Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The reports I’m receiving are that a special committee of the Mission Hospitals Board of Trustees has finished its report examining the tensions between hospital administration and local doctors. I hear that the report is a 60-page compilation of some great information.
If anyone has a copy to share with Ashvegas, feel free to drop one in the mail in care of me at 2 Wall St. Asheville, N.C., 28801.
I also hear that the hospital board is supposed to meet on Sept. 28.
Meantime, comments from readers keep rolling in. Here’s a recent one:
It is obvious some of you are getting to the REAL FACTS that have been going on within Mission hospitals since the St. Joseph’s merger. I witnessed many leaders & nurse be “let go”, when they didn’t conform to the bullying that has gone on inside Mission for many years. Staff morale & staff satisfaction is NOW at an all time low. In 2005, Mission choose to ATTEMPT to reach a national Magnet certification, which required nursing staff satisfaction and excellence & overall employee input to be recognized. This award goes to some of the best hospitals in our nation.
Unfortunetly after over two years of attempting to meet the requirements, the plan was scrapped, beacuase leadership was advised that the key components were missing from Mission PERIOD.
It was an attempt to retain nurses that were leaving in hundreds each year. WHY? I can tell you, unsafe work practices for doctors & nurses, unsafe patient care, being pushed to perform more & more with little support from leadership to provide quality care, being asked to break policy to get more done in 12 hours. BIG mistakes were being made, nurses and doctors left that wanted to protect their licenses & had ethics in their practice. Groups of hand surgerons left. Pediatric spine doctors left. Vice presidents left.
Now all that’s left within Missin are the scared staff that have been told to suck it up or WE WILL REPLACE YOU. When a staff member made a complaint they were punished by false corrective actions claims that lead to no or little raises. Favoritism was everywhere.
When Haywood County hospital had major medicaid practice violations it was all over WLOS news daily for weeks. But during the same year Mission had over 13 CRITICAL VIOLATIONS, and 90 days to fix them, on it’s JCAHO survey, and NO PRESS. ( Check that fact PLEASE) Why?
Hey where do I sign up? I took the time last night to read back through most of the posts concerning Mission and the HR department. There appears to be more than enough comments on here about the intimidation/harrassment by both HR and the administration that is still employeed to get us going if only Ashevegas will put this front and center again…..alas I am afraid that ACT has already taken hold and we are out of luck. Maybe we should start our own blog. Anyone know how to get a domain???
Hey Anon where do I sign up? I am more than ready to put myself out there with all of my documentation to stop these toxic leaders from destroying anymore employee lives and their respective families!
I don’t care if it costs me my job at this point. A great leader and friend has died, IMHO, due to the piss poor leadership in the HR department and the VP in charge of our radiology department.
Since enough people are asking for the name of this #2 attorny maybe it is time for there to be a class action lawsuoit taken out against Mission covering all of these workplace violence/harrassment issues?
Post back if you would be willing to place your name on a class action lawsuit.
PLEASE tell us the name of that #2 attorney!!!
What is the name of the #2 attorney? I would really like to talk to him. I was terminated in a totally unfai and unjust way!!
Thanks
Hey anon, what is the name of the #2 attorney your are talking about? I think I should probably give him a call if he is that familiar with Mission and since now I am a statistic as others.
The only problem with someone going on the record is that it can hurt you when looking for another job in the Asheville market.
P.S.
Isn’t there at least one Board member that feels strongly enough aboput what is going on that they could get a copy of the Committee Findings to Ashevegas. No one would ever know….and the public has a right to see that report!
Reliable feedback indicates that Damore has convinced the Board that he has been threatened so…he now has a bodyguard….and the beat goes on. So typical of his past history. Keep things stirred up, and portray himself as the victim.
Indications are that Cecil is back, if not in total control of the Board, he’s pressuring them to keep JD. Having made the mistake of hiring him, then covering up what he knew (or at least should have known) about JD’s history (by the way, rumor has it that not long ago performance review necessitated corrective action for the behavior he is once again exhibiting) the pressure is on to keep JD.. He and his senior team’s continued behavior only reaffirm the understanding of good business people, to wit when you essentially ignore an executive’s annual performance review the message received is that such critiques are no longer important and the senior executive begins to feel "above the law". How do you think JD feels now? He and his minions and their actions have been exposed for the fiasco they are and yet they escape in the face of repeated objective examples of malfeasance. And like the true gamblers they are having pushed the envelope they feel empowered. This now lies squarely in the lap of the Board and Jack Cecil for he and they refuse to acknowledge any of it. If JD stays and the inevitable happens (read as degrdation of quality and service and mass exodus of doctors’ groups and nursing staff), it will be on Jack Cecil’s conscience. As one of the community’s prime benefactors, he has now decided he knows better, and in having decided will help destroy what he has helped to build.
The economic implications of Mission’s demise are staggering. Retirees will. move elsewhere, real estate values will drop, eateries will suffer and the general economy will shrink (FYI, Missions is the city’s largest employer)…all thanks to an inept Board that was afraid to act. Pax Requiem
It is understandable why no one (left) on the inside will go on record to the press. Regardless, some of you still there must know those who have left or been fired. Will some of you please put pressure on those who have left or been fired to go on record either to Ashevegas so a story can be published, or to the AC-T or to WLOS. If the community is not made aware of what’s going on, this could drag on for weeks…and will someone at least try to follow up Anon’s suggestion of following the lawsuit trail.
The Board seems incapable of making the decision that must be made. They need more pushing. The general population still is unaware of the seriousness of this situation. We all need to be talking it up to those who don’t blog. Let’s do it!
I started working at Mission and I was so excited to be part of a family. Since I have been employed I have been treated like crap, bossed around, and they could care less if I exist. I would complain, but then I will just be pushed out the door for some off the wall reason that they decide to come up with. I am really upset to see that the "welcome to the family" at Mission is more like , Hey come here Bitch and do everything for me so I can sit here and read or eat all night. I am really fed up!
I don’t disagree with all of Anon’s assessment of the situation and have no first hand knowlege about labor lawsuits. However, I do have first hand knowledge about the work of Chief Nurse Kathy Guyette. She is making a very positive difference in the work environment for nurses. Kathy is passionate about nurse’s being given a voice in the way the hospital works. Please don’t throw her in with the bad apples unless you know for a fact it is true. She is trying very hard to improve the situation for nursing at Mission and I for one hope the community will support her efforts.
The managers and directors get more money and the people that really do the work get NOTHING. That is something to investigate too.. People that have been with Mission on campus and off for a long time are not even recognized. No wonder employees are leaving that place. New directors and managers making their own rules. What can employees do?
Well where is the report???? What are the outcomes?? Do you all realize that this joke of an administrative leadership team is stepping up their time line to hire as many other flunkies in positions such as VP and Director so they can continue to hang on and destroy this hospital! That is a FACT!!! Check it out! Find out how long certain positions have been open, how many applicants they have INTERVIEWED, and then the time that they were, or are going to be, hired! The board should step in and stop this immediately before the number two labor lawyer in the state of NC has an even larger number of cases then he does now! There is another fact for you to check. Call this lawyer and find out how many calls and cases he and his partners have taken on against Mission over the past two years! People like Maria Roloff, Kristi Sink, Kathy Guyette, and of course there good ole’ boy leaders JD and Brain ASSton have created quite the wealth for this law firm! Wake up Mr. Renfroe…..these lackluster lackeys need to be thrown off the bus NOW! Most of us are prepared to take this to a very UGLY end now in the court of law!!!
Imagne having the luxury of having a board investigate itself,its own mistakes and the disasterous mistake it made. Led by a nice man who is not a leader by any sense of the meaning of leadership and the likes of Jack and Charles still on the board who were directly responsible for Damore to start with.Damore need to go ASAP.
HTGY has a very good point. Maybe Russ should try to run down and speak with some of the management team that has recently "left" like prior VP of Heart Services that was there right around a year and left unexpected. Although they said that it was for personal reasons the "mill" speculated that this person and BA had some serious conflict.
Monday September 28, 2009 is either going to be a proud day in Mission Hospital’s history or the day that marks the beginning of the end of local control. If the Mission Board does not take the action needed to end Damore’s tenure, and backs the Committee’s weak recommendations, then Mission will pass to an out of town owner within the next 36-48 months. It cannot survive under the Damore regime, period. Doctors will find other partners, Mission’s experienced quality health professionals will find other employers who care about them and want them, and the community will be left with a mediocre hospital that some body will come in and pick off because of its weakened financials and low morale. SO IT IS ON THE LINE TODAY–A BIG PIECE OF ASHEVILLE is in the hands of 19 men and women. Let’s all pray they have backbones and take the action needed.
HR at Mission is a joke. They have policies that are vaugue or only followed when it is to their benefit. Many of their reps have personal vendettas that run unchecked. Interview many of the folks who have left.
Sure seems to me that if Joe Damore had any pride at all he would do what in the best interest of the hospital and resign. It’s clear he has made many emenies. The medical staff that doesn’t support him nor many of the people he has hired. Leaders require followers and he clearly doesn’t have many. Look behind you Joe – theres no one there!
Put your ego aside and do what’s in the best interest of Mission, the medical community and WNC – get the heck out there!
For some unknown reason a real quality man, George Renfro, is defending and protecting the "man at the top" who is not a quality person and has clearly displayed that in the past five years. The committee report was devestating and named names. But the recommendations were completely out of context with the report–wimpy and meaningless. We think the committee was compromised by Mr. Renfro. Let’s hope the board members who sat through a terrible 4 hour meeting last week will come to their senses and realize Damore is not salvageable. He needs to turn in his resignation soon to end this shameful era in Mission’s long proud history.
I agree that Haywood’s downfall was thumbing their nose at their violations rather than correcting them. Some of Mission’s violations were likely minor. But Mission has also had two completed suicides in two years that I know about, and I am not a hospital insider. That is of concern.
I hate to tell you Murphy, but WLOS did several stories when this came out and are continuing to follow it. From what I’ve heard, they have Russ working on it and he’s probably one of their best investigative people. As for the comments on why WLOS didn’t report on the violations that Mission has received in the past and they will most likely receive in the future, these happen at hospitals all the time. Most hospitals fix the problems within the 90 days and all is good. If you go back and look at some of the critical violations, some are probably for minor things like the railing on the loading dock is at 5.3 feet and it should be 5.5 ft. The reason that HRMC was such a big deal was that they had the same warnings, were warned over and over, threatened with funding cuts and they didn’t respond or fix the problems. Due to this, their funding was cut. If this were to happen at Mission and their funding was cut, you bet it would be all over the news.
WLOS and to some extent the CT are not very fond of reporting the negative news about our fair city …..
As another former employee who labored under the regime of the current president, I am struck by the consistency and accuracy of the recent posts by folks from the inside.
The issue is blindingly driven by the man at the top. As long as he remains, the focus will be diverted to the growing heard of officers he has surrounded himself with.
Wake up everybody. Look around and understand that the culture that has been developed in place of what existed before has had a really bad impact. This has been a bad chapter in an otherwise great story.
Mission is an essential entity in the western NC region. It is truly a shame to witness such a deterioration of this jewel of a health system!
Tough times call for tough choices. Now is the time.
Will Mountain Express ever cover this major story of great communithy importance? Are hopes for it becoming a source of real journalism in Asheville fading? Cover story on Mommy Blogging, while the hospital story languishes?