He thinks it's funny: Do you DHS, Jerry Brown, CMS, DA?

Jerry Brown: it's never too late...

KVHD board meeting, June 2009:

Feeling safe and secure he will never have to face his responsibility for the disasters/failures/crimes of the Kern Valley Healthcare District, the district's employees and patients have been enduring for the last two plus years, board member, Brad Armstrong, reacted when I told him it was sick he was still a free man while a doctor and pharmacist pay his toll.

He laughed and smirked.

I asked him, "Do you think that's funny?"

I'm sure Dr. Pormir isn't laughing and neither are the families of the patients in the skilled nursing facility, or the former employees scapegoated and known always as "disgruntled."

While the perpetrators of the disasters sit at our KVHD board table each month, Armstrong, Bob Jamison and Chet Beedle, CFO, without conscience or an understanding of how many lives have been altered because of them. I'm going to make sure they know what their crimes have reaped.

Again, I repeat as I have written in personal correspondence with many of our elected officials, you let the leaders go, to continue the same indifference to laws and ethics while you took the "worker bees."

You want to kill the swarm you go after the queen and her mates. (Don't forget, former CEO of KVHD, Pam Ott, now infesting Sierra King District in Reedly, CA: Oh yeah, she's a witness for the state.)

Apparently the Department of Justice doesn't scare our Mr. Armstrong, I believe he thinks he is untouchable. He should probably take heed there are those out there that "know" what he did.

Bob Jamison has laughed off investigations crowing from his sqawk box at QAB media about the impotence of government. So, now he faces a new hurdle at the next board meeting and every meeting thereafter: having to listen to his own emails being read onto the hospital record.

And Chet Beedle with his funny abacus will never admit to the short staffing, the personal attacks on employees, the grandiose contracts, the short sighted bond refinance, so we are just going to have to help him out with the truth.

But once the state investigators looked away from KVHD, the element just reassembled, added new members, burrowed back in, becoming even more fearless.

At a special board meeting in March, I was asked to get a report for a TV station. When I entered the board room, the board counsel was giving me the synopsis over the phone, when Brad Armstrong stepped in front of me, clicked off the phone as the attorney was in mid sentence, and told me, "meeting adjourned." (Worthy to note, the chairman is the only one to say, meeting adjourned. He's not the chairman. I guess he's still living in the middle chair of his mind.)

I protested that I had not gotten the report. While I was protesting the cameraman from the TV station was getting hit with sprinklers as he tried to film in front of the hospital.

We went up to the bench at the entrance of the facility to do the interview, and suddenly, the sprinklers from the tree, sprayed us. We laughed and I explained to the startled cameraman that it was just the nonsense of stupid people. (He fixed the sprinkler by the way. Chet you owe him five bucks. Or maybe you would prefer he be your sprinkler consultant and you could contract for say, half a million?)

The healthcare district spent $60,000 on a public relations firm to try and change its damaged image.

They then really helped their marred image by turning the sprinklers on a cameraman from KGET, Channel 17 news, out of Bakersfield last March.

Opinion #7-13 Laura Hart:

Mr. Attorney General, if the government cannot serve the type of justice which produces healing by removing the malignant force, then it would be best to do nothing at all. You removed some healthy tissue but left most of the tumors behind. Not a good prognosis.

By ignoring the leaders in your indictments, much like leaving ruthless leaders from authoritarian regimes in power, you let them continue the same actions but with impunity.

Unfortunately, the message the state sent to the Kern Valley was that we are only a provocative headline for you sir and your public relations staff who are working on your next political campaign.

Dr. Pormir chided me two years ago that, "you, Laura, know nothing about politics."

Given our respective situations, related to the political machine, I'd say we're becoming frickin' experts.

"Oh, we're goin' to the courthouse and we're gonna get prosecuted: Okay Jerry, Donny and Steve, you're up: but you forgot a couple

It's court time again folks, Superior Court, Kern County, elder abuse charges, what can the potential Governor do?

I've always liked Jerry Brown, but then I'm old enough to remember all of his terms in office, as well, as some of his campaign promises from the past. I also remember the idea of flat taxing which absolutely drove the inmates at the Capitol crazy, but, hey, I was all for it.

And I'm all for this too: Justice.

Can you do it Jerry Brown? You said you would. You sent people to our little village to investigate, even though I was here (not much I've been able to do).

But can you bring justice and finally, maybe, a conclusion to our drama?

You are a good writer, Mr. Brown, why I was just reading some of your stuff. It's promising that you understand how a "corporation" can use it's staff to commit crimes. In fact, this "whistleblower" story your office is working on is quite interesting.

So when two whistleblowers filed suit under seal in April 2008, attorneys from my office immediately investigated - examining hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, interviewing witnesses and subpoenaing records.

Do you think, Department of Justice, that you now have enough evidence to prosecute this case from the top, where it started? Did you read hundreds of thousands of pages of KVHD documents? I know you didn't because they were shredded. But you may have got a look at some of them, eh?

Is justice here in the KRV worth the same amount of time and effort as does a big, notorious, corporation? (I guess we're about to find out)

You see below the 2007 meeting post, and you read Miss Ott's words and you know as well as I do that she's lying through her teeth. You watch as the board let's her do it. (except for two board members who tried to get to the truth, but had no backing from this community, or the grand jury, or anyone in the media, except me-dia)

I can tell you if you put her in front of a jury and you let people talk, finally after feeling they've been on a stranglehold for three years, you will get the truth. You will know how this whole horrible drama came down from the top, the board, the CNO, and finally harming the patients.

You have the power, I have only more time than you. You also know that I will be there at court, both days, next Tuesday, Nov.3 and Wed. Nov. 4, for the prepre and preliminary (if indeed there is not a plead out).


I'll be the one wearing "Red, White, Black and blue."

I've been thinking that Pam Ott, former Kern Valley Healthcare District, CEO, the leader of the pack of trouble which hit this community hospital back in 2006 and 2007, thought she got away.

Her attorney in September, Jim Faulkner, criminal lawyer at large, told a reporter from the Bakersfield Californian that Ott's case, was well, basically, nothing. She's innocent and we're all idiots or persecutors, not prosecutors.

Fortunately, the Californian reporter didn't seem to be as dumb as her attorney was playing him, and neither are we. Especially those of us who lived through this nightmare.

We know what happened Pam. It was Christmas of 2006:

Yes, here's a photo op we took Christmas of 2006, Pam invited me over to the skilled nursing facility with my camera and my dog to sing to the residents.

I'm all for singing, though, Ott should be singing another tune right now, in my not so humble opinion.

If you look closely at the picture you can see the discomfort on the faces of the people being asked to fake as if there is nothing going on. Why they let this idiot reporter right into ground zero and I didn't see a thing. Except I did.

After the fake caroling, and the addition to our group of songbirds, of former KVHD CNO, Sharon Brucker, who, according to paperwork shown below, was in charge of the skilled nursing facility during the time it used physical and chemical restraints, but happened to duck out, during the holidays, as the chestnuts began roasting on the open fire.

The employees watched me with some regard as I walked the halls of the skilled nursing facility with Miss Ott.

A resident and her husband, began to get loud, and they were yelling. Ott stopped by and began talking to the man. (The wife is still in the SNF, her husband died recently. The woman is having problems, I visited her, she's got anxiety I'm sure from her husband's death, but then there was the thing about moving her out of her room she had with him. Oh, well. They know better than I do about these matters.)

Ott began talking really loud, like they couldn't hear her, but that wasn't the problem. She was trying to cover up the fact that they were saying something she didn't want me to hear. "help."

I've been in a lot of nursing homes, and have seen a lot of things happen in them. I had two grandparents in homes at some point, and would visit them regularly, or when I had the chance. So, I was not shocked or surprised by the behaviors seen in nursing homes.

But the whole thing seemed strange as Ott tried to quiet the couple as if I would suspect something. I say she was starting to get paranoid, which lead her to blaming almost everyone for the problems.

Let's just say it: she didn't know what she was doing. The system failure Ott speaks of occurred before Ott arrived. She was the system failure. The failure of the board of directors and former CEO to actually research Ott's background.

Now, how is she going to explain in court the resume. The college called Kennedy/Western University, an online, diploma mill, which hands out certificates to those who "pay."

But she couldn't do it alone. Where are the others Mr. Brown? It's Friday, why haven't we seen at least two more brought up on charges. I know, I know for a fact, you can prove it. I hope it's not the money. I hope we are currently running off priniciples and the idea that justice can be served even if it's not on a platter.

Let your witnesses speak. Go to court and you will hear the truth. No plea bargains.

Why is my case not listed?

I was just checking the Kern County Superior Court website to see if there were any new arrivals posted there.

I entered a couple names into the search engine and they didn't show up.

http://www.co.kern.ca.us/courts/crimcal/crim_index_case_detail.asp

Now, I know that there's a way to do this and a way not to do this. If I were Ott's attorney, I would be thinking, "good" they didn't bring in anyone else. Therefore, I can prove my case, by saying, "why just poor Pammy?"

You can't do that, blame it all on her. She had a CNO in charge of the nursing center, it's her fault.

(If I was her attorney, I would do that.)

So, bring them in, Jerry. Bring in all the trouble and let them twist while the rest of us testify to what we know.

I'll have more for us all to consider on Monday, the day before we find out if the state does have the ability to bring justice to an open wound which continues to fester while there are still those present at the hospital and on the board of directors who are responsible for the disaster.

You have the power. And I have a blog. (Gosh, that hurts.)

Paperwork and quotes coming up next: It was the CNO in charge, according to Ott's correspendence with the Department of Health Services, who by the way, has its own responsibility in this matter. Apparently, they are regular "visitors" to the hospital now, after the fact. But where were they? And where were the witnesses?

It's not over until it's...probably still not over...

Okay, Donny Fong, Jerry Brown, I'm sending you the information, but with some hesitation

"Injustice anywhere, is a threat to justice everywhere," Martin Luther King Jr.

As I'm sitting here, paperwork scattered all around me, digging through the past to turn this information over to the Department of Justice for their potential "real" investigation, including our old Diva, or CEO, Pam Ott, I cannot help but be bothered by certain things.

Oh, those things which don't add up, niggle at me, until I can hardly sleep.

Like these documents which clearly show that Pam Ott, the hospital board, the board's counsel, the CNO, the staff, all mandated reporters, knew about the problems, which included serious short staffing, and mismanagement.

A mandated reporter is anyone who knows or even just suspects there might be elder abuse. Similar to a good samaritan. You don't have to be a nurse or doctor, you could be a visitor, a maintenance person, a dietitian, a secretary, an accountant, but you have to notify someone if you think there is a problem.

My question to the state is if you took three why didn't you take everyone based on the elder abuse mandated reporting laws?

Or were the investigators fooled and easily manipulated like the rest of us into believing the leadership on the board and administration, human resources, were just "victims?"

And I'm wondering why the state's current case is so limited in its scope, and so out of touch with what really happened to cause the system failure in the KVHD skilled nursing facility?

It couldn't be simply the use of psychotropic drugs, as they are legal, prescribed and administered everyday in nursing homes across the country.

And when I say system failure that goes up the ladder doesn't it. You can't tell me there aren't pages full of penal codes that could've been used to punish the real problems at the top.

But it would take effort and money. It's a long story we have at KVHD, but once understood, it could be clarified in court.

It's not impossible. We know there are many laws supporting cases like this including the "whistle blower" act which I believe was enacted in response to the Enron scandal. What is peculiar to Enron is that the problem was at the top.

Enron wasn't the only paper shredding, employee bullying, justice obstructing organization, (KVHD) and hence laws were written to deal with that type of situation.

Employees of this hospital work for the biggest employer in the valley, and that should have been factored into this case, because it shows reasons for the actions and inactions of some of the staff.

Justice is just a word, the action behind that ideal is what counts. Calling what we have seen here at KVHD justice, would be like me calling Pam Ott's leadership, healthcare reform.

Elder abuse may have been a result of mismanagement, but it happened because the hospital let it happen. In fact they refused to stop the insanity and they were aided and abetted by big brother.

Let me tell you when the "sticky three" board members, (Brad Armstrong, Bob Jamison, and Barbara Casas) the CEO, CFO and others who knew the situation at the nursing facility, and for that matter, in the hospital in general, were let "off the hook" they thought they were impervious.

The DOJ, the Department of Health Services, the Kern County District Attorney's office, actually gave the criminal element at KVHD the confidence to freely short staff, allow an old system and old guard to remain in power, and then watch as leadership stepped down and ran out of town, untouched.

Yet the three people blamed, indicted, are gone, and the problems continued. Why? An inadequate investigation maybe?

Just three months ago, before a recent change in management, I walked in to the nursing center one day to find the staffing sheet not filled out and was told the SNF survey was not "ready" to be looked at by the public.

The hospital has spent almost three million dollars on the nursing facility consultants and temporary staff since the meltdown in 2007, yet the basics were not covered.

And in my opinion, there was no oversite of these administrators, no oversite of the money on the contracts, no oversight of personnel and policies, staffing, and a general attitude that if we close our eyes it will go away. As long as there were no reports from DHS, then it was considered good.

As a self reporting facility, the hospital adminstrator is required by law to report to the state any problems. I guess if you don't report it, then there are none. (Yeah.)

Complaints were recently revealed at our August board meeting regarding the use of "pink ladies" (not the drink) in the skilled nursing facility.

It was said that these volunteers spoke with Tracy Brown, the former nursing home administrator, and another former CEO, Rick Carter. They said they were not heard and nothing was done about their concerns.

It's a year later and finally these people spoke up. I think it is because they are beginning to believe things can change if you continue to do the right things, speak out, and not play small town, I'm a big fish, politics.

The DOJ has another chance to do something that they may not even know they can do, and that is to correct the situation, for all of us.

I know Mr. Fong's career is not going to be made here in the Kern River Valley, so I don't imagine he has too many sleepless nights over the dung trap of deception which occurred here. But his decisions regarding this case, will certainly make or break the careers of others. And they will either help or hinder this valley and its ability to get decent healthcare.

I need to know if the state Attorney General, Edmund G. Brown Jr., and investigator, Donny Fong, really want the truth or do they want to wrap this up and run off, forgetting all about us?

I'm concerned about the conspiracy charge against the Pharmacist, Debbi Hayes. I can't believe it's simply a coincidence that the upcoming preliminary hearing next week didn't have something to do with the new charge, and the new investigation of Pam Ott.

And again, conspiracy meaning more than one person, makes me wonder what the state is up to.

I truly want to send these documents to Mr. Fong, but I hesitate, wondering if they will not try to use this information in some other manner rather than in context to what has happened.

The state's case is really based on paperwork and Dr. Locatell an expert witness. The state's witnesses have already told me they will be hostile in court. Their own witnesses didn't believe in the investigation. That is a strong message.

But what is also of interest is that Pam Ott is a witness in the case. Which again makes me wonder about motivations here.

And the CNA (Certified Nurses Aide) I interviewed at least five times, told me the story of the day she showed up to work at the SNF in January of 2007. (The DOJ never interviewed her or so many others)
"All the nurses were crying, throwing away bottles of medicine in the trash. They were tearing down the care plans in the patients rooms, in the closets, which were outdated anyway...some people had died but the plans were never changed."

The state is basing a lot of information on paperwork. That should be "noted."

It's a quandry for me right now whether to send or not to send to the state. I'm wondering if these documents are better for the defense.

I'm questioning if the state's sudden interest in people other than the three they have charged, has to do with bolstering their own version of events, as errant as they are.

Really, its sad that I have to even question whether or not to send this to the state, whether I can trust the courts, the investigators, the attorney general.

But I am going to pray that there is integrity left in someone, and that this information will be used for that higher purpose. I really have no other choice except to trust.

Okay, Mr. Fong, if you haven't seen this document I'm sending then you never should have filed the charges that are existing against our doctor and pharmacist.

And if you have seen it, then we have even bigger problems than I thought. Let's hope for the best...