While it was the overall consensus that employees of Allen County Hospital were in favor of change to the hospital, they’d also like to keep Hospital Corporation of America as their boss.
About 75 employees aired concerns with Allen County commissioners Monday evening.
The meeting “was overdue,” Commissioner Rob Francis admitted, in the commissioners’ ongoing study of whether a new or remodeled hospital is in the county’s future.
Employees also vented their concerns about the hospital’s public image. Reports in the Iola Register have been slanted against the hospital, many said. And reported complaints were sometimes “decades old,” said Judy Zirjacks, a 22-year employee of the hospital who now works as a secretary in the surgery department.
“Please take that into consideration. Our employees today are some of the best we have ever had,” she said.
For the naysayers, Zirjacks asked rhetorically, “Have you been out here lately?”
Several employees echoed Zirjacks’ defense of the quality of care delivered at the hospital.
“We are working in an old facility, but we give top-notch care here,” said Deanna King, discharge coordinator. “Sometimes when we’re trying to prove we need a new hospital it comes across that we’re not the quality institution that we are.”
King explained how the hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission, a nationally recognized process that ensures patient care is provided in a safe manner and secure environment.
“We stack right up there with our care, but our facility is lacking,” she said.
Rhonda Wolfe, a registered nurse, said she recently was a patient at ACH, which gave her a new perspective on her profession.
“I’ve been trained as a nurse to give someone the very best care I can. But it’s different when someone does it for you. Your well-being is in their hands. I got wonderful care,” she said.
She credits HCA as providing valuable training opportunities for the hospital staff.
HCA also keeps the hospital’s equipment inventory current, said Sherrie Sandlin, manager of the intensive care unit.
“Everything we need to take care of patients, we get it,” she said, whereas with previous companies, “we fought tooth and nail just to get a blood pressure cuff.”
Brad VanRiette, respiratory therapist, said “generally, I’m in favor of a new hospital, but who’s going to be here (as management) when it’s all said and done is of a great concern. I would give a vote of confidence to HCA. Joyce (Heismeyer, ACH chief executive officer) has been a breath of fresh air.”
King lauded the many benefits provided by HCA as something “we couldn’t get any other place.”
Many of the hospital employees who are married said their spouses typically take advantage of HCA health insurance plans.
John Morris, director of rehabilitation services, touted HCA’s 401k retirement package that allows him to put up to 9 percent of his income into a savings account and is matched “dollar for dollar” by HCA.
“HCA has been far superior,” King said, compared to the other management she has worked for during her eight years at the hospital. “I would hate to see HCA not considered, and in fact given top billing as a management company,” if commissioners decide to go with a different management model than leasing the hospital as it does with HCA.
“We already know how HCA works,” said Wolfe. “We don’t want HCA just to manage us. We want to be HCA employees.”
Heismeyer said if HCA were retained as manager of the hospital, employees would have the opportunity to keep their status as HCA employees.
Katie Gant, director of radiology and a resident of Burlington, said the main attraction of working at the Iola hospital was its relationship with HCA. “HCA attracts new people to the county,” said Gant. Gant participates in Allen County Together, a leadership program for young professionals, and said that she has been impressed with the area’s efforts to grow.
“I’m wholeheartedly in that with you all,” she said. But, “doing away with HCA may hurt the attractiveness of your area.”
Juliet Ryherd, obstetrics manager and a 12-year employee of ACH, said hospital employees “aren’t afraid of change. We’ve researched other places,” and feel HCA does right by its employees.
COMMISSIONER DICK Works said commissioners have asked HCA to meet but have not yet received a date and shared his frustration with the process.
“It’s the year of the hospital, and we’re halfway through it, and we haven’t made a whole lot of progress,” he said.
Much still has to be done, commissioners noted. First is to hear the recommendation from hired consultants from Wichita, Hospital Facilities Group, who will say in July whether a remodel or new hospital offers the best future for ACH.
Either way, wrangling out of the current contract with HCA lies ahead, with inherent costs.
“And that’s just the first hurdle,” Works said.
Forgoing a lease agreement with HCA no doubt has its headaches, but the Nashville-based corporation — which Heismeyer said is “very eager” to stay in the hospital’s picture — has made it clear it will not help fund either a remodel or a new hospital, Works said.
The county’s hands-off approach to managing the hospital has resulted in “26 years of us not putting a dime into the hospital,” said Works.
“We haven’t invested in this hospital. We put $1.5 million into the community college from property taxes every year. Think what this place would be like if we put $1.5 million in it every year,” Works said.
Francis said opting for a management model with a not-for-profit organization has benefits for a community, including the generation of gifts.
Mary Warren of the hospital’s oncology department said county responsibility of the hospital would generate more interest by the public.
“When we all have an investment in something, we take ownership,” she said, not only of the facility itself, but “of their own health care” and by extension “of wanting to make the county a better place.”
Francis said the decision “is a 50- to 100-year decision. This is not a decision for tomorrow, but for your grandkids and your great-grandkids.”
Commissioner Gary McIntosh said the next “logical” date for a public vote on the issue is April, after initial expectations for an August, then November, vote were pushed back by the time-consuming process of gathering information.
Until then, Works urged everyone to “keep an open mind. We don’t have enough information to make an opinion. For those who have made up their minds this early, that is troublesome to me.”
