ARMC trustees meet the public to discuss concerns
Crystal NelsonBy CRYSTAL NELSON
News Staff Writer
Over 50 members of the community rallied at the Alpena Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night to have their concerns heard. Among those who spoke during the public portion of the meeting were current ARMC employees, past ARMC employees and members of the community.
CEO Karmon Bjella said the turnout of the public wasn't unexpected.
"Whenever an organization goes through a lot of change just the change can generate this kind of thing," he said. "It's a good thing that people take interest in their community resources, especially hospitals in my opinion, and ask the questions because the rumor thing is what hurts us all."
The overall consensus of the public portion of the meeting was that there needs to be more communication within the hospital and also more communication with the community.
Amy Pfeifer-Twite, RN, expressed numerous concerns regarding communications issues between the hospital, its staff and the community and the hospital's employees not having their voices heard.
"We have to have this facility here. It is the most isolated facility in the state of Michigan. We need it and I'm afraid that we're not going to have it anymore and that you're not going to have your physicians here anymore," she said. "It's hard enough to recruit them, let alone retain them and you're not gonna get them here ... We've already lost how many in the last couple of months ... These are true concerns that you need to be addressing and we don't feel we're being heard. I'm not speaking for myself, I'm speaking for many people here."
Her comments were met with a round of applause.
One of the main concerns brought to the board was of doctors leaving, especially with the pulmonologists.
Chairman James Mazrum said he has heard from several people that "all of the doctors are leaving" and said he didn't know that to be true. He said the hospital has more doctors than it had five years ago and more, or at least the same, as it did at this time last year.
"We're very concerned about keeping doctors and recruiting new doctors and that's one of the major goals of the administration," he said.
Radiologist Jim Weeks said he was concerned about the potential effects of some of the decisions that were made. He said when his department loses somebody it's going to have an affect on patient care because it isn't able to see the same volume of patients. He also said some changes will have to be made in the radiology department as a result.
Emergency room staff nurse Ruth Crane had concerns about the lack of coverage at the hospital and said the ER physicians cannot manage the whole hospital. She said she has responded to two code blues recently at the hospital, one in which the patient ended up dying because the patient's primary physician, who was on call, refused to respond. She urged the board to put the patients' safety at the forefront.
Medical staff President Joanne Root said the physician issue will be dealt with through the medical executive committee which is the appropriate avenue for dealing with these issues. She said this is one very unfortunate incident.
"I will tell you that it is an exceptional incident that has never happened before as far as I'm aware of," she said.
Other concerns voiced during the meeting centered around the hospital's recent layoffs and how they were handled by administration, about the public's negative perception of the hospital and about Bjella's treatment of hospital employees. Throughout the meeting, comments were made reflecting the communities support of the hospital and their genuine want for it to succeed.
Administration at the hospital encourage those with questions to seek the answers by calling the appropriate department. Questions can be directed to the hospital's switchboard at 356-7000 or to its general e-mail, infor@agh.org, and will then be directed to the appropriate department.
In other business:
- the board reviewed and approved financial information for May.
- the board approved the purchase of the auxiliary van in the amount of $20,192 paid for by the auxiliary.
- the board approved the 2009-10 fiscal year budget of $2.5 million with a surplus of $1.9 million.
- the board approved bi-annual reappointments of medical staff including 43 physicians and allied health personnel in the department of medicine, 28 in the department of surgery and 19 in the department of women and newborn health. The credentials begin today and last through June 30, 2011.Crystal Nelson can be reached via e-mail at cnelson@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5693.
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jaxspp
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07-01-09 6:35 AM
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I think they should be concerned about the quality of their care. I believe the care, or lack of care my father received at ARMC directly contributed to his death.
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