On Monday evening Eureka Springs City Council heard numerous complaints from former Eureka Springs Hospital employees for a second time after hearing similar complaints last month. Several of the employees cried when recounting their alleged mistreatment and wrongful termination.
Hospital Commission Chair Kent Turner said steps are being taken to improve performance. Aldermen had pointed questions about the commission’s firing of CEO Angie Shaw and Chief Nursing Officer Jessica Petrino, and what those and other former employees have described as a toxic workplace. Employees were being retaliated against by Chief Financial Officer Cynthia Asbury and HR Director Jodi Edmondson (now interim CEO) leading to an employee exodus.
Turner said several times he took full responsibility for the problems. Alderman Harry Meyer said if Turner takes full responsibility, then he should resign, and Turner agreed to resign.
Mayor Butch Berry said he didn’t think that was a good idea as Turner is leading efforts to correct deficiencies identified at a recent Medicare audit. That audit inspection coincided with the firings of Shaw and Petrino, and the resignation of ER Manager Joy Kennedy, who said she was bullied by Vice-chair Barbara Dicks on the same day Petrino was fired.
Berry said he wanted to Turner to stay on as he is overseeing the corrective action plan. Contacted Tuesday, Berry said Turner has not resigned.
Berry said there are allegations being made on both sides of the issue, and that he would like to see an independent third-party investigation.
Later in the meeting, alderman David Avanzino called for the resignations of Asbury and Edmondson. Former employees had asked for Turner and Dicks to be removed from the commission, and for Asbury and Edmondson to be fired for violating workplace harassment rules. Dicks resigned at the request of Mayor Butch Berry after the bullying incident reported by Kennedy.
Earlier in the meeting, council discussed what authority it has over the hospital commission. Council can appoint people to the commission and can vote to remove commissioners, but City Attorney Forrest Jacobi said the commission runs the hospital, not the city council.
During the meeting, Turner said the hospital has been through tumultuous times in recent weeks but that conditions at the hospital are improving. He said that the recent Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) Medicare inspectors reported dramatic deficiencies and said it appeared that nothing had been done since a similar report in May. He said the hospital has 10 days to respond with a full plan of correction. A Little Rock attorney has been hired to help come up with the full plan of correction.
Turner said he suspected sabotage, as some important paperwork was missing that was needed for the audit. Former hospital employees said the paperwork is not missing but that Edmondson and Asbury were not capable of finding the files. Normally top clinical leadership at the hospital would provide that. Petrino was in the middle of gathering up information needed for the Medicare audit when she was fired and escorted off the hospital grounds.
“Things just weren’t being done,” Turner said regarding the audit findings. “We thought we had hired the right people but we didn’t.”
Turner said the hospital has been through some hard times and it recently looked like the hospital might have to close. He said that, at this point, they are not looking at termination, but that the commission must take a more active role. He said the ADH said it would be okay for the commissioners to be working at the hospital on a regular basis to implement the corrective action plan.
Alderman Autumn Slane asked Turner, “Why did the wheels fall off so badly?” She said that allegations about harassment from the HR director were particularly concerning because HR is supposed to be the protection for employees.
Alderman Susane Gruning said it appears a lot of employees at the hospital were unhappy and felt like they couldn’t do their jobs correctly. She asked Turner if the commission would hire back some of the employees who were fired or bullied out who deserve to be there. Gruning said it is important that the environment of the hospital change so that employees have confidence that it is a good place to work.
Turner said they have hired a new director of nursing who is “very dynamic.”
Avanzino sided with clinical staff stating that employees felt constantly under attack by administrators. He said the integrity of the hospital commission is in jeopardy.
Allen Smith, a rural resident of Carroll County, said he is greatly concerned about the hospital. He said he knows people who are putting signs on their refrigerators addressed to EMTs asking them to not take them to the Eureka Springs Hospital in a medical emergency.
“The reputation of the Eureka Springs Hospital is at an all-time low,” Smith said, adding that he supports the proposal by Dr. John House to take over management of the hospital.
Former Lab Director Tina Adams said it has been frustrating to see complaints including about a lack of adequate patient care be reported through proper channels and then nothing done about it. “Kent and the others do whatever they want,” Adams said. “The hospital is now having to pay $20,000 to bring in someone to train the new lab workers. I could have trained the workers.”
Adams raised concerns about the legality of Turner and Sandy Martin, the incoming chair of the commission, transporting blood vials to Mercy Hospital Berryville for testing. She asked if Turner and Martin had proper training for blood transfer, if steps were taken to assure patient privacy as names are on the vials of blood and if the blood was kept at the correct temperature.
Former hospital employee Liz Collins was hired as Compliance Officer and then took on additional duties in quality assurance, infection control, and other areas before being laid off earlier this year. She disagreed with Turner’s assessment that the clinical staff was to blame for the poor Medicare audit. She also pointed out that audit is only about clinical issues and doesn’t audit human relations, which is where the main problems are.
Bradley Tate-Greene said that he has heard from many employees at the hospital who claim they have been denied resources they need for quality patient care and were retaliated against for bringing up issues.
“Open your eyes,” Tate-Greene said. “There is no integrity on the commission. The two people running the hospital have no medical training.”
Tate-Greene, who said he has seven advanced degrees including one in hospital management, questioned the legality of the commissioners walking into the hospital and taking over.
Former ESH Nurse Charlotte Bunyar, RN, said that at one point Asbury said she intended to fire everyone at the hospital. Bunyar said it was shameful for Turner to say the bad report was a result of employee sabotage.
Bunyar also expressed concerns about potential violations of the law from commissioners driving blood samples to Berryville for testing. She said people transporting blood samples must be hospital employees.
Former Dietary Director Lisa Miller also said the audit issues emerged after the loss of key employees. She urged council to take immediate action.