In 25 days a small community hospital that has been operated by a major health system for the past 10 years or so will close.
Supposedly it was a swift business decision deemed necessary to save the health system, which reportedly is 16 million over the budged loss for last fiscal year.
Or was it? I have my doubts. My gut tells me differently :: and as it’s ever expanding so is my ever expanding insight!! Ha! :: No. Seroiusly. The thing about the suits that sit on the top floors making these decisions is that they really, honestly and truly think that the people who work on the floors under them are stupid.
I’m not going to get into all the specifics because that’s not really what this post is about.. but for someone who spent many an hour putting 5000 piece puzzle pieces together I’m going to tell you that closing this hospital was in the works for a long time.
So 850 people are out of jobs come the end of the month. Alot of people. Alot of people that I know personally. Because that’s the kind of place this hospital was.
It was a “community” hospital in the truest sense of the word. Everyone in the neighborhood was either born there or worked there or wound up doing both. Generations of families were born there and died there.
Nothing was cold.. nothing sterile :: figuratively speaking you guys! Sheesh! :: Upper managment.. the CEO’s the CFO’s took the time to know you.. not just your name and / or position. Get to know YOU. We had a baseball team that was employee funded :: with help from managment :: .. we had a golf team that was employee funded :: with help from management ::. Everyone truly worked hard to make this hospital one where you and your family were cared from from the minute you walked in until the minute you left.
People went above and beyond because they WANTED to.. not because it was expected. There was constantly something being done for someone in the community.. bake sale.. 50/50 raffle.. it was endless.
But then the powers that be decided that there should be one corporate hub and my department was moved into the corporate office. The people were different.. their work ethics were different :: dare I say “non-existant” :: and as much as they wanted to convey the TEAM mentality, people from my hospital were segregated.. left out..
Our hospitals’ work :: which should have been even distributed and worked on by the entire staff :: collected dust because no one wanted to bother learning our system.
Consequently, the hospital started to lose the revenue much needed by the health system and therein laid the path to closing it’s doors.
The corporate office IS doing something.. they’re turning it into an outpatient care facility but they still deemed it necessary to give everyone a pink slip and offered to rehire anyone if they needed.
The neighborhood and local council tried saving it but to no avail. I’m not sure how much of this was known by people of some power before it actually happened since an internet search turned up an organization formed to save the hospital roughly a year before it acutally happened.
Even worse is that fact that about 6 years ago, the health system reached out to the community to help them fight a land development deal by WalMart for the property across the street from the hospital. The community acted and the deal fell through. This is how they repay them.
But all that really doesn’t matter because in 25 days, it’s doors will close.
I have really spent any quality time in there for about 2 years but I still keep in touch with the friends I made there :: thank God for Facebook! :: but let me tell you.. she was a grand old dame.
And it’s sad. It’s more then said.
LIVING ME 101 