Here’s the letter that went out to Mission Hospitals staff, according to an Asvhegas reader:
Today, Joe Damore announced that he will step aside as President and CEO of Mission Hospital and Mission Health System effective January 31, 2010. In accepting his resignation, the Board thanked Joe for his five years of outstanding service to Mission, his commitment to quality healthcare at an affordable cost, and for his unselfish decision made in the best interests of patients, the hospital and health system.
Under Joe’s leadership Mission has achieved national recognition for its outstanding clinical care and innovation, while maintaining a sound financial foundation for our growing health system. We are very appreciative of his tireless work and many contributions, not just to Mission but also to the greater Asheville community.
The Board has initiated a search for an interim leader, who will work closely with Joe to ensure a smooth transition over the next three months. We ask for your help in making this transition successful for our patients and our staff.
As you know, the Mission Health System Board created a special Hospital/Physician Relations Committee several months ago. Since receiving the committee’s recommendations in September, the Board has been conducting a broad and thoughtful evaluation of how it can work with the administration and medical staff to meet the needs of patients in our region in today’s rapidly changing healthcare environment. The Board has accepted the committee’s report and will begin work immediately evaluating the specific recommendations and assessing how best to move forward. We will continue to update you on our progress.
I think we can all agree that this period of self-examination over the last several months has been difficult. I believe, however, that Mission has emerged from this process with a rededication to our MERIT values of mercy, excellence, respect, integrity and trust/teamwork – values which bind together our employees, physicians, administrators and the Board in a common purpose of service to our community.
The Board would like to thank Joe for preparing Mission for the challenges we will face in the future. He has built upon our strong culture of quality, provided sound financial stewardship and has further developed Mission as an integrated regional health system advancing the well-being of the people who call Western North Carolina home.
Mission’s future is bright, and we are well positioned to successfully meet the region’s healthcare needs. Together we are moving ahead confidently, focused on the strategic goals that will enable Mission to continue its leadership role in the region, the state and the nation.
On behalf of the Board, thank you for continuing the proud tradition of 125 years of quality care that is Mission’s hallmark.
George Renfro
Chairman of the Board
Mission Health System and Mission Hospital.
37 Comments
Well here we are almost two months after the report recommendations were given from the blue ribbon panel to the board and the board stil has not accepted them. And forget about the transparency of sharing them. That would require TRUST, (you know like is in the Mission "MERIT" values) Mercy, Exellence, Respect, Integrity, Trust/Teamwork! I suppose the board can not quite figure out how to tell the employees and the community at large how bad things reallly are within Mission! They must be trying to put some spin on it just as the pathetic administration did on the employee satisfaction reports!
As a public hospital we have a right to this information! Any ideas about how we can take legal action to acquire the unvarnished truth???
I dont understand why Brian can ask excellent VP’s to leave, destroy their career and reputation, cover it up and basically destroy Mission Hospital single handedly and still have his job. Yes Joe should step down because he watched this botch job occur and said nothing, but please…get rid of the SOURCE of the problem…BRIAN. WAKE UP MISSION BOARD!!!!!
Appauled, Please enlighten us on Mr. Damores accomplishments. As for his experience and education, it pales in comparison to most physicians and even a portion of the nursing staff.
I am so glad to see a dialogue about what is really important. To sideline observer..I am not in hiding. I have seen many jobs needlessly lost in my time and very rarely has it been a physician. Let me say I am not anti physician, but they have had too much power for much too long, rarely using it to improve the lot of patient care..more often to whine about the tide of insurance and medicare changes without "working locally" to bring about any change.
To happily hopeful…It is not the hospital administration that sees nurses as a necessary evil. They have not hired physicians assistants, or the newer term, medical assistants, to avoid dealing with RN’s who hold the the care of patients as primary. Since Mr Damore and Ms Gayette have arrived we are seeing many more nurse practictioners walking those halls.
To paying attention…I have worked for many years and seen the "best and the brightest’ leave for many reasons. Very rarely are the "best and the brightest" fired. A choice is made and directions are turned. People move. I take real exception to "replaced by new grads". We would be in a —- of a fix without those new grads…always… the "’best and the brightest"’ were once new grads. The terms mentoring and precepting apply here to grow these people. Thanks for all your comments.
Dear Old Lady
If you knew what was really going on, no way could you say this. As a former employee and many times patient, I can tell you that half of what is going on up there has not even come out yet.
Getting rid of JD probably will wind up saving patient lives, maybe even yours. The care has declined since JD has been there, the morale is in the toilet. Everything folks are posting is true and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
What incentive did someone promise you to post this "cheerleader" stuff about JD. You need to come down to earth.
Dear "Old Lady",
I am sorry that you feel that the medical staff and nursing staff are immature and greedy. If you were truly aware of what has been going in within the hospital and among the staff over the past few years (and had experienced the direct results of policies put in place by this administration) I think you would change your perspective.
I have seen too many of the best, brightest, and hardest working nurses leave and be replaced by new graduates due to the policies and practices put in place by this administration. The attitude has been "everyone is replaceable"… including the two best trauma surgeons in our state (and our nation). It seems like it is "all about the dollars" and not about the people or the quality of their work.
Experienced nurses and good physicians SAVE the hospital money by reducing rate of infections, preventing complications, and reducing length of hospital stay. For this reason, any pay raise that you give them will be MORE than made up for from the quality of care that they provide.
By the way, I am not a doctor, and I am not a nurse – but I appreciate their contributions and see the effects when they aren’t given the respect and praise that they deserve.
Paying Attention
You should all be ashamed of your comments. D’Amore is the most honest, caring, hard working, devoted, accomplished, and intellegent man I have the pleasure of knowing. WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE? Unless you have half the education, experience, and accomplishments that he has, you have no room to pass judgements, regardless if you were an employee of his or not. He entered into a tainted environment when he first began at Mission, and politics finally found a way around his intelligence… Congrats, all of you arrogant drs. finally got what you wanted from the very beginning.
re: comment from "old lady"….. good grief, this administration has not done anything to "support and elevate the practice of nursing"….what "rewards"? This administration could not even see those of us in the trenches much less have any idea of what we do. Trust me, nurses are viewed as a "necessary evil" by this administration and treated as such.
It is too late for so many of us. I do agree that this has affected many families. HR needs to be totally cleaned out. Even the individual reps there are callious and dirty.
To "newsgal;"
You’ve missed the point completely. Both the AC-T and WLOS were informed months ago and chose to do nothing…not maybe, for certain. If you are really up on this travesty, you would be aware that in Novenmber of last year the AC-T story on physician integration set in motion a series of blogs that were accurate enough that some follow-up was merited…but only Ashevegas picked up the thread. It’s all about the difference between reporting and investigating. Had either news outlet been willing to practice some hard journalism, they could have begun peeling back the layers…but for whatever reasons, they chose to back off. Many of us are well aware of the rules for publication and, yes, for fear of reprisal, many of us could not go "on record." But there was/is enough that could have been gleaned from sources in MI and from employees that had been dismissed…but none of that was ever attempted…so the AC-T and WlOS are in fact guilty as blemished. The question now is what are they going to do in following up the info that is leaking (soon to be pouring) out.
…and to "Old Lady," ma’am, you couldn’t be more wrong. Whatever you think you know, you obviously are totally unaware of the misery, havoc, despair, (tragically) declining quality of care that has been in evidence, unwarrented loss of jobs, economic loss to the community, misdirection, tension….the list could go on forever. No disrespect intended, but you obviously have been in hiding, or are totally out of touch with the medical community. This wasn’t about greed, this was about a tyrant trying to impose his model on an environment that prior to his coming set national standards that helped to make Asheville one of the top ten places to retire, about intimidation, about illegalities that will soon surface, again, the list could go on… Please take the time to become informed. You too will realize that, had this not occured, Missions would (within two years) be under the CMC flag.
I am deeply ashamed by a few of these comments. In these times it is sad to rejoice when someone looses their job. Once again, I see immaturity and arrogance at the cost of patient care and growth. Ego and personal gain have won out again. Mission has really endeavored to support and elevate the practice of nursing and healthcare to reward the worker in the trenches over the past few years but unfortunately the immature worker has once again been seduced by slick tongued, petulant medical staff who only serves their pocket book and "practice"…very rarely the patients that bring us to the table. The table will once again be a trough feeding the greedy.
This is wonderful news. I know several people who had management positions at Mission during the Damore/Aston/Ford administration, and resigned leaving the state for better health systems, due to the ridiculous way those few ran the hospital. Maybe they will return one day.
There are proven ways to build effective and lasting positive relationships with physicians, tactics to focus on throughput and cost without putting patients at risk or making staff feel rushed or unsafe. Hopefully the new leadership will be of a different mindset, keeping the focus on positive initiatives for all, and not pissing off their best performers!
The Boards letter concerning Joe was more than gracious bordering on fantasy.If Joe prepared MMH for the future its going take a lot of work to undo the preparations.Kudos to the Board for their belated decision.The delay,however, has allowed the camel (Carolinas Medical Center) to get his nose in the tent.This should have been handled in 2007 but at least it was handled.Give an "F" to ACT & Mtn Xpress for their investigations–they are too busy with liberal causes to recognize the biggest local issue in the last year.
AshVegas, now that you’ve helped clean house in upper management at Mission, maybe you’ll look next at UNCA.
Thanks Jason for covering the story and a quiver full of arrows aimed at the Citizen-Times and WLOS for not bringing this story to light. The potential threat of the loss of advertising is pretty powerful.
Woo-Hoo!
Now if the board will just get rid of the rest of the "toxic team" we might be able to save our hospital. Keep going guys you have several more…. Brian Aston , Maria Roloff, Kristi Sink , and Frank Ford!
Thank you for providing an honest forum from which we could vent our frustrations and share our experiences about this episode in Mission’s history. I am still amazed at the lack of quality reporting by our newspaper,ACT. I am still waiting for the cleaning house of the excess and redundant VP’s. We can start with Brian Aston, and continue through most of the mezzanine. Then we can hire administrators with integrity and intelligence and manners. I hope these people have a chance to redeem themselves, just not here. They have done quite enough. Here is my gratitude to the physicians and staff who spoke up and prayed ( out loud or silently) for a change in leadership and in the type of leadership. Thank you, Trauma Doctors for leading the way! Thank you, Doctor Silvers and others. We may never know the price so many people have paid for this day.
Anonn I take a little issue with your bashing of WLOS. I think Ashvegas may be a little more articulate than I can at explaining the difference between what you can "post" on a blog and what you can "report" from a news outlet. There is a significant difference. In defense of WLOS they started reporting the Mission story the second week of August. Since then there have been many reports with new information and updates. Some stories they learned about never made air because they couldn’t be verified and turned out to be just rumor or speculation. Their job is to report the facts not what people believe to be true or what they heard at the watercooler. I will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you may have missed some of what they did report. Without a doubt the blogaspere has clouded what people perceive as reportable and what is not. The news media can be sued for reporting what could slander or innacurate. Someone who posts a comment on a local blog will likely not face the same consequence.
A cancer on the face of health care in Western North Carolina has been excised.
We can only hope that this leads to a cleaning out of the HR leadership and a certain VP/Chief of Nursing.
To the Asheville Citizen Times: why the world have you kept your head buried in the sand all these months??? Where have you been while all of these problems at Mission have been ongoing for all this time?? PLEASE do a better job from this point forward. Your reporting on this issue has been disappointing, at best.
To 13 WLOS – thank you to RUSS BOWEN for reporting on this issue – please keep up the good work.
To Ashvegas – THANK YOU for providing a forum for free speech – WE APPRECIATE YOU!
Paying Attention
BRING BACK DAVID SPILLERS!!!!! Big mistake letting him go!
Also Jeff Sams and Jim Miller!
PLEASE!!!!
By the way Joe, when you put the house on the market, it’s Enka NC 28728, not Biltmore Lake NC 28728, as you put on the LLC for your residence…
When the news broke in my department today, there was was nothing but cheers and sighs of collective relief…Maybe Dr Shillinglaw and Dr Buechler will reconsider and return to Mission…too bad we have to wait until January 31 2010 to actually be rid of JD….
Or opposed to reporting news about Mission Hospital?
Yes. Advertising revenue the reason I imagine.
Great job Ash.
Make no mistake, this was the right decision by the Hospital Board. It was not done because of what the doctors demanded, it was done because the culture Damore and others have created at Mission is TOXIC. The damage is deep and wide and it is going to take some time for serious healing. It will not be an easy or quick recovery. But the major hurdle, Damore, is now out of the way. I have no pity on him. He created the environment and tried to force his will and his ways on what was a very successful organization, all it needed was some tweaking, not a demolition crew to come in and destroy it and build it in his image. So fortunately the Board saw that and made the change.
I know they had to make this politecomments and "extend the hand of friendship", but just to set the record straight, Clincial regonition for excellence while maintaining low cost, was based on information from 1997-2003 (BEFORE JD). It was Dr. Shillinglaw and Dr. Buechler who attained nationwide recognition (the gold standard) for the trauma program DESPITE the hurdles thrown in their path by Joe Damore and Brian Aston.
Yes, I understand the politics of "playing nice", but after 6 years of seeing fine clinicians abused – I can’t quite stomach the platitudes.
The physicians are compassionate, caring individuals they will take the high road as their chief concern is the welfare of the people of this region. For their sake I hope the Board brings in a leader they can trust, respect and would desrve to work with the dedicated physicains and staff.
Thank you Board members for not allowing yourselves to be bullied. Please do what is best for the future of our community, listen to our physician leaders, they will help you rebuild relationships and repair the damage done by Joe Damore and Brian Aston.
Latsly but not least, Ashevegas thank you for offering us this forum to gain awareness of what was happening to the hospital we love. It was interesting that AC-T and WLOS were snooping around the doors at MIssion this afternoon trying to get the "breaking news"….something they did not have the intestinal fortitude to investigate before. Ashevegas you desrve an award, but instead you will receive a donation (especially since my subscription to AC-T was cancelled).
Folks, at last we have hope and we can rebuild with Dr. Buechler’s, Dr. Shillinglaw’s, and our other physician leaders’ guidance.
By all accounts, Damore’s departure is the best thing for Mission Hospital and our community.
Good riddance.
Thanks to Ashevegas, and to all that spoke the truth (especially the docs and nurses) and helped bring this about. There’s probably at least three more senior management heads that are about to roll…In the meantime, it’s time to (1) thank the Board, but suggest that those members unwilling to work through what will be a very long and arduous rebuilding process step aside (especially the Chair) and allow citizens more knowledgeable to take their place, and (2) demand an explanation from the AC-T and WLOS as to why they totally ignored this tragic episode. It’s going to take the hospital years to recover, and the damage to families has been appalling.
Thank you Ash for providing this forum……you’ve been the only ones covering this and it’s appreciated. I’m ecstatic! Thank you to all the physicians who stepped it up to save this medical community, you guys rock! Drs. Buechler and Shillinglaw have been the unsung heroes for many years but YOU Dr. Silver, YOU are the MAN! Who knew? You guys in interventional, CV, ortho, pulmonary….all the groups who united for one hell of a cause, THANK YOU! While the community was, for the most part, kept in the dark about this, we the staff understand the lengths you went to. Thank you also to the unknown managers who reported their concerns, you helped make a difference. Let the healing begin, much work ahead no doubt!
On behalf of the future employees we thank the board for doing the right thing.
One down.. there better be at least one more to go…
"In accepting his resignation, the Board thanked Joe for his five years of outstanding service to Mission, his commitment to quality healthcare at an affordable cost, and for his unselfish decision made in the best interests of patients, the hospital and health system."
So, that’s what "outstanding service" is.
I did not know that!
The AC-T ran one line followed by the Mission Hospital statement. Nothing by way of background or context. Are they just lazy? Or opposed to reporting news about Mission Hospital? Or perhaps, they are retired from the news business. Why would anyone buy their newspaper?
I am delighted to have been proven wrong! I never had any hope that a first move would be made to clean up Mission and restore it to it’s former standard of excellence with a hard focus on patient care and community service. Perhaps Mr. Damore’s departure will open the floodgates for the release or voluntary departure of those who view accusations, bullying, and threats as accomplishments.
Halleluljah, I’ve been proven wrong.
Dismayed no longer!
Wow! In all of my years in medicine, this is the first time I’ve seen a CEO resign! Kudos to all involved with increasing the transparency of such an insular dynamic. Thanks to Ash for providing a public forum to discuss the situation. What a win!
Will someone bring to light his golden parachute package? How much did it take to pay him off?
Thank God he is gone. Damore was a terrible administrator.
Once again, we get the breaking local news here first!
funny, still no mention of this on the Asheville-Greenville Citizen Times