot of money to an old friend of ours, namely Rick Carter, Former CEO. Now we're pinching pennies, but less than a year ago Carter had some agreement to have a train ticket to the train station and at least one way to Seattle.

However, what got me about these outrageous give aways, was that KVHD paid for his lunch. He couldn't pay for his own lunch?

What a meeting again.

There was a closed session after the meeting regarding the lawsuits which have hit the hospital since the nursing center disaster almost three years ago.

More to follow...

Pam Ott appears: at Kern County Court, case continued, information collected

Dr. Hoshang Pormir, Gwen Hughes DON, and Pamela Ott former CEO, of the Kern Valley Healthcare District agreed to waive their rights to a speedy preliminary hearing as the court date today was continued until Jan. 5.

But it was an interesting day which has lead me to all sorts of vital information which I will turn into predictions. Some of which I will tell you, some not.

Gwen Hughes scapegoat from the beginning

I stood in the hall way in the basement of the courtroom in front of the court room the defendants were listed to be heard for the pre-prelim.

Gwen Hughes, who has taken most of the blame by witnesses and by the administrators of the hospital, sat across from me in the hallway in her wheelchair.

Hughes is reported to have suffered from Polio, and uses her wheelchair on a part time basis.

When Hughes started her employment at KVHD which lasted all of six months, she came into the skilled nursing facility on the heels of a negative report from public health on the conditions in the skilled nursing facility.

One of the many things needing to be corrected according to the state in March of 2006, was the use of physical restraints. A dignified dining experience was also cited as it is easier with a short staff to feed the residents in their rooms rather than have employees take them to the dining room.
Another issue was the fact that the administrator, Pam Ott, did not have a nursing home administrators license, and that there was no full time director of nursing.
Certain drugs were being utilized, such as Ativan, and psychotropic drugs as well.
A bigger issue played off by the CNO of the time, Sharon Brucker, was the fact that patients were losing weight, a lot of weight.

So, when Hughes came on as full time director of nursing for the skilled nursing facility, she had a lot of cleaning up to do. And one the things she allegedly had experience in was the medications used in geriatric homes.

Hughes started her job in August of 2006, and left as Ott said at one time or was fired as Ott said another time.

The director of nursing was "allowed" to do what she did. She didn't do it on her own.

A CNA told me that when she met Hughes, she was told all patients come out of their rooms for meals. The nurses aid said she tried to tell her some of them chose not to and some could not.

It was all about correcting the mistakes from the prior year, but there was the issue that staff had been cut, and there wasn't a full contingent in the SNF at the time.

Which would lead to certain safety issue situations.

As Ott called the problems in the skilled nursing facility a "system's failure," you can't help but say the system's failure took place "before" the start of Gwen Hughes' employment, and went on afterwards.

How can you blame that on a person who was in a very temporary situation? The leadership however should have known and not tried to escape responsibility, but use it to make the improvements.

Risk assessment by liability carrier Betahc

We recently heard at the last board meeting in October that the hospital''s liability insurance company, Beta group, had recently completed a risk assessment of the nursing center and were impressed though they had some suggestions.

It came to my attention recently that the liability company was in the skilled nursing center under the guidance of the CNO, at the end of 2006. If this was the case, then they also did not catch the problems, and are therefore part of the problem.

The court date, today

Pam Ott and three unidentified people, except for the fourth, Jim Faulkner Ott's attorney, who spotted me early on and kept all conversation with his client down the hall away from me.

But today, it wasn't Jim Faulkner not realizing I was standing there listening intently to every word and even doing some lip reading: it was Steve Muni, a deputy attorney general with state medi-cal fraud office.

While I standing there watching Gwen Hughes adjust her gloves she uses for her wheelchair, her attorney, Bruce Blythe came out of the courtroom with another man, unidentified at the time, and they began chatting like friends.

I'd seen and listened to Bruce Blythe in the hall of the court last time I was there, in September, he didn't seem to be quite as friendly nor was he beaming and grinning from ear to ear.

So, noticing the blushing Blythe I turned my attention to whatever was making him so darn happy. He even turned and waved at his client who was stuck out in the hall.

As I listened to the conversation I realized something was happening in that the defendants and their attorneys were so pliable as to waive their rights to a speedy trial. All three defendants did this.

Why would you do that unless there will be some plea bargaining out.

The reason given for the continuance was that the attorneys for Pormir were going to be in court during this time frame.

That doesn't make much sense either unless you happen to overhear a conversation in the hall.

After we saw the judge

We all filed into the courtroom and the judge, I'll get her name for you since she seems to think it's okay to let elder abuse defendant, Pam Ott, swing in like she was getting a quick lunch, without bail, or a truly practical set of specific parameters.

The judge didn't look at Ott as being an imminent threat, but she is more of a threat than the other two.

Though Ott is not charged for what she did to the employees at the hospital, or the defamation of all who opposed her, she is not only a threat to the elderly but to those who would disagree or expose her bad deeds.

And she can lead people down the wrong path, expound a faulty philosophy, lie to a whole community: yet, she isn't a threat.

I do give credit to the woman from the Board of Registered Nursing who gave the judge a round of why Ott should have to check in before being employed in any "leadership" role. I agree. And, sorry I didn't catch the name of this woman, but she seemed to be the only one making sense today.

The judge, of course, fluffed up her power and denied the Board of Nursing's request.

Now the Board of Nursing has a complaint filed by me personally, as Ott claimed to be a "Nurse Practioner" which is much different than being a Registered Nurse, which is the license she has on file.

I have an email where Ott claims these extra credentials which I sent to the Board of Nursing with my complaint.

So, Ott allowed a stranger, a new director of nursing to run the nursing center. The CNO, Brucker, did the same thing. They covered it up, which many people can testify to. And before the proverbial meltdown occurred, the CNO left her position and a few months later Ott ran out the door.

Elderly residents at the very least were not given proper attention which may have been more the reason that there were allegedly untimely deaths. Not staffing the necessary amount of staff is bad enough, but it's the kind of staff that counts: it's the nurse's aides who are closest to the patients.

Hello Mr. Muni, I'm Laura Hart

After court the players in the game the state and the attorneys headed out the courtroom door with me in chase, looking for Steve Muni.

I introduced myself, which of course, made him irritated because now he knew who the person was who was so interested in his conversation with the defense attorney for Hughes.

I asked a few questions about the continuance which he said had to do with Dr. Pormir's attorney's schedules.

I said what will happen at this status conference, why are they having it before the preliminary hearing?

Muni told me, "somebody could plead out."

The next question was were we (the state) ready to go to trial.

"we're always prepared to go to trial," he said.

Pam Ott pacing up and down the hall

She must have passed me at least four times, as Ott waited outside the court room, while attorneys piled up on the inside. She never looked at me, though I did smile and said hello. (just trying to be polite)

She seemed to be in a good mood, but still would not look ovedr at me.

Come Jan.5 we will find out if the state is ready to go for trial and if they are going to add other defendants and charges.

I'm not soo sure we should get our hopes up on this be disappointed.

Board of Directors reular monthly board meeting will be held tomrrow night, Nov. 4 at 5:30 pm in the hospital cafeteria.

With all the informtion out there about the pharmacy, we will hopefully hear about the hospital's new strategy, the employees situation, and what to do about Cheif Financial Officer, Chet Beedle.

Ask questions get answers (even though so many have been lies, still do it)as it will prove time and again that the hospital administrators and some board members are not telling the truth.

Long Time KVHD Radiologist retires, (but then so did Bret Favre)

A digital scan of the retirement party


Dr. Fraser, pictured here dressed to the nines, smiles as she arrives at her retirement dinner last Saturday night at the Kern Valley Healthcare District hospital.

A party was thrown last Saturday night to celebrate the years of service Dr. Eleanor Fraser devoted to the Kern Valley Hospital and members of the community.

Fraser has read many a x-ray, CT scan, ultra sound, during her years with the district.

Even health problems didn't keep the dedicated professional from taking night calls and reading the test results for those sometimes in emergency situations.

Now the hospital has stepped into the 21st century, utilizing, radiologists in Bakersfield to read the digital graphs over a system recently put into place which allows the graphs to be sent via computer to an on call radiologist.

But her years with the district have made Fraser a well known name and face who will hopefully not be forgotten for her service to a rural community.

While accepting her numerous accolades, Fraser, who graduated from Stanford, gave the audience a treat by recounting numerous stories, which included surviving a plane crash.

Her rich history was well received by the audience and then Fraser told all that she would miss working them and taking care of the community. It was an end to an era as Fraser, who has spent considerable time with KVHD, was surrounded by the people she has worked with, friends, and even, Congressman Kevin McCarthy paid his respects to the dedicated radiologist.

Fraser showed she had a good sense of humor when she put the audience in stitches with a story about a GI exam which went very wrong and involved an exploding colostomy bag. "The best thing I was a doctor and didn't have to clean up the mess."

If you've been a resident of the community for any length of time and you've a broken bone or some other issue which brought you to the hospital, you've probably been helped, whether you or not, by Dr. Eleanor Fraser.

Thank you Dr. Fraser and we wish you the best...

Do you like pets? or do they chase you? Are you tired of complaining about the government? Two blog sites to enjoy

It has begun: the new blog sites

Although the website is still in the formative stages, we do have a new blog site for those who love animals. We are currently collecting pictures of animals of the KRV and readers are welcome to send pictures of their beloved pets to be put up on the site.
Just send the picture to hartofthekrv@msn.com and add a description of the pet and a story to go along with it.
http://krvpetcorner.blogspot.com/

We have just started the site, but press the control button and click on link to get to the KRV Pet Corner.

Also, in motion, or more motion, is our "Your government, your problem: an owner's manual" blog which is being worked on right now.

It is not about particular political views, it's about all views. We have writers who are conservative, liberal, offbeat and in between. I plan on really moving on this blog, as there are many issues important to people right now that are of an urgent nature.

One of the blogs is called, "Pickpocketing the Poor," regarding California's decision to take money from the people who can afford it the least.

I've also started a series called "I love California," which is my personal reflections on the state and it's problems.

http://yourgovernmentyourproblem.blogspot.com/

Again, press the control button and click on link.

Thelma and Louise: Kern Valley Healthcare District elder abuse case next week!

In the annual Medicare/Medicaide nursing center survey of February of 2006, the former CEO, Pamela Ott, had tags on the report which indicated she needed to be in possession of a Nursing Home Administrator's license.


Though the license is relatively easy to get, there is a state program which puts on a test, the administrator passes, and you've got yourself a license.

Oh, but with this license comes responsibility. It means that if anything happens in the nursing center, that person with the NHA license is automatically the responsible party.

Ott never tried to get the license even though she says in her correspondence shown below (click on paperwork to read):
"I do have many years of experience as an administrator of a distinct part long term care facility as a division of healthcare district healthcare systems," she claimed in the letter to CMS.

But the conclusion to the letter states that the Chief nursing officer, Sharon Brucker, has all the responsibility for the skilled nursing center.

Brucker over the course of 2006, gave all the nursing center reports to the board, but by the end of the year, in December, Brucker gave her resignation as CNO.

It's an interesting resignation, (It's on the blog in it's entirety) as Brucker goes about telling us how bad the financial problems were in the past with the hospital.

But she turns about and talks about how Ott and CFO, Chet Beedle, are the bringers of change.

"Pam and Chet are a very good, strong administrative team (Team? This statement indicates they all knew about the problems) Kern Valley Healthcare District is very fortunate to have these individuals in their roles. So, many positive things have happened. We have equipment to care for our patients, (state of the art), we have services that are financially solvent (which one's are they, sharon?), that staff has consistently had two salary increases a year (which staff, the one's on salary only?), the staff has a funded retirement plan and we have supplies to take care of our patients (Oh, do you? Why don't you talk to Cardinal and a few others)."

(There were no changes which occurred under Ott's leadership which corresponds with Brucker's claims. Yes, there was a lot of talk, a planning meeting, money spent, but nothing changed for the better...)

Brucker didn't stop there she attacked former board member, Bob Knight, continuing the urban legend. Saying he crossed the line.

Ott and Brucker sure crossed a line, as they both were involved in keeping the truth of the SNF problems out of the watchful eyes of certain board members. As well as a recorded meeting between myself, Brucker, Ott, Chet Beedle and Michelle Rosado, which lead to private personnel information being shown to a reporter. That information is also on the blog.

Brucker's report was just another example of defamation and propoganda.

Ott announced Brucker's resignation as if she were leaving the hospital. She said she would miss her. (what narrowly miss her walking down the hallways? Things were getting weird at the time, as employees were scared and leaving, and the board was setting up it's bulwark to deal with the situation)

In the letter to CMS, Ott tells the government oversight of the SNF, that she is not in charge, but the CNO is:

"It is a fact that I do not have an administration license and the Director of Nursing (chief nursing officer) does have responsibility for both the acute care and long term care units."

So, who was responsible? And who tried to wriggle out of responsibility? Thelma and Louise or AKA Pam Ott and Sharon Brucker. Brucker stepped down and Ott took off as soon as the notice of closure of the nursing home was printed in the Bakersfield Californian.

This is their paperwork. Department of Justice, I'm sure you've seen this document, but you understand that DHS was already down their throats in 2006.

They were using physical restraints in a manner not in accordance with state and federal laws. Patients were losing weight. There was some issues about the drugs the residents were receiving too.

But in August 2006, Ott and Brucker, welcomed the new Director of Nursing, Gwen Hughes, who is also charged with elder abuse and assault and will be in court next week. The two administrators told us that she was the expert in geriatrics and will be making changes.

Those changes were the type of drugs they used. But again it was not the drugs as they are used regularly: it was the lack of staff to keep an eye on the people who were on these psychotropics.

But the nurses were busy trying to keep the nursing center afloat. As the year 2006 moved along, so did the problems.

Nurses tried to bring the issues to the administrator, Ott, CNO, Sharon Brucker, and the board of director's themselves.

The board ignored the problems, calling the employees "disgruntled."

Except two board members who tried to get word out to the state agencies, but were blocked by the three "killer B's" Brad, Barbara, and BJ.

Will the DOJ take this into consideration?

I hope you will Donny, Steve and Jerry. You have an opportunity to save a small rurual hospital: what are you going to do? I'll be there in court and I'll be able to see what the attorney general has in store for us.

He could leave us hanging, with some of the former staff and administrators who continue to degrade the hospital.

Or, a miracle could occur, and the DOJ will do its job and help out a "small" rural community. We need your help Jerry, Steve and Donny.

You've got two more to get in court: give it a try, please.