A month of the bumps at KVHD

After the CCO quit smoking, she lit up the P&P

There have been a lot of rumor and innuendo thrown about recently, and I'm not talking about my standard "highly theoretical suppositions" such as the one about the less than open, board meeting with two board members.

I retracted the opinion that a highly suspicious meeting was held without the knowledge and or invitation to the other board members making it an actual meeting, special, urgent, or otherwise.

However, it's true the Brown Act, which lists the laws by which a public board must conduct itself, is rarely, if ever, supported by the Grand Jury, or county prosecutors.

Tricky stuff when two board members start talking about a general obligation bond which may be voted upon at sometime in the near future.

But we have put that behind us, and hope that the rest of the communications remain out in the open for the public to digest as they are just learning thru my survey phone calls what KVHD is: your hospital in a public district where board members are voted in.

And what a GOB is: a general obligation bond spread out over thirty years where homeowners would pay off this debt with property taxes limited to such amounts like $100 for every 100K of assessed value.

Levy a tax: because the hospital is public, in a public district, built with public monies, partially funded by community property tax dollars, the hospital could raise money it needs* by raising this tax for a few short years rather than 30 or maybe 60 or even 90...

sound crazy? What if they need another bond. If we are comparing ourselves to other hospitals and districts like Tehachapi, then you see that one bond may not be enough. And they will come crying back to us because they have not taken care of the money they have.

But they start by taking the first GOB, and then if they can successfully build something or create services that fit this community and are not the type which will create lawsuits, then they may have saved the day.

If for some reason, anything, and I mean anything happens and that money the community is paying up is misspent or not built or not as it was described in the brochure: this place will go down. So, I would think they would want this process to be precise and open, backed by leaders like Assemblywoman, Jean Fuller, and overseen and scrutinized by county supervisor, Jon Mcquiston, who represents our district.

When will we see either of these two or Kevin McCarthy, still scrapping away about federal healthcare reform, but not here where we are the people who vote for him.

This whole process should have started last year as I kept crowing there were serious financial problems and we needed to get on it. Nobody did anything. And the CFO lied on tape on camera that everything was fine, we were putting away all our money we owe, nothing unusual.

Then "BOOM" we're in trouble, help us, we need volume, we sold our mammography, we can't afford to run the district properly. This is practically criminal.

Flashback to Measure M 2006

Same time, same channel it seems, we are late for the party and have no real data and don't have an architect or a serious financial advisor (and I'm not talking about the financial manager Chet Beedle whose recent success was in obtaining a credit card to pay for the pharmacy stock to the tune of 90K. Go Chet.)

We did the exact same thing in 2006 and lost the election. And we had an architectural plan which wouldn't work, would cost more than the 12.5 million the community was to pay, and while we were being lead by Pam Ott to do this GOB, the nursing center and our residents there were allegedly being quieted as they didn't need any problems while they tried to get their general obligation bond.

Coincidence or not?

Now we are doing it again. Still with Chet Beedle, though he will not be in charge of the monies if indeed it is a bond we want and not to simply raise taxes for a few years. But Chet will be in charge of some of that money and that should be looked into very closely by this board of directors.

And if there is a fair and just system, which there isn't, maybe we will get a couple new board members who aren't afraid to give the boot to a financial guy who would actually agree to a "time and material" contract which gave a company more than two million.

How do I know? Because I have the receipts. And I still can't tell what we paid for. And we didn't get what we wanted which was a clean bill of health for the nursing center.

After millions were spent on the nursing center, and criminal charges were filed, and civil suits are waiting in the wings, we go to the community and say: Hey, what else are you going to do? You have to have a hospital. Pay up or dry up the whole valley.

Next up: A few clarifications

I was told in detail by the former CCO, Cynthia Burciaga, that CEO, Tim McGlew told her about private information regarding my healthcare at the Rural Health Clinic. I challenged the situation with the CEO, and was told that he didn't do this.
Okay.
Then I was told that the maintenance man that appeared suddenly at the September board meeting and began hassling us about our camera. He told our cameraman he couldn't film.

I told him we would film, and we did. I made a remark on this blog about how strange it was that suddenly this person was giving me problems. I was told that he was there for some reason from the past, and to help with the microphones. Funny enough that very night the microphones were off, and I said to this guy why don't you go fix the microphones and quit worrying about what I'm doing.

It's on the blog that I said this and then seven months later I hear that it was purposeful that he was brought to that meeting, from the former CCO.

Okay.

What am I supposed to do. Nothing.

In all of these cases there is no agency that really fulfills it's obligation to not just write laws but to actually provide oversite and penalty. Nothing like that happens, it's a lie. This situation at the KVHD is an example of how the government pretends to work.

Jerry Brown, the California Attorney General, who wants to trade in his Prius for a Hummer, is currently the example of justice in this state. Question is what kind of justice is he hawking?

With the wave of his hand he could clean up our hospital, the situation between our hospital and Cal Mtg., demand the county begin an oversight committee to go along with the hospital which may or may not be here in a year or so.

Justice costs money

We all know that justice costs money. We have to gather the attorneys who get paid to stare at the walls, it's all about money. Big money.

Is the Kern River Valley worth as much as Goonies gone wild on pills? Or my favorite the urgent press conference regarding the tragic overdose of that example of saline implants and botox showers, Anna Nicole Smith, who was not a victim, but simply someone who chose to use drugs, lots of them.

The attorney general has a budget and if they don't see some benefit in your case, they aren't going to spend the money. Anna Nicole was famous and Jerry Brown is ready to call a moving company to the Governor's mansion, so she won out.

When will we win out?

I've not even begun to tell you what has happened to others at our hospital, ER, and Rural Health Clinic. I've been collecting stories for years and now we will finally get down to business: protecting the public, stopping the prejudice and getting them to walk the walk.

I know there are good people in this hospital and they would do a wonderful job if only they could. But with money misspent, lies to cover the dire situation which actually exists, board members (well, some are trying, just not quite strong enough to wield an axe and that is what is needed) willing to look away and be non-confrontational, nothing will change except the rapidity of the down hill slide.

Get past the finger pointing

With all sorts of stories cropping up, a rather thoughtless remark made at the last board meeting which ended up in the local "noose" paper.

Whoever is telling the truth or hiding the partial truth I don't care about it's too small to pick up with boxing gloves on. I do care about the employees at the pharmacy, the way money is monitored and spent, and the possibility of a 30 year obligation on this community; those are my concerns.

And as you found out, my concerns are for the health and safety of the patients including myself.

This is a business where cutting back or constantly using the CT scan or the inability to act as if we are "neighbors and friends" not judge harshly anyone who may be a junkie. If they are a junkie, hide your prescription pad, and shut up, it's their life. If they have children though, definitely report that situation.

The room for improvement is the largest room in the world-anonymous

Coming up: the April 6 board meeting. Pictures and quotes.