Tracking down the troubles: some KVHD history

Thanks Dave.

Here is a portentous piece of Public relations fluff that has many interesting facts for certain people to look at and for the community to see how a management company hired an unqualified individual for two top priority jobs: First as the Clinical Nursing officer and then CEO.


And they brought on our current numbers man, Chet Beedle, CFO, who is still with us. (or against us)

I will make comments to direct your attention to certain issues and items that are still biting us right now. I will highlight some statements to look at as well.
It was a long article, Dolly, so I have just taken the most pertinent excerpts.

Popular hospital CEO rakes new assignment
By Dolly Ogawa

Published on Wednesday, July 2, 2003 10:00 PM PDT

CEO David Green had been at Kern Valley Hospital for exactly 3 years on June 25, the day he left for his new position in the city of El Centro in the San Joaquin Valley.

In those three years he accomplished a lot."When I came here the hospital had a lot of turmoil regarding financial issues. I think we've settled a lot of that and have a direction we're going in and we have solidified the nursing staff, especially with Pam (Pamela Ott, former Director of Nursing), coming on board. Now with the board appointing Pam as the interim CEO at this point it helps further solidify this team."

Green feels that the whole staff and management team, which he describes as a tremendous pool of talent and experience, is the best the hospital has ever had and possibly the best anywhere.We have many nurses that have transferred here from LA and Orange County. "Whatever brought them here we've got the cream of the crop and the people from here are very good at what they do because they've been doing it for a long time."

(Then we fired the cream of the crop? We probably should have fired the mold on top of the crop.)

"I believe the skilled nursing center we have here is second to none in the state. You walk down the hall you don't smell anything, here you have a significant number of not just nurses but CNAs that care about the people. We don't sacrifice quality up here because we have people who know what they 're doing."

(We sacrificed quality and management then made scapegoats out of some quality personnel)


The hospital's main challenge has been a tremendous debt burden. "Although we've been able to make a go of it, it's been up and down. They tried to deal with managed care in the late 90s and lost a significant amount of money. Managed care doesn't work out for any rural health care service. The hospital was struggling when Cal Mortgage who guarantees funding for hospitals insisted they needed more support. BRIM Healthcare was hired in 2000. BRIM is a company that has backup regional support for the CEO.
Carol Bradshaw was the chief nursing officer. When she left they found someone from Paradise and she left last winter. Then they were lucky enough to find Pamela Ott, when she moved to this area to be close to her grandchildren. "Lucky us," Green said. "She had been in this type of environment before."

Ott said, "We have competent people taking care of you here, whereas in large hospitals down below they have registry nurses and you can't always trust their abilities."

(Ouch, that comes back to bite us right now. Oh, there are traveling nurses looking for a place to stay. Mr. Jamison, do you have any open rooms?)

In a small community it was so easy for rumors to spread. There have been a lot of misunderstandings.
(Rumors became more like fact and finally evolved into urban legend; see post below)

Green's replacement, Pamela Ott, was found by "Divine Destiny." It was a miracle to find just the right person so easily and so quickly. Her daughter told her how beautiful it was up here.When Green had to replace the chief nursing officer, he put a small ad in the Bakersfield paper. In all his 28 years in this business he'd never seen this happen. It is so hard to replace the chief nursing officer, he insisted. It takes months. From the ad he received two responses. One was from Pamela Ott. He couldn't believe it as he read her credentials.

(Actually I couldn’t believe it when I read her credentials either. They are posted on the blog.)

Something had to be wrong (and it certainly was) and then he talked to her on the phone. She was so nice! It was unbelievable. He thought that once she came up here and saw what the job entailed he'd lose her on that round. No. It was divine destiny, as she said. She was perfect for the job.

When Green scheduled an interview with all of the management staff she was taken with the people. "I love rural health care because you can make a difference in the community. You can help people stay in their beautiful environment without having to leave to get health care. So it's pretty special for me.

(It's all been so special. The SNF disaster, the fired employees, the lawsuits, the collusion with some board members, the finger pointing, the measure M fiasco, the conflict of interest, the scapegoating; Gosh, rural healthcare really is so much fun)

I thought this is great after so many years working of being an administrator, to have the opportunity to work as a chief nursing officer and work with --someone who has the same vision for rural health care."Green said during her interview, "You could do my job." Little did she know that he would be leaving and that she would be doing his job. It is an interim position.

The Board of Directors will be making the final decision and they are taking their time. Pamela also wants to have some time to see the scope of the job by doing it.

Thanks Dave, the board, Brim, and Cal Mtg. and Goldman Sachs?

Goldman Sachs created chaos at KVHD?

It's hard to imagine that our valley surrounding Lake Isabella could have been a victim of the large and looming lending system recently bailed out by the federal government, but that is what I have been told.

We are approaching July 4th weekend, which for some means beer and burgers, but for me it means rethinking our whole situation at the Kern Valley Healthcare District as it reflects the problems with government, even local government.

Names like Goldman Sachs and AIG, have come into the mix. Surprise!

This weekend is the time for Americans to reflect on what it means to be a member of this democracy. As a member, we have to take responsibility.

You are not powerless...

Are we all victims of greed, money and power? Yes and no.

We are more victims of apathy and fear. The blame game is not what this country needs, we need problem solvers whose motives are for progress. Progress, of course, means change, and it's on the list of top fears.

Intelligence reform

I hear people talk about the constitution regularly when they know little or nothing about who wrote it and why.

The constitution is the blueprint and was meant for remodeling.

As former hospital, CEO, and defendant in the attorney general's elder abuse case, said, "We have had a systems error."

Think...and then act

With the advent of the internet and the freedom of information act, we are no longer in the dark. When the newspaper and radio station in the Kern Valley tell you what they want you to hear, you do have options.

I spoke to a woman last week and she was, I would say politely, around 80 years old. She had a lot of opinions regarding the hospital, her doctors, the treatment she has recieved here along with her husband.

But the question I asked her was this: do you have a computer? Shockingly she said "yes."

Having a computer is power: the power of communication.

Please use this holiday to think about this country, this state, this valley and our futures. We need reform, but we have to reform ourselves first.

You, me, your children, your parents: we CAN change things. Look around, we have to take action as there is no hiding anymore....

Did you ever expect me to say, "Goldman Sachs was somehow connected to the financial dealings at our hospital?" (I didn't) More on this soon.

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."