Just wanted to note that healthcare is a hot-button item here in Paris. A lot of communities have an outlet through Hey Martha! (Muskogee and Weatherford come to mind,) but the newspaper is the source to that, and frankly, I don't see them putting in such a venue that they can't control, despite the value to the public.
Thursday 11th January 2007 --555
Wednesday 10th January 2007 --553
Tuesday 9th January 2007 --794
Monday 8th January 2007 --782
Sunday 7th January 2007 --487
Saturday 6th January 2007 --658
Friday 5th January 2007 --1,066
Thursday 4th January 2007 --667
FYI: the count for the 4th of January was about 125 at 5PM when the Knizley post went in. The news release made it into the Snooze in the Friday edition...timing is everything.
I have had numerous emails that related directly to the care and treatment of patients in the
hospital. Some I can confirm, and when sanitized, will use. I will not release HIPAA protected information (personal identification,) nor will I intentionally release anything that is identifiable to the commenter--I'd rather lose a story than hurt a source.
The ones I don't post I mainly use for my own context--and encouragement that this is a worthy effort. Some things that I have been privy to are far too traceable to a select few individuals, and my only recourse is to shelve them until they are more widely known.
In the meantime, please note that the site has had over 100,000 hits in less than a year. That says that something is wrong with the way the hospital is run. And, we need to do something about it! Get on the bandwagon: let others know about it, and finally, we do accept tips!
18 comments:
The Blog has been a good source of info, and it may even have had an effect on hospital policy. However, what is it that all of us want and need for the community that many of us have spent the better part of our lives devoted to? I think it is to try to recover what has been lost when we lost local control of our hospital.
Everyone knows that we need to build some sort of a new facility (either build on to the north or build anew.) The current owner has shown an incredible lack of expertise in working with Docs and Rns/Lvns. They have absolutely no interest in building or adding on to the north despite what Hub says.
We are reaching a tipping point where we can not retain the medical staff unless the census picks up. My hope is that Hub will finally give up and move on. Perhaps then East Texas Med Center will buy us, or we can form our own hospital.
What seemed impossible has now happened in Terrell. Even the vaunted Baylor is abandoning the community and will close the hospital in a few weeks. We can only resolve that it will not happen here by taking back control, when or if the opportunity presents itself.
I left the "Hub"s in, maybe we can get a new play on words.
But the theme is good: New owners with closer ties to the community, or community owned. Personally, the idea of city government making healthcare decisions scares me like nothing else, but a consortium of physicians would go a long way to restore some confidence. That's actually what Dick left, a group that was buying a hospital that was going bankrupt.
The specialty hospital ban has been lifted, so that's a possibility, now.
Time to make some lemonade, folks, 'cause we sure ended up with lemons....frank
We had a chance with the Leland group and blew it due to orthopedic loyalty to Christus.
One only wonders what we would have now if we had united against outside ownership then. I think the sentiments of the orthopedic group is now verrry different. Maybe another run at a short stay hospital out 271 should be explored.
Let Hud et. al press on with whatever crappy form-over-function institution they want to package and sell on the stock market, but let's start something that will be here when they go the way of Arcon, and who knows: we might just have the nucleus of the new" Paris General Hospital" owned by doctors and local investors.
There were several physicians with misplaced loyalties at that point, and the specialty hospital moratorium didn't help.
That's past, and the impetus that the ortho group gave Knizley showed what can happen. Two years under Essent played out the loyalty issue with most.
Essent is either going to have to back water, or do a Crossroads. I wonder what the 'locum' CEO is going to pull out of his hat?
As to a new 'PGH', only if we can separate the campuses and the properties. A bankruptcy might be the solution....frank
We are in the middle of flu season, and census is down??????
I went to Wal Mart the other night, and covered my face due to the symphony of coughs, wheezes and sneezes, and the census is down?????
Community health nurses have either done a hell of a job this year, or people are scared to go to the hospital.
My tip to the new guy, (if I were going to tip) would be to investigate THE CUSTOMER, and to let the Doctors be Doctors, and the Nurses be Nurses instead of having to figure out if medicare will pay for it.
If I were going to be an accountant--I would have. I want to do my calling, and finances are not apart of it.
If the pt. comes first, everything else will fall into place. If your first interest is money, people know it, and you will lose it.
Find coders that know what they are doing. Send them to school--let them figure out how to code it. Give them a bonus if they do a good job.
Hell we know when people are sick, and need to be in the hospital. If everyone knows their job, and does their job, there isn't a problem.
I'm completely embarassed to say that I work at PRMC. I was at a friend's parent's home over Christmas, and was asked..."So, what's going on at the hospital? We had a friend that died in the ER waiting room while waiting for the nurses to come answer the DOORBELL that is used to summon them." What kind of quality healthcare do you think is provided when we don't have the staff, the equipment, or the resources to do our job? When employees talk about the "good old days" when we were owned by McCuistion and St. Joseph's... OH.. well since Andy got fired, maybe I won't get fired for saying these dirty words. I know that progress has to be made, but E$$ent doesn't seem to have a clue as how to accomplish this. We've slapped some paint on SOME of the walls, but the whole time what really makes a hospital an effective, caring, and even profitable place has continued to be shown the door. I worked for HCA and would be delighted at their acquiring this hospital. Of course, if the board is gonna lose their paychecks.. I guess that will never happen. What can we do? I don't want to just bitch and whine... WHAT CAN WE DO? We need community confidence to return.
Tomorrow there will be a party. The party will be to say goodbye to yet another CRNA from the OR. We have lost two of our CRNAs in the last two weeks. Guess where they're going? DALLAS. Yep, that's right. With the freezing of their vacations and other HR related issues, (THANK YOU CHERYL PERRY) two of our great, experienced, and caring CRNAs have chosen to go to DALLAS. Don't worry, they'll get to take care of lots of Paris people there. So, thanks to E$$ent again. Meanwhile, lots of Dallas CRNAs can come here and make more money than they were paying the two loyal CRNAs that have chosen to leave. Makes sense to me. E$$ent is a FOR PROFIT company, right?
I have to disagree about the synopsis of the Terrell Hospital.
I used to do agency work there several years ago. I worked when Columbia had them and when they changed hands to Tenet (I believe).They couldn't keep staff because they treated their employees in such a horrible manner that they had to pay high dollars for agency staff.
You could walk in the door and the smell of MRSA would hit you when you hit the gift shop. These were people who acquired MRSA as patients.
I watched botched codes, physicians attempting to start IV's with the same catheter 3-4 times amongst other travesties of poor care.
There is a reason that the Terrell hospital is closing.
The public lost their confidence (and rightly so) in the care they would receive as patients and the local nurses and other ancillary personnel lost their confidence in them as an employer.
These tales surely were carried from one end of the state to the other with all of the temporary workers that walked through those doors.
As far as the census now at PRMC...one has to wonder when all of the surrounding hospitals are full (Sulphur Springs, Commerce, Texarkana, Mt. Pleasant, Winnsboro, etc) why our hospital has empty beds.
The answer is self-explanatory. The patients aren't that far from home...but far enough to feel safe. It is simply a vote of no-confidence by our community.
I have heard horror stories in the oddest places. Without knowing specifics, these tales that are being told are being viewed as gospel by the audiences that will listen.
I personally hope that it isn't acquired by East Texas. I know many people that work for them and I would have no desire to work for them because they also treat their employees like disposable commodities. Haven't we had enough of that already?
I'm not embarassed to say that I worked for the hospital here at all. I got out when I could no longer care for people to my standard.
I have worked for ETMC as well, and there were some issues occasionally that irked me, there were plenty of good things too. There was opportunity for growth, you were allowed to express your opinion, and there were educational opportunities.
Another big thing with ETMC is trauma designation, and I think that is a good thing, because with it comes mandatory education.
I know Triage was a huge problem when I left the hospital here. It wasn't because the nurses didn't know what they were doing either. It was because of the way they were making us fill up the rooms. It wasn't safe. Communication was bad.
Administration was dictating how triage was done, even though they had no education on this matter, and would not listen to reason on it. So business personell, was telling medical how to do it.
That's a disaster. That is what is wrong with the medical system now. That's just my humble opinion.
I don't mind saying I was a PRMC employee, and if things change for the better (read: new ownership), I wouldn't mind being a PRMC employee again.
RE: the ll:12PM post.
I wouldn't even consider being an employee of PRMC, even with change of mgmt. Not until there was a very, very long history of successful efforts both in healthcare and employee retention achievements. Have been through the McQuistion/Christus/Essent crap, and it is just too crazy to even consider giving ANOTHER owner the benefit of the doubt. Never again, especially after now being employed for a well established, well reputed company.
Paris plays like a really bad Cowboys game, ya get pumped up for the game, only to be deflated by poor coaching/ownership and glory hogging, prima donna players. And in today's world, no one likes a loser, especially in the employment arena. No matter how nice the community is!
9:58
That football analogy cracks me up. I just got a visual of my last days at PRMC.
I see myself making touchdowns and people booing me for it. That's the way it felt anyway.
While the comments go up, the census goes down...
I spoke with one employee, (non-medical) and he was asking me why the census was so low. He asked, are there just fewer sick people this year? He said they were making cuts to the staff like crazy.
I went to the out patient desk, and the guy there said "We need business."
A friend of mine said the ER was dead last night. I thought that was strange. In the year after the ER's merged, I didn't see one single dead night.
Wound flow check: Is it arterial? Yes: PRMC, No: Dallas....and it is a shame. That is when you need the highest level of care...and don't get it. People are going to die because of what this hospital has become...and not just in the hospital. Getting to another.
Those of us that work there are afraid of the facility. And with low-census, has it gotten better? Are the lights answered quicker? Is the incidence of MRSA lower? Post-surgical complications lower? Nope....frank
I read the rosy article in the local fishwrap concerning the new "leadership" at PRMC, and almost fell out of my chair. The only thing this waste of electrons got right (the article, that is) was the need for leadership. After that, it was bulls***.
Seeing what hasp happened to healthcare in PAris, how the hell can the Snooze be so blind, or had Baghdad Bob taken over the "news"paper as well?
The 'wrap just can't pick a winner, can they?
Where else can an email go from your keyboard directly to the CEO of the corporation? Hud's morning read is the blog...if there's something that takes one of his minions to a screeching halt...wouldn't you love to be that messenger????
Obviously, there were burning phone lines from Nashville to here on the Thursday that "Knizley in the Wind" came out...too late to do damage control....
But, this is an 'opportunity', folks: A suggestion box that is opened every day by someone from corporate! ...and the local admin! ...and the local media (just because they don't write about us doesn't mean they don't read us....)
Your chance to P&M to the 'wigs anonymously. As I said, an opportunity...to put a burr under their saddle....frank
Union anyone?
I really don't think we would have enough participation to unionize this place. Most people here are trying to stay under the radar. That doesn't play to an organizing period.
Plus, unions don't play well in a 'right to work' state.
Essent and SEIU went for over a year without a contract in one of the other hospitals. (MVH?) And, that was in a closed shop state. You had to belong to the union (dues) yet, it didn't seem to make any difference.
Let's face it, we are the downtrodden masses....frank
That's a nice thing about being an ex-employee- the bozos in Nashville can do nothing to me. Oh sure, they may have some pimple-faced geek somewhere trying to trace where I'm typing my emails from, but they're SOL- I'm not using hospital computers, and I don't draw a paycheck from the bozos in Nashville.
Perhaps they mnay browbeat and silence the remaining employees (I sincerely hope not), but for us E$$ent refugees, it's a field day. Unfettered and unafraid, we can tell others about the conditions in our former place of employment, about the asinine policies, the low census, patient mistreatment, etc. without fear of reprisal.
I used to eork in the little joint in Hugo, OK, and thought that place was a joke- it was one of the playthings of the local mayor and his cronies, staffed by docs one step ahead of a malpractice suit (almost all, there are a few good ones there).
Sadly, Paris has taken its place in the region as a laughingstock.
And the Snooze sings its praises??? What did they do, smoke the whole bowl and drink the bongwater?
I'd rather hit them with something they don't like- the truth.
First NashVegas boyband "country", now E$$ent.......is there nothing good that comes out of Nashville?
when are the "powers that be"gonna get rid of cheryl perry?!? she is thecause of so many good, quailified rns;lvns&rt techs & other healthcare workers not working @prmc. I wonder horw she would feel if she was fired while sick in the hospital?!? it doesn't seem to matter to her or prmc if you're qualified & good @ your job.
The final count:114,444 hits for the year.
Post a Comment