Yes, I’m slipping into bloglish. So you say what’s snark? Well, it’s that smell emanating from the President’s kill Social Security campaign, or Swartzenegger’s border bashing plan or the Grand Jury’s interim report on the medical center. In fact the smell of that report was so bad the Dirt convened a task force. If the odor doesn’t let up we’ll have to create committees and focus groups. There are so many factual errors, offensive statements, and poorly reasoned conclusions; we’ve had to divide up the work. We’ll be doing a series on the Grand Jury’s interim snark report.
So, who wrote the snark report? The Grand Jury is overseen by political wannabe, Jeff Stark, congressman “Pete” Stark’s son. I thought these guys we’re democrats, but what do I know. Jeff’s helper was the Foreman of the Grand Jury, Keith Boyer. Mr. Boyer was a Captain in the Sheriff’s department for 27 years and he’s a perennial appointee to county commissions. He’s friends with Gail Steele, “Chainsaw” Charlie Plummer and “Pete.” It really helps to have friends on the Grand Jury. The 2003-2004 Grand Jury Report on the Sheriff’s Department reads like a budget request.
“ The Grand Jury urges future grand juries to closely monitor the sheriff’s on-going planning process, paying close attention to the ability to provide a funding source for this sorely needed project [replacement of Eden Township Substation]. “
The conclusion was: “All three facilities, Eden Township Substation, the coroner’s bureau, and the communications center-are all in need of replacement as soon as possible.“
The Grand Jury walked through Highland and didn’t even offer to get us more toilet paper. No, they focused on attacking the unions, the trustees and glorifying consultants. Measure “A” monies must have looked like that “funding source” the Sheriff sorely needed.
Stay tuned for Part II: The Jolly Jury and the Sweet Smell of Snark
Monday, May 23, 2005
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Community Support Growing- Thanks Jim!
The medical center has always enjoyed a huge amount of community support and trust. Jim Price a member of East Bay Living and a community leader has taken a welcome and personal interest in the medical center.
Many people have misconceptions and prejudices about public hospitals; Jim Price is part of the medical center’s family, his father worked at Highland for more than 30 years; he grew up worrying about our patients, their care and our hospital.
Check out East Bay Living’s report on the medical center:
http://eastbayliving.blogspot.com/
Many people have misconceptions and prejudices about public hospitals; Jim Price is part of the medical center’s family, his father worked at Highland for more than 30 years; he grew up worrying about our patients, their care and our hospital.
Check out East Bay Living’s report on the medical center:
http://eastbayliving.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Hasta La Vista Chainsaw
The good people of Alameda County sent Chainsaw Charlie Plummer packing. They told the Board of Supervisors in no uncertain terms that they do not want the Sheriff in charge of the hospitals. After hundreds of instructive phone calls, letters, and faxes the Board of Supervisors realized his appointment to the Hospital Authority Board was unwise, unethical and probably illegal. In fact all of the Supervisors deny nominating him for the Board, they don’t know how it happened.
Ever concerned about the proper functioning of the County government, they went right to work concocting a plan that would allow Sheriff Plummer to “save face.” They replaced him with another nominee and attempted move the meeting along as quickly as possible. Old Chainsaw Charlie, never one to pass up an audience, even gave a concession speech.
Ever concerned about the proper functioning of the County government, they went right to work concocting a plan that would allow Sheriff Plummer to “save face.” They replaced him with another nominee and attempted move the meeting along as quickly as possible. Old Chainsaw Charlie, never one to pass up an audience, even gave a concession speech.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Stop Chainsaw Charlie
It’s time for everyone to have a heart-to-heart discussion with the Alameda County Supervisors. Putting the Sheriff on the Hospital Authority Board to cut services, to close hospitals and to break unions is a mean and ugly idea. He has a huge conflict of interest and hundreds of community members, patients, physicians, nurses and caregivers have already called, faxed and written to express their shock and outrage at the proposal.
The Medical Center and local elected officials should be building bridges; not blowing them up. The hospital has nearly balanced the budget, there is no financial crisis; there is a crisis of leadership. We need hospital trustees who want to work with the community, the unions, the physicians, and the patients to make the hospital better.
Please call right now:
President of the Board Supervisor
Keith Carson (510) 272-6695
Tell him:
I oppose the appointment of Sheriff Plummer to the Hospital Authority Board because of his conflict of interest.”
Please Come to the
Board of Supervisors Meeting:
Tuesday May 17th 10:00 am
1221 Oak Street, 5th Floor
Oakland, CA
The Medical Center and local elected officials should be building bridges; not blowing them up. The hospital has nearly balanced the budget, there is no financial crisis; there is a crisis of leadership. We need hospital trustees who want to work with the community, the unions, the physicians, and the patients to make the hospital better.
Please call right now:
President of the Board Supervisor
Keith Carson (510) 272-6695
Tell him:
I oppose the appointment of Sheriff Plummer to the Hospital Authority Board because of his conflict of interest.”
Please Come to the
Board of Supervisors Meeting:
Tuesday May 17th 10:00 am
1221 Oak Street, 5th Floor
Oakland, CA
Chainsaw Charlie Plummer
The Tribune’s been covering Sheriff Charlie Plummer’s coup of the Medical Center with uncritical awe and adoration. Awhile ago it looked like they were interested in doing some real reporting, now it looks like they’re back to doing PR work for the prison industrial complex. I think they’re letting the Sheriff write the articles himself to save on labor costs.
According to the Tribune the unions “said” there is a conflict of interest in putting the Sheriff on the Alameda County Hospital Authority Board. I guess nobody had time to read the bylaws of the Hospital Authority Board, which specifically prohibit contractors from sitting on the Hospital Authority Board. You see the Medical Center contracts with the Sheriff for security and the Sheriff contracts with the Medical Center for healthcare for prisoners. The Sheriff and the Medical Center also compete for county funding from the County General Fund. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Alameda County with more conflict of interest than the Sheriff.
The Medical Center has nearly balanced the budget; if the Sheriff stopped billing so much overtime for security and started paying the bills for health services provided to prisoners, the Medical Center might be at break even. That’s not really the point though is it, Supervisor Carson wants lay-offs, the Sheriff wants money and all the Supes want land. They brought in Chainsaw Charlie to close Fairmont Hospital and disperse the patients and caregivers in an orderly fashion. Throwing out all those patients will save millions, that money will go back to the County and the Sheriff will get it, the land will go to the Supes.
Fairmont’s a choice piece of real estate, why the Supes will make a mint with lots of developer friends chopping up that land. It’s a politician’s wet dream, make rich friends and do them big favors. What do you think they’ll put at Fairmont, Keith Carson’s Casino and Western Grill?
According to the Tribune the unions “said” there is a conflict of interest in putting the Sheriff on the Alameda County Hospital Authority Board. I guess nobody had time to read the bylaws of the Hospital Authority Board, which specifically prohibit contractors from sitting on the Hospital Authority Board. You see the Medical Center contracts with the Sheriff for security and the Sheriff contracts with the Medical Center for healthcare for prisoners. The Sheriff and the Medical Center also compete for county funding from the County General Fund. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Alameda County with more conflict of interest than the Sheriff.
The Medical Center has nearly balanced the budget; if the Sheriff stopped billing so much overtime for security and started paying the bills for health services provided to prisoners, the Medical Center might be at break even. That’s not really the point though is it, Supervisor Carson wants lay-offs, the Sheriff wants money and all the Supes want land. They brought in Chainsaw Charlie to close Fairmont Hospital and disperse the patients and caregivers in an orderly fashion. Throwing out all those patients will save millions, that money will go back to the County and the Sheriff will get it, the land will go to the Supes.
Fairmont’s a choice piece of real estate, why the Supes will make a mint with lots of developer friends chopping up that land. It’s a politician’s wet dream, make rich friends and do them big favors. What do you think they’ll put at Fairmont, Keith Carson’s Casino and Western Grill?
Thursday, May 12, 2005
How Low Can the County Go?
Well, it’s a race for the bottom. County government hits a new low. The Grand Jury wrote a scathing, completely biased and often inaccurate report on the Medical Center. The authors clearly hate unions, love consultants and didn’t bother to talk to the workers they were so willing to slander. At first I thought it read like something Arnold Schwarzenegger would write, pissed off at nurses and not thinking clearly.
Then it hit me, many of the statements sounded like quotes of things Sheriff Plummer has said at Authority Board meetings. According to some sources Sheriff Plummer and the Civil Grand Jury are pen pals; he writes them little notes. The Sheriff sure must be mad that the Grand Jury report uses lots of his exotic ideas and even some of his language and doesn’t give him credit anywhere, they didn’t even say they spoke to him.
Then the same day the Grand Jury Report comes out slamming the Medical Center, we learn that the Board of Supes plans to appoint Sheriff Plummer to the Hospital Authority Board; corruption or coincidence, you be the judge.
Then it hit me, many of the statements sounded like quotes of things Sheriff Plummer has said at Authority Board meetings. According to some sources Sheriff Plummer and the Civil Grand Jury are pen pals; he writes them little notes. The Sheriff sure must be mad that the Grand Jury report uses lots of his exotic ideas and even some of his language and doesn’t give him credit anywhere, they didn’t even say they spoke to him.
Then the same day the Grand Jury Report comes out slamming the Medical Center, we learn that the Board of Supes plans to appoint Sheriff Plummer to the Hospital Authority Board; corruption or coincidence, you be the judge.
Vote Health Alert
Supporters of access to quality health care for the most vulnerable of Alameda County's residents need to protest the plan of the County Board of Supervisors to appoint Sheriff Charles Plummer to the Alameda County Medical Center (ACMC) Board of Trustees. Why is this a problem?
ACMC trustees have a legal fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the Medical Center. Plummer cannot fulfill this responsibility because as elected sheriff he has advocated against the Medical Center getting adequate funding from the County's General Fund, which is also the source of Sheriff's Dept. funding. In other words, he would have a conflict of interest if he served on the ACMC Board, which he insists competes for public funding that he wants for his own department. His public solution to budget problems at ACMC is to cut services to the poor.
There is no financial crisis at the Medical Center. There is a crisis of leadership. ACMC needs an experienced CEO with the vision to move the Medical Center forward. Plummer's appointment is the "nuclear option" which sabotages the current effort to hire a new CEO - his many attacks on the Medical Center have included criticism of their efforts to build a working relationship with labor and community groups like Vote Health.
Please call your Supervisor to vote against the appointment of Sheriff Plummer to the ACMC Board of Trustees:
Trustees have a legal fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the Medical Center, and Plummer cannot fulfill this charge due to his conflict of interest as Sheriff.
ACMC faces a leadership crisis, not a financial crisis. Plummer's appointment will sabotage current efforts to hire a new CEO.
Here are phone numbers, faxes and email address for the four supervisors who support the appointment of Plummer to the Board of Trustees:
President Keith Carson
dist5@acgov.org
510/272-6695
510/271-5151
Vice President Scott Haggerty
district1@acgov.org
510/272-6691
510/208-3910
Supervisor Gail Steele
dist2@acgov.org
510/272-6692
510/271-5115
Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker
BOSDist3@acgov.org510/272-6693
510/268-8004
Please note that the appointment has been buried in the consent calendar (item #39) for Tuesday at 10am,
May 17th's meeting of the Board of Supervisors
at 1221 Oak St., Oakland
Fifth floor.
ACMC trustees have a legal fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the Medical Center. Plummer cannot fulfill this responsibility because as elected sheriff he has advocated against the Medical Center getting adequate funding from the County's General Fund, which is also the source of Sheriff's Dept. funding. In other words, he would have a conflict of interest if he served on the ACMC Board, which he insists competes for public funding that he wants for his own department. His public solution to budget problems at ACMC is to cut services to the poor.
There is no financial crisis at the Medical Center. There is a crisis of leadership. ACMC needs an experienced CEO with the vision to move the Medical Center forward. Plummer's appointment is the "nuclear option" which sabotages the current effort to hire a new CEO - his many attacks on the Medical Center have included criticism of their efforts to build a working relationship with labor and community groups like Vote Health.
Please call your Supervisor to vote against the appointment of Sheriff Plummer to the ACMC Board of Trustees:
Trustees have a legal fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interest of the Medical Center, and Plummer cannot fulfill this charge due to his conflict of interest as Sheriff.
ACMC faces a leadership crisis, not a financial crisis. Plummer's appointment will sabotage current efforts to hire a new CEO.
Here are phone numbers, faxes and email address for the four supervisors who support the appointment of Plummer to the Board of Trustees:
President Keith Carson
dist5@acgov.org
510/272-6695
510/271-5151
Vice President Scott Haggerty
district1@acgov.org
510/272-6691
510/208-3910
Supervisor Gail Steele
dist2@acgov.org
510/272-6692
510/271-5115
Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker
BOSDist3@acgov.org510/272-6693
510/268-8004
Please note that the appointment has been buried in the consent calendar (item #39) for Tuesday at 10am,
May 17th's meeting of the Board of Supervisors
at 1221 Oak St., Oakland
Fifth floor.
Monday, May 09, 2005
Circle Time
Some time ago my friend Allan‘s truck got stolen. Allan worked as an electrician but he was really a musician. He wanted to play music all the time and resented everything that kept him from it, like work. He needed the old pick-up truck for work and play, to carry his bass and his tools. The police called when they found the truck, the thieves left some women’s lingerie, an empty Whisky Bottle and two packages of condoms in the cab. Allan said the most troubling part about the crime was that the thieves had had more fun in his truck in two weeks than he had in two years. Allan had a sense of cosmic harmony, karma and all that.
Allan and I grew up in Berkeley so we had lots of exposure to all manner of enlightenment and spirituality. I guess I’m less fertile soil, than my friend. When I started looking for schools for my little McNuggets (Blot and Og are 3 and 4 years old). I discovered hippie practices have been integrated into the Montessori curriculum, circle time. The whole school does sort of a feel good group hug and sing along. Cum ba ya, it its like the seventies without the pot.
Highland needs a big circle time. Trust has decayed, and blame and paranoia have taken root. Consultants have perfected the fine art of hiding; the only indication we now have that they exist is the unwanted appearance of time clocks replacing pay phones on nursing floors. They bear an unfortunate likeness to ATMs and patients have already been sighted trying to pry cash out of them.
I hate to get “Berkeley” on you, but it’s a crisis of confidence. It’s an opportunity to lead, somebody please take the county healthcare challenge and put forth a plan and a vision, not just another bogus budget.
Allan and I grew up in Berkeley so we had lots of exposure to all manner of enlightenment and spirituality. I guess I’m less fertile soil, than my friend. When I started looking for schools for my little McNuggets (Blot and Og are 3 and 4 years old). I discovered hippie practices have been integrated into the Montessori curriculum, circle time. The whole school does sort of a feel good group hug and sing along. Cum ba ya, it its like the seventies without the pot.
Highland needs a big circle time. Trust has decayed, and blame and paranoia have taken root. Consultants have perfected the fine art of hiding; the only indication we now have that they exist is the unwanted appearance of time clocks replacing pay phones on nursing floors. They bear an unfortunate likeness to ATMs and patients have already been sighted trying to pry cash out of them.
I hate to get “Berkeley” on you, but it’s a crisis of confidence. It’s an opportunity to lead, somebody please take the county healthcare challenge and put forth a plan and a vision, not just another bogus budget.
Vote Health
Vote Health is a cool organization, they do real grassroots healthcare advocacy, policy watch and single payer work. They are the medical center’s fairy godparents. Check them out at: www.votehealth.net
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
The Con is On
Here we go Sheriff Plummer is getting ready for the big shake down. He’s balking at taking budget cuts. Orloff our incompetent DA is balking with him and they’re balking right to the press. Yeah, the Sheriff is hurting so bad they have four officers guarding one patient with twenty-five tubes and enough meds on board to take out a bull elephant. If current trends continue we’ll have more sheriff’s than nurses on the hospital floors.
Besides, the supes fell all over themselves at the budget meetings to give the Sheriff more money, and have already promised any “additional funds” which magically appear in the budget would go the Sheriff.
So if the Sheriff and DA can balk for bucks, how come no one’s out balking for healthcare, where’s the Authority Board, where’s Dave Kears, where’s the leadership?
Besides, the supes fell all over themselves at the budget meetings to give the Sheriff more money, and have already promised any “additional funds” which magically appear in the budget would go the Sheriff.
So if the Sheriff and DA can balk for bucks, how come no one’s out balking for healthcare, where’s the Authority Board, where’s Dave Kears, where’s the leadership?
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
No Free Lunch!
Thursday is a good day to go outside for lunch. Cambio Healthcare consultants have held up the intern's and resident's contract, messed with union physicians and generally blamed caregivers, unions, and patients for their own shocking lack of vision and leadership. Yes, we have officially reached the blame and recrimination portion of the consulting contract.
Those darn interns and residents, “it’s the free Highland meals and their pricey health insurance that’s eating up profits.” Give me a break, they’re young, healthy and they don’t use sick time. Besides, anyone forced to eat only Highland food for days on end needs decent health coverage.
The challenge will be to not bicker and blame each other, see we’re left with the mess and well, the consultants, rumor is they already left. We’re a team, so rally to support Highland interns, residents, nurses, caregivers and all the people who do real work everyday without expense accounts.
Thursday April 28
12:00 noon
In Front of the Emergency Room
Highland Hospital
See You There!
Those darn interns and residents, “it’s the free Highland meals and their pricey health insurance that’s eating up profits.” Give me a break, they’re young, healthy and they don’t use sick time. Besides, anyone forced to eat only Highland food for days on end needs decent health coverage.
The challenge will be to not bicker and blame each other, see we’re left with the mess and well, the consultants, rumor is they already left. We’re a team, so rally to support Highland interns, residents, nurses, caregivers and all the people who do real work everyday without expense accounts.
Thursday April 28
12:00 noon
In Front of the Emergency Room
Highland Hospital
See You There!
Measure A- Fun with Funds
The Tribune's on the job. The sups are giving out the non-medical center monies. The best part of the article are the pictures of Dave Kears and Alice Lai-Bitker with the captions: "Kears says recommendations are fair" and "(Kears) is trying to do his best." Way to stand by your man Alice! You're gonna have to do some super sucking up to the Sheriff to top that, how about: "I just love a man in a uniform."
To read all the gory details click here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/searchresults/ci_2687758
To read all the gory details click here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/searchresults/ci_2687758
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Discharge This
“Get over to Vista Isles. Their nursing home division wants to get rid of Medicare patients and replace them with private payers. They’re loosing fifteen grand per bed per year. Guess who got the removal contract?”
“How are you getting rid of them? You’re not killing them, are you?” asked Flag.
“Of course I’m not killing them!” said Zaragosa. “I’m, uh, liberating them.”…
What Zaragosa was doing was driving them out of state. Most were senile or had Alzheimer’s disease. He’d strip them of ID and pack them in vans. Then he’d drive north and scatter them around bus stations from Macon to Shreveport.
Tim Dorsey
Hammerhead Ranch Motel
So is Mr. Dorsey a healthcare consultant? Will he be handling the medical center’s re-organization of the discharge planning process? Nope, we have social workers trying to get people out of the hospital and since Cambio came along we have fewer and fewer of them (down five and one with a foot out the door). So how has our leadership responded to this crisis? Well, the department head apparently requested nine computers and a corner office, instead of additional social workers.
“How are you getting rid of them? You’re not killing them, are you?” asked Flag.
“Of course I’m not killing them!” said Zaragosa. “I’m, uh, liberating them.”…
What Zaragosa was doing was driving them out of state. Most were senile or had Alzheimer’s disease. He’d strip them of ID and pack them in vans. Then he’d drive north and scatter them around bus stations from Macon to Shreveport.
Tim Dorsey
Hammerhead Ranch Motel
So is Mr. Dorsey a healthcare consultant? Will he be handling the medical center’s re-organization of the discharge planning process? Nope, we have social workers trying to get people out of the hospital and since Cambio came along we have fewer and fewer of them (down five and one with a foot out the door). So how has our leadership responded to this crisis? Well, the department head apparently requested nine computers and a corner office, instead of additional social workers.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Brad Cleveland Talks Turkey
The medical center has employees from 3 different unions, Brad Cleveland works for SEIU 616. He does exceptional research and analysis, he goes to countless meetings and stays cheerful. Good thing we have him. Check out his latest piece:
http://www.seiu616.org/blog/index.cfm?display=entry&bge_id=177
http://www.seiu616.org/blog/index.cfm?display=entry&bge_id=177
Friday, April 08, 2005
Cambio Pink Slips the Shrinks
That’s right the Tennessee Titans are at it again. They sent notice to the psychiatrists at John George Psychiatric Pavilion that their jobs would be contracted out to a subcontractor effective June 1, 2005. That’s right, the Psychic Hotline will be providing the service at a fraction of the cost. Actually Cambio has some friends, cronies or relatives they plan to give work to. Cambio once again forgot about union protection, the Memorandum of Understanding and the physician’s liaison committee, so this will likely turn into a long, protracted and expensive legal dispute, which will cost time, energy and money.
Staff can barely contain their excitement at the consultant withdrawal. Occupation of the medical center by health care consultants has created huge problems, stress and political instability. As a step toward autonomous self-governance and healing, staff have proposed that all Cambio hires and promotions be re-interviewed for their positions after the official pull-out in August.
The medical center is a mere $3 million over budget and still Supervisor Haggerty wants to see lay-offs. Meanwhile the County’s own department of Risk Management overspent by $ 7.6 million and the supervisors are not whining about fiscal mismanagement. The hospital deserves a break.
Staff can barely contain their excitement at the consultant withdrawal. Occupation of the medical center by health care consultants has created huge problems, stress and political instability. As a step toward autonomous self-governance and healing, staff have proposed that all Cambio hires and promotions be re-interviewed for their positions after the official pull-out in August.
The medical center is a mere $3 million over budget and still Supervisor Haggerty wants to see lay-offs. Meanwhile the County’s own department of Risk Management overspent by $ 7.6 million and the supervisors are not whining about fiscal mismanagement. The hospital deserves a break.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Arnold Folded Like A Cheap Suit
That’s right folks the governor is no match for the nurses. Arnold got tired of sneaking into hotels and hiding from angry teachers, nurses and firefighter who followed him like a bad smell. Why the superhero developed the political equivalent of a social disease, that’s right Mr. Muscle now has “an image problem.” So Arnie gave in and took his “pension reform initiative” off the table. We did it!
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Dirt Alert- See Arnold Run
As most Dirt readers already know nurses are chasing the governor around the county. He’s has attacked the nurses, the teachers, the police, the firemen, the disabled, the children and the poor: special interest groups. As one teacher said, “only girlie men break promises to children.”
He plans to fundraise for the initiatives
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
at 6:00pm
in San Francisco at the Ritz Carlton (Stockton and California)
It’s a rally, it’s time to stand by teachers and nurses and insist that we fix education and healthcare and stop blaming service providers. Consultants and managers are welcome to attend. See you there. Need to know more check out www.calnurses.org.
He plans to fundraise for the initiatives
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
at 6:00pm
in San Francisco at the Ritz Carlton (Stockton and California)
It’s a rally, it’s time to stand by teachers and nurses and insist that we fix education and healthcare and stop blaming service providers. Consultants and managers are welcome to attend. See you there. Need to know more check out www.calnurses.org.
Sunday, March 27, 2005
All Offense
That’s right it's county budget time again. The battle of the bureaucrats: the Sheriff and Dave Kears have started staking out positions, the lobbying and bullying has begun. Local politicians have already started poor mouthing and blaming the medical center, the governor, the religious right, the mediocre middle and the apathetic left for the current state of financial affairs.
The sups plan to cut cut cut healthcare, but ask them about the prison budget, they’ll tell you, “You know the Sheriff is very popular.” Poppycock they’re scared of the dude.
This is not just another year, this year the public plans to weigh in on the budget. That’s right we’re fed up with county budgets that don’t reflect our values and priorities. This budget will not be balanced on the backs of the elderly and sick. This time we all get a say, stay tuned, it's pressure and accountability time, this is gonna be fun!
Postscript: In spite of ongoing problems and leadership deficits the medical center has a nearly balanced budget.
The sups plan to cut cut cut healthcare, but ask them about the prison budget, they’ll tell you, “You know the Sheriff is very popular.” Poppycock they’re scared of the dude.
This is not just another year, this year the public plans to weigh in on the budget. That’s right we’re fed up with county budgets that don’t reflect our values and priorities. This budget will not be balanced on the backs of the elderly and sick. This time we all get a say, stay tuned, it's pressure and accountability time, this is gonna be fun!
Postscript: In spite of ongoing problems and leadership deficits the medical center has a nearly balanced budget.
Just Unplug Me
In writing on the record, “I do not want to outlive my brain. I do not want to persist in a vegetative state.”
Brain injury or cognitive problems don’t get discussed. We talk in terms of lists of deficits, level of consciousness, attention problems, and memory and language deficits, movement disorders. We have a whole lexicon of terms to describe “cognitive deficits” we try to take it apart and track and describe the differences. We like to fix and improve things, better diet, better joints better boobs, medicine fixes and improves.
With brain injuries we watch and see, we teach compensations and we coach the family to accept the changes caused whatever happened inside their loved one’s head. When you work with the families of brain-injured clients they often say to you, “they are not the same person.” That’s when you know they have started not just to understand but also to accept what has happened. Sometimes families never accept the changes in their brain injured relatives and loved ones and they keep waiting for the person they remember to come back.
That’s why we don’t like to talk about brain damage, it begs big questions, where is our soul? Which parts can you take away, replace or enhance and still have the same person? Americans can spend hours discussing makeovers and surgical improvement, they can tell you which movie stars have had work done, but could they tell you the man talking too loud in the restaurant with the scar above his eye had a brain injury? No, they would tell you he’s just a jerk.
There is something terrifying about the thought of loosing part of one’s self and still having one’s body inhabiting your life. Can the soul be changed and rearranged and at what point are we gone but still here. We would rather not think about it.
So instead of a national dialog about brain injury we have the Schiavo case: court room drama, political posturing, fear, ignorance, denial, and righteousness. Never has so much been said and so little learned.
Brain injury or cognitive problems don’t get discussed. We talk in terms of lists of deficits, level of consciousness, attention problems, and memory and language deficits, movement disorders. We have a whole lexicon of terms to describe “cognitive deficits” we try to take it apart and track and describe the differences. We like to fix and improve things, better diet, better joints better boobs, medicine fixes and improves.
With brain injuries we watch and see, we teach compensations and we coach the family to accept the changes caused whatever happened inside their loved one’s head. When you work with the families of brain-injured clients they often say to you, “they are not the same person.” That’s when you know they have started not just to understand but also to accept what has happened. Sometimes families never accept the changes in their brain injured relatives and loved ones and they keep waiting for the person they remember to come back.
That’s why we don’t like to talk about brain damage, it begs big questions, where is our soul? Which parts can you take away, replace or enhance and still have the same person? Americans can spend hours discussing makeovers and surgical improvement, they can tell you which movie stars have had work done, but could they tell you the man talking too loud in the restaurant with the scar above his eye had a brain injury? No, they would tell you he’s just a jerk.
There is something terrifying about the thought of loosing part of one’s self and still having one’s body inhabiting your life. Can the soul be changed and rearranged and at what point are we gone but still here. We would rather not think about it.
So instead of a national dialog about brain injury we have the Schiavo case: court room drama, political posturing, fear, ignorance, denial, and righteousness. Never has so much been said and so little learned.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Cambio Healthcare Solution’s Twelve-Steps to Quality Care
When policy makers use the term “quality healthcare” what they are really talking about is the absence of bad outcomes, deaths, dismemberments, lawsuits or citation provoking mistakes. So has Cambio’s management caused a crisis of quality at the medical center? Yes. So how did they make the medical center dangerous? Well, actually they used a twelve-step approach.
The first step was to cut staff, and to replace highly skilled clinicians with temps in critical care areas. You want the nurse in the intensive care area to know where the “crash cart” is. If half of the ICU staff flew in from the red states the night before, not only do they not know where things are, they don’t have anyone to ask. The medical center doesn’t have enough oncology nurses, chemotherapy treatments are being delayed, this is a big no no, and will definitely get the hospital cited.
The second step: ignore maintenance in important areas, while spending extravagantly in others. Like why spend money on things like computers for doctors orders, telephones for nursing stations and patient’s rooms and elevators when you could blow millions on time clocks and PR. So under Cambio’s tenure, elevators have actually crashed down the shafts, when telephones break they don’t get replaced and computers, which generate physician’s orders for whole departments, are broken for weeks at a time. What is the point of clocking employees in if they don’t have any work because the computer broke?
The third step, keep executives away from all patient care areas, don’t articulate any long term vision for the hospital and blame employees and indigent patients for the hospital's financial problems. “Cambio doesn’t want these people in the hospital.”
So, while Cambio Healthcare Solutions failed to articulate a vision for the medical center, they have hurt patient care through cuts, bad staffing strategies, failure to maintain essential equipment and a negative attitude toward our clients. Once a consulting company causes this kind of damage what do they do? They claim victory having reined in cost and moved the facility toward “fiscal responsibility.” At the end of a consultant contract not much gets done. The Tennessee temps are busy keeping their chairs warm and trying to hire their buddy’s into high paid management spots before they fly home.
In the interest of getting a decent night’s sleep, I will skip the last nine steps of Cambio’s twelve-steps to getting blood from a stone or a public hospital. Still these consultants will be leaving on a high note; doctors, unions, managers, politicians and board members all express giddy optimism about the consultant’s departure. Everyone wants a real CEO. Awareness about healthcare has changed as well; people expect a functional public hospital. Medical center employees enjoy a new level of support and respect in the community and employees, patients and Alameda county residents expect the board of supervisors to make good on the promises of Measure A.
The first step was to cut staff, and to replace highly skilled clinicians with temps in critical care areas. You want the nurse in the intensive care area to know where the “crash cart” is. If half of the ICU staff flew in from the red states the night before, not only do they not know where things are, they don’t have anyone to ask. The medical center doesn’t have enough oncology nurses, chemotherapy treatments are being delayed, this is a big no no, and will definitely get the hospital cited.
The second step: ignore maintenance in important areas, while spending extravagantly in others. Like why spend money on things like computers for doctors orders, telephones for nursing stations and patient’s rooms and elevators when you could blow millions on time clocks and PR. So under Cambio’s tenure, elevators have actually crashed down the shafts, when telephones break they don’t get replaced and computers, which generate physician’s orders for whole departments, are broken for weeks at a time. What is the point of clocking employees in if they don’t have any work because the computer broke?
The third step, keep executives away from all patient care areas, don’t articulate any long term vision for the hospital and blame employees and indigent patients for the hospital's financial problems. “Cambio doesn’t want these people in the hospital.”
So, while Cambio Healthcare Solutions failed to articulate a vision for the medical center, they have hurt patient care through cuts, bad staffing strategies, failure to maintain essential equipment and a negative attitude toward our clients. Once a consulting company causes this kind of damage what do they do? They claim victory having reined in cost and moved the facility toward “fiscal responsibility.” At the end of a consultant contract not much gets done. The Tennessee temps are busy keeping their chairs warm and trying to hire their buddy’s into high paid management spots before they fly home.
In the interest of getting a decent night’s sleep, I will skip the last nine steps of Cambio’s twelve-steps to getting blood from a stone or a public hospital. Still these consultants will be leaving on a high note; doctors, unions, managers, politicians and board members all express giddy optimism about the consultant’s departure. Everyone wants a real CEO. Awareness about healthcare has changed as well; people expect a functional public hospital. Medical center employees enjoy a new level of support and respect in the community and employees, patients and Alameda county residents expect the board of supervisors to make good on the promises of Measure A.
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