Persistance and Tenacity, requires a new chapter, a new beginning....
Showing posts with label Dr. Pormir and Debbi Hayes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Pormir and Debbi Hayes. Show all posts

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Waiting for the world to change...I'm using the express lane

"Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."
Mother Jones


I guess this could be called a memorial for the fallen employees of KVHD. And most certainly for the people who trusted the hospital with their care and care for their loved ones.
Some employees just left before the gunshots were heard when former CEO, and main conspirator in the skilled nursing facility fiasco, Pam Ott resigned in May of 2007.
Ott knew she was cornered, the emails were flying, the Kern Valley Revitalization forum was rocking, and requested SNF manuals were flung out the CEO's door at me. (Whizzing just past my head I might add. Remember that Heidi?)
The newspaper was being pressured, as I was demanding information and answers from an arrogant "public healthcare district" not used to being put on the spot.

I told Ott, "I've got so many knives in my back, all you're hitting is metal," as she took shot after shot at me. The new mantra was that I was trying to take down the district. Just like the Knights.
Funny thing, people were biting on that crap like hungry trout.

Little did I know they were willing to sink to any level to protect themselves...
Well, she and the rest of her gang, took the biggest and best shot at me they could, right through the heart: the employees who knew me or about the SNF were fired, abused, mislead; and I cracked.
The day I took that missile they knew they had me. I dropped hard to the floor: the thud could be heard around the valley.
I cared about all the people who were helping in the initial investigation, who were taking care of their families, just trying to do their job, and these criminals didn't give a damn about anyone but themselves. It was the most dismal display of cover your own ass I have ever seen.
The shock of learning in the first place that people I thought I could trust were the very slime which was and is the rotten core of KVHD was tough enough. Then watching from the floor as they walked all over everyone, scapegoating as they went along, I knew I had to get back up, somehow.

There is a ninth inning, and I'm now up at bat. And I've got my Louisville Slugger with me. And I'm a great curveball hitter now too.
Before I came back in the game I made sure that everyone on my team never admitted to knowing me, liking me, or certainly talking to me.
(Actually, Chet Beedle, CFO, had the employees certain they were next on the hit list if they talked to me or about me. My wounds were not tended in the emergency room out of employee paranoia. I don't blame them, they were just trying to keep their jobs in a town where the hospital rates as number one employer.)
People in the community who have been my supporters were equally warned by me not to admit to knowing the likes of me. That way I get good information about what is really being said and going on. And I had to make sure I was covered and nobody got hurt, again.
Now, there's no more fooling around. Let me explain.
That's it!
When my parrot is out roaming she often finds some way to get into trouble. I correct her only so many times before the final words, "that's it."
She knows immediately I'm completely serious and her bad deeds will now come to an end: she gets a time out in her cage.
So, I'm telling you Beedle/Ott gang, I'm done correcting, "that's it."
If anyone thinks I'm not serious then you will be sideswiped. This last meeting was only a small taste of what I'm capable of and now you're going to have to just guess what's coming next.

And Pam Ott I'm not done with you either. I'll see you in court and hopefully at your own trial.
Our government oversight officials shouldn't count out some face time with me as I'm tired of writing and asking them to do what they are supposed to be doing. We will bring our cameras with us too. Pictures are just plain fun.

Don't forget this is a public healthcare district, and I plan on giving it back to the public, warts and all. (Former board member, JoAnn Jones, angry with me, said in an email: why don't you just use a match and burn it down. (The hospital.) JoAnn, did you not know about the advent of lighters? And I will use mine to light the fireworks only; ooh, pretty.)
First you clean the wound then you stitch it up otherwise you've got a puss problem. KVHD has a puss problem.
Does the new leadership have the back bone for this? There's some heavy lifting required.
People say, "Rome wasn't built in a day," and the grand canyon took years of natural erosion to create. I say, Rome was a "Pre-fab" and the grand canyon took a week with a Catepiller tractor.
I know there are so many of you out there "waiting for the world to change." I'm here to tell you I'm tired of waiting...

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

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...

From "Best Country" news clarification to the Ott connection...Will there be true Justice?

Well, it looks like "smooth news" Scott Costa, put up a story today on the KCNQ "Best Country" radio website which needs some elaborating and correcting. It looks like it was changed earlier in the day though.
(Considering, Bob Jamison, is both country and KVHD, he may have been able to help with the article, not the spelling of course.)

It's been a weird day today, as the first thing I heard upon waking was about this article on the QAB "Best Country" website, and I believe it went into broadcast as well.

The gist of the article is the upcoming dates of the defendants in the "Kern Valley Healthcare District" elder abuse scandal. I will continue to call it the KVHD scandal, as not one or two or even three were responsible for things that are alleged to have happened in the skilled nursing facility: there was a chain of command.

I've been watching the Kern County Superior Court site, getting ready to bring cameras to the preliminary hearings and suddenly, a week before the hearings, next week Aug. 18/19, an extra charge was brought against defendant, Pharmacist, Debbi Hayes.

It wasn't on the county website last week, and nobody seemed to know about it, or have any particulars. However, Costa or someone at the QAB, caught it, but didn't bother making a call to clarify the information. According to the press office with the department of justice, this is not the correct language for the charge as stated in the article.

QAB news article:

Former Hospital Employees Due In Court Aug. 18th
The two employees and the one former employee of the Kern Valley Hospital that were arrested in February are scheduled to be in court in Bakersfield next Tuesday at 9AM for a Pre-Preliminary Hearing and then will be back in court the following day, August 19th, at 8:30AM for a Preliminary hearing. Gwen Hughes, the former Director of Nursing, is charged with 8 felony counts of causing harm or death to an elder or dependent adult and 2 counts of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm or bodily injury by force. Dr. Hoshang Pormir, a former staff physician at the hospital, is charged with 8 felony counts of causing harm or death to an elder or dependent adult and Debbi Hayes, a former pharmacist, is charged with 8 felony counts of causing harm or death to an elder or dependent adult, 2 counts of assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm or bodily injury by force and 1 count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

According to the Department of Justice press office, the charge is actually conspiracy to commit any act injurious to the public health, 182 (A) (5). Chapter 8, California Penal Code, Conspiracy:

182. (a) If two or more persons conspire: (1) To commit any crime. (2) Falsely and maliciously to indict another for any crime, or to procure another to be charged or arrested for any crime. (3) Falsely to move or maintain any suit, action, or proceeding. (4) To cheat and defraud any person of any property, by any means which are in themselves criminal, or to obtain money or property by false pretenses or by false promises with fraudulent intent not to perform those promises. (5) To commit any act injurious to the public health, to public morals, or to pervert or obstruct justice, or the due administration of the laws.

But what struck me as odd is the conspiracy part. "If two or more persons conspire" is part (A), but Hayes is only one of three. And the other two defendants at this point do not have this particular charge filed against them. Why Hayes?

So, I asked the DOJ, how could you have only one person charged with a conspiracy? Initially, I was told that I could get no more information on the case except to pick up the paperwork at the Kern County court. Which I hope to have by the end of the week. (Or sooner, maybe someone from QAB could run down and get that for us.)

I then asked her to find out, "generally", not specific to KVHD, but generally do they charge a single individual with this count? It just didn't seem to make sense.

She reluctantly agreed to look into it and call me back.

I called the hospital, the counsel for the hospital board, and they had not heard about this extra charge against Hayes and could not elaborate.

But what happened next is what makes this so interesting. While I was waiting for my call back from the DOJ press office about the conspiracy charge against Hayes, I received a phone call from the DOJ investigative office. (Other people were contacted today by DOJ I have heard)

And the investigator wanted to know what I knew about Pam Ott's role in the skilled nursing disaster as there is an investigation under way. Finally.

So, the story doesn't stop here, with three defendants headed to court next week, a new conspiracy charge, and investigations into Pam Ott, we need to see where this is going. Not to be cynical, but we've called for help here many times, and the government answered with a skewed investigation and other agencies just turned their backs. The community though stunned by huge local headlines, still stays in the background, often stubborn and unwilling to believe and more unwilling to act.

But, folks, the chance for justice may have taken a long time coming, and many people were hurt while it dallied, but it seems, there's a chance, another investigation, another look at the situation. I pray that the DOJ can live up to being called the department of "Justice."

I hope they are willing to follow through past Ott up the chain of command.

Can the DOJ make this right? This is at least the right direction, from the top down, not the other way around.

I'll keep you updated...we have much to discuss.

SORRY, about the board meeting story, there will be no pictures until we can figure out the new software. But I'll get the quotes and article up soon. Then I'll put up pictures. We all know how much I love those pictures.