CEO Hereford in Spotlight as Front Line Health Care Workers Begin to Weigh In
March 17, 2020
After cuts to beds and staff rocked St Paul nurses, patients, and their families, M Health Fairview Bethesda has announced it will re-expand care from 50 to 90 beds and the facility will be turned into a COVID 19 care facility. The announcement follows weeks of protest to the cuts, which were only enacted February 10, 2020, and which accompanied wider conversation with CEO James Hereford of closing down neighboring St Joseph’s Hospital entirely.
The news stunned the community and brought intense pressure and scrutiny on M Health Fairview leadership. The pandemic of COVID 19 was already well underway when the cuts to Bethesda beds were implemented.
CEO James Hereford, who has seen worsening public relations issues for the cuts and his promotion of “Lean” health care policies, seemed to be rebuked by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz while on stage at the Governor’s live press address on Monday. “A lot of industries are just on(in)-time delivery, which is a wonderful model for manufacturing. It is a terrible model for ventilators. Its also a terrible model if we don’t have food supply in there.”
Hereford has not returned communications after numerous contacts by We Do The Work.
The announcement to expand Bethesda facilities came with additional questions from front line health care workers, who have been struggling with multiple issues since the start of the outbreak. Concerns range from proper training of new staff, adequate protective gear, nurse to patient ratios for complex and contagious patients, to what type of staffing relief will be provided to new workers. Sick pay benefits were already leveraged by M Health Fairview. Staff were informed that if they ran out of sick pay during the crisis, they would have to go into a negative sick pay balance and refund lost hours from future earned benefits. Allina Health, another major hospital system announced a similar measure this week.
Many Fairview workers welcomed the announcement, which seemed to come alongside exploding calls for sweeping changes to COVID 19 response. Many front line health care workers are reporting worsening stress, insomnia, and fear of losing their lives. They are routinely citing “Calcified” corporate decision-making endangering patients and staff alike. Health care workers in contact with We Do The Work, listed the following among their demands, which extended to the communities they serve:
· Airborne precautions, access to N95 respirators, and fit-testing for staff
· Negative pressure rooms for COVID 19 rule outs or confirmed cases
· Frontline staff inclusion in all top level decision making bodies and communications
· Regular testing of employees and CLEAR process for staff who have been exposed
· Creation of specific respiratory care and care facilities
· Guidelines healthcare workers on pregnancy and exposure risk
· Doubling of hospital staff with hazard pay
· Indefinite unemployment insurance for all people who have lost work
· And end to all evictions
· Cancellation of rent for all people unable to pay
· No medical costs for uninsured and billing only to include costs to insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid
With multiple, dynamic, forces at work, health care workers appear to be taking a growing and powerful role in the nation’s worsening version of the COVID pandemic. The reopening of Bethesda only weeks following layoffs and bed closures seemed to confirm this, and opens new avenues to overcoming corporate health care models that have held response and safety in check for months.
We Do The Work continues to report from the front lines of the nation’s COVID 19 crisis. Please contact us with information from your community or health care facility, and feel encouraged to reach out to the CEOs on their more transparent platform of Twitter. (Pictured here, CEO James Hereford, M Health Fairview and Allina Health CEO Penny Wheeler)
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