Some of you might remember a desperate message I posted last fall entitled, "How can we save our hospital?" I detailed the horrible and unsafe conditions in which we were working, a truly filthy environment, rusted and pitted surgical instruments, no charge nurses or nurse managers, a truly psychotic CEO who counts every cent and chooses to put it in her own pocket instead of patient care or employee safety. For over 10 years she has run our small facility into the ground, boasting the whole time that she was operating in the black. The Board members, who include a judge and several local attorneys and business people, all seemed to love her, as she was showing a profit, and it looks good on their CV's to be on the Board. In the meantime, the CEO was making a salary of $200,000/year while 95% of our patients are either too old or too poor to get a ride to the nearest city hospital 40 miles away. We actually completed surgeries on 2 occasions holding flashlights because the ancient generator failed to kick in during power failures. I could tell you stories about our working conditions that would turn your blood to ice. Our nursing turnover has been tremendous because of unsafe conditions, and those of us who stayed only did so because we were able to institute a powerful Union to protect ourselves from this woman.
The response I got from that message I posted last fall has been instrumental in turning our hospital around. Most of you said,"Get out, save your license.!" That was not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to affect a change, and that could not happen from afar. A few of you advised me to go to the State for help, and that is what I did. In October, I drafted an 8 page letter of complaint to the State of Michigan Board of Health Systems, which was co-signed by 33 frightened co-workers. In January one lone investigator arrived, and she was so appallled by the condition of the hospital that she stayed for 3 days. Within 2 weeks, the media got a hold of the story, and suddenly our hospital started shining. New equipment started pouring into the OR, our meager staff of housekeepers doubled in number, our maintenance crew started working, it was incredible. We even got a reliable heating system in OB.
It gets better. This week, the federal Medicare team arrived to investigate every nook and cranny of our facility. No longer can this one woman rule us, and demand we give sub-standard care. I will no longer be managing an OR without a crash cart, or trying to do a recovery in a room with no reversal drugs. Our hospital is now an SMI, a state monitored institution, (and will be so for the next 3 years) and that CEO is history. She is just too stupid to realize it yet.
Some of the doctors are angry, and frightened for their livelihoods. There has been much concern that the state would close us down. Yet no one can deny how much better everything is, safer for patient and staff alike.
We CAN make a difference, We are only limited by fear and indecision. I was a staff nurse ready to bail, now I am OR manager, and a force to be reckoned with. Nurses are awesome and I am so proud to be one.
