Sierra Kings District hospital surviving bankruptcy: Glitch former KVHD CEO missing employee pension funds

We should never have let her go: we owe them an apology

The Kern Valley Healthcare District was in a shambles in 2007 as the skilled nursing facility was under investigation for "chemical restraining" which may have lead to the deaths of several residents.

The CEO of the time, Pamela Ott, now charged with eight counts of elder abuse, resigned in May of 2007 and with the defense of KVHD board members, such as Bob Jamison, now infamous for his hour long radio broadcast, allowing Ott to defend herself, left and took another CEO position at Sierra Kings District Hospital.

Much like KVHD, Sierra Kings serves a small community, and is a public district. Ott took over, and a month after elder abuse charges were filed, in 2009, Sierra Kings fired their CEO and their CFO, Barbara Jennings.

Because Ott was not pursued by the justice system, or KVHD board and legal counsel, she was able to obtain her job at Sierra Kings. She may have even recieved a reference.

We allowed her to go without taking responsibility for the many crimes which occurred at the district during her tenure here in the KRV. (But the beat goes on...)

Sierra Kings went into bankruptcy

Within a month of Ott's termination at Sierra King's, the hospital went into bankruptcy and the board brought on a familiar management company, HFS.

HFS, who recently audited six months of KVHD records, because of the default with the hospital's "old debt" insurer, CAL MTG., took Sierra Kings the only route it found most promising: bankruptcy.

With the backing of the City of Reedley, they were able to try many options, allowing the hospital to continue to serve, and also grow.

Sandy Haskins became the interim CEO, and during the bankruptcy it was reported that Ott had been able to utilize monies from the Reedley community's GOB that was to expand the hospital.

The second and now more nefarious deed, was the pilfering of the Sierra King's employee pension fund.

According to an article in the REEDLEY EXPONENT the bankruptcy is going well, new equipment has been purchased, a new building constructed, but the employees who participated in the pension program, some have lost their retirement.

The article mentions the fact that the employees have tried to attach their lost or stolen pension monies to the bankruptcy but will have to go without, as there is no way to reimburse these employees for the loss.

I'm sure that the employees will find another route, like suing Pamela Ott, who will ironically be forced into bankruptcy herself as she faces both criminal and civil cases. Her co-defendant in the KVHD case, Gwen Hughes, has filed bankruptcy and will now have to utilize a public defender to fight the Attorney General's charges against her.

But the bankruptcy is going well they say....

After the most negative campaign for Measure G here in the Kern River Valley, it was stated repeatedly that a bankruptcy for this district was: Not possible, destructive to the employees who would lose their jobs, and the community would lose all its services too. We all shook with fear.

Now, Sierra King's District Hospital in Reedley, is coming out of the end of their bankruptcy with more services and a new building.

Did they talk to the attorney kept from public view by KVHD administrators and board members?

http://www.google.com/url?sa=X&q=http://www.reedleyexponent.com/&ct=ga&cad=:s7:f2:v0:d1:i2:ls:e0:p0:t1288923213:&cd=RC56ecKtCQg&usg=AFQjCNHSk3womzkafiHR0_Tf8KtsgQSlHQ

Where to begin about the KVHD board meeting...it will have to be later though

As I'm getting ready to leave for Bakersfield where I'm undergoing some sort of procedure, trusting a doctor, to try and help relieve the pain, I have blogs rolling around in my head.

Anyway, speaking of pain, I have so much to address that went on with the KVHD meeting that happened last night. It was a meeting that truly tells the tale of the situation at the hospital, it's a critical situation.

But it's almost like seperating siamese twins, sometimes only one lives...

With the hospital so dependent on Cal Mtg. for everything including the air it breathes, there is little that can be done to act independently to create real remedies.

And with a board of directors trying to handle a situation they only know one side of, the dark side, there's little in the way of hope that problem solving can occur in time to avoid possible closure.

But again the boards been given the challenge to act and because, the evidence and history show, that two of the board members have been involved in some of the worst decision making at the least, and at the best, actually attacking others to avoid disclosure of their own participation in creating true disaster.

Will the board act in time? Can HFS, the management company sent in by our creditor, Cal Mtg., who has been engaged to do an audit the board itself should have ordered a long time ago, help or did they wait too long?

There are different types of audits, one where you see a bunch of numbers and they seem to add up, and another where you prove your numbers with receipts.

Will the people of Reedley be as passive as the KRV about what a certain, former KVHD CEO, Pam Ott, did to their hospital?

I don't think the community of Reedly is going to be happy to find the newspaper, The Reedley Exponent, on their doorstep, indicating the bond money they have thrown in the kitty to build a new wing on the hospital, was misused.

I think Reedlians (my new word) are more proactive in their community, and did not take well to having been lied to and now this news.

These people got signs and protested, hurrah, our community could do the same thing, why does it chose not to? Do we like the fact that even our board members can't get a straight answer about why we're in the hole and how we are.

The also can't get a straight answer about paying for HFS contract, which cost 75K to find out if we are viable to remain in business. The costs for HFS are in the contract and it says the payment to HFS has to be made by the savings the district gets from the information gathered by this financial consultant firm.

Are we still viable?

There's been a whole lot of cleaning up in the last few months as Beedle has known he could not hold off the breaking dam so he's had time to prepare.

But this sudden burst of inspiration comes on the tail of the tiger Cal Mtg. who has been decieved and has they themselves allowed certain loan practices to take place which will likely be considered at best, unethical. It's like closing the barn door after the horses or nurses are out.

Jerry Brown has been cleaning up certain loan practices which have lead to abandoned homes all around this state and the country for that matter.

Is Cal Mtg. squeaky clean? No, but they are also not completely bad guys either. Much like with the board of directors they too have to accept information at face value from this hospital, and they have admitted to not even being specialists.

I'll go into Chet's history as a "critical access hospital" specialist he likes to call it.

Then just a few months ago, our specialist is sending out bills for $8 that are three years old. What kind of financial management is that? Really are we that out of it around here that we can't see what has happened?

There's so much more to address...and the pictures with our star studded audience and some chicken pocked one's too.

But sadly we are seeing what happens when we allow this sort of activity to go unchecked. Let's see what they do in Reedly to save their hospital. Oh, yeah, they are in bankruptcy, which is an option we really don't have.

I'm sure they are big Pam Ott fans there. Hey, she has shown her stuff, and now maybe the DOJ can get it right and come in and take the rest of the perpetrators out of this district and then maybe it can heal.

But this community needs to ask themselves what they are going to do about this.

Impressively, last night I turned to hear quotes from my blog. People are learning and listening. And I believe they will come to the aid of the hospital. I really do. But they will want the people who have caused this out of there first...but it might be too late.

Next up: "Cracking the Da Vinci code."