Profit-making Palomar Pomerado Health lays off 27 & sacrifices patient care

Nurses Activism

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pph is making millions and are still laying off needed positions.....because they have to answer to wall street.

* this is the same hospital that was fined $75,000 when a patient -- who was left alone due to staff shortages -- fell, suffering skull fractures and bleeding withine his brain. he died four days later, according to a news story last month.

* in may, the hospital signed a $3 million contract for landscaping.

pph to lay off 27 employees

by paul sisson [email protected] | posted: thursday, july 7, 2011 10:00 pm

declining reimbursement and a need to maintain a solid bond rating has pushed palomar pomerado health to lay off 27 employees despite rising profits, according to two memos provided this week to the north county times.

the layoffs are outlined in an all-staff memo sent june 29 by health care district ceo michael covert. that memo says 43 employees would be laid off, but the district's chief human resources officer, brenda turner, said thursday that 16 of those workers have already taken other positions at pph.

an additional 25 employees are to have their work hours reduced, turner said.

the public health care district operates palomar medical center in escondido and pomerado hospital in poway.

turner said about half of the laid-off workers were certified nursing assistants; others included hospital secretaries and some managers.

in his memo to the hospital's 4,000 full- and part-time workers, covert said palomar pomerado expects to see its reimbursements under the state medical program drop by $4.5 million this fiscal year.

the memo also said that training and preparation of employees to move into the new palomar west hospital now under construction will cost $3.7 million this year, putting further pressure on the district's bottom line....

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

i googled these:

the head of north county's palomar pomerado health is no. 2 on a list of top-paid local government officials in the state - http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/16/hospital-ceo-tops-pay-list/

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Landscape contract:

Benchmark will install new landscaping at the Palomar Hospital in Escondido, CA. Various elements such as rock walls, monuments, open-space gathering areas, healing gardens and more will be built on the hospital grounds. Use of rocks found on site, in addition to the installation of bioswales, which are designed to filter surface runoff, are just two of the ways this site will be environmentally friendly.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
Landscape contract:

Million$ for a landscape garden and nothing for a sitter to prevent a deadly fall.

It's a shame.

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Gotta love these business degrees who have wormed thier way into the Healthcare industry. Thier dangerous, bizzare and inappropriate sense of priorities. What maggots!! What is the clinical purpose of this landscape garden? Do they plan on selling admission tickets for tours like a carnival- hospital fundraising?? Did anyone test ther decision maker of this for drugs or alcohol abuse?? A patient dies because of management's refusal or lack of comprehension of to meet patient saftey needs, Health department investigates the unnecessary tragic sentinal event and the hospital administration/CEO spends $3 million on planting flowers. Sounds like a Steven King novel!! Perfect role for Jack Nickleson(as the CEO) to resurrect!!

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These Hospital administrators and nursing management need to start under going drug and alcohol testing and on an ongoing basis- regular random testing. They are in charge of the purse strings that directly influence and compromise patient safety and jeapordize our licenses. They are the architects of the unemployment contribution of the healthcare industry in this country. Healthcare is one of the major employemnt industries in this country so these CEO's and their financial CZARS are major players in the continuing of this recession(depression). They are the only ones profiting by this continuation of a vicious cycle: high unemployment and underemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcys, lack of buying power, businesses going under etc. The government being forced to cut medicare and social security to avoid raising taxes on people who have no more money to give, the annilihation of the middle class. Isn't it a shame that last weeks article from the Labor dept gave alcolade to the auto industry for it's strides in promoting economic growth with thousands of new jobs and described the healthcare industry as "disappointing" and not performing up to government job growth standards! No expansion of health care jobs but money to build a F***ing garden. Wasting and draining healthcare dollars and scream no money for charity care, give us some hand out money from the government/taxpayers with multimillion $$$salaries, and these A***oles are not drug tested!! The nurses are tested, criticized and excluded from employement for every thing from cigaretts, chronic diseases, age to the kind of shampoo they use??? Why?? What kind of crap is that!!

Does anyone else here see the outrageousness of this. Get these CEO's and their cronnies out of here before they kill us all!

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