Staff reports on finance and strategic initiatives presented at the regular Estes Park Health (EPH) meeting Wednesday evening were detailed, and the in-person audience of about 50 along with another 20 on-line attendees listened patiently for the first hour of the gathering, waiting for the subject on the agenda most community members had come to address: staff working conditions.
When given the opportunity to speak, a core group of community audience members repeatedly asked that an employee survey be conducted to better gauge staff opinions about their workplace. It was clear EPH management and board members were exasperated by a recent report in the Estes Valley Voice characterizing EPH as having a toxic work environment that precipitated the requests.
“I don’t believe there is a toxic work environment,” said Vern Carda, the EPH CEO. Carda recounted conversations with two staff members who said, “I don’t know what that article is even referring to. DNV (a healthcare hospital accreditation organization) surveyed the facility a couple months ago; they left thinking our culture was pretty good.”
David Batey, president of the EPH board, pointed out that the report people were reacting to was based on information from nine individuals, all but one who remained anonymous. “It’s concerning to me that a report of nine people describing a toxic work environment is being extrapolated to the entire organization when there are other indicators that we’ve talked about, like travelers coming back and saying that they want to work.”
Retired physician Mark Richards spoke on behalf of a group of 14 local doctors who began meeting two years ago to develop recommendations they thought would help solve some issues at EPH. Their recommendations, Richards said, included information received by meeting with others currently working in the field. “They all report how much they respect each other, how much they enjoy their profession, and how much they enjoy caring for the patients.”
“A difficult working situation inevitably leads to the loss of valuable staff, unacceptable staff turnover, the need for expensive contract labor, and ultimately reduces the quality of care,” Richards said, adding that a larger sample size of employees needs to be used for better conclusions.
“We have recommended several times in the past that the hospital conduct an employee job satisfaction survey, and that the results be made public. And we repeat our recommendation tonight: such a survey to be revealed to the board and to a potential affiliation partner, problems that can be corrected. To be credible, this survey should be conducted by an independent organization. We believe that such surveys are not particularly expensive. There are many survey tools available that can be easily modified to fit our roles,” said Richards.
Clearly opposed to the concept of employee surveys, Carda said, “I wouldn’t have any intentions of executing and spending any capital, intellectual or physical on an employee opinion survey in the near future.”
Carda’s explanation for that opinion was that “investing in leadership development and training yield better results long term. The path that I would choose for the organization would be to continue to develop leaders, develop conflict training which we’re enrolling in, develop all the different sectors of the leadership development …that pays you more dividends in the long run than the employee opinion survey.”
Further, Carda estimated that an employee survey would cost EPH “at least $70,000” to develop and another $100,000 to “factor in the solutions.”
While Brigitte Foust, secretary of the board and Cory Workman, a board director, voiced interest in pursuing the idea of conducting an employee satisfaction survey, Batey was not ready to endorse the concept, saying, “This is not a board issue. This is an operational area. I think we as a board tend to look to the leadership of the people that are running the organization to make recommendations to us” about what to do with such options, he said. Batey added that he would “think about this later.”
In introducing the subject of the work environment to the meeting, Anna Lipasek, the EPH’s human resources manager said, “We do conduct thorough investigations of all claims that come through our office due to harassment, bullying, retaliation, all of those are taken 100% seriously. We investigate with the highest level of diligence and confidentiality, and we ensure that all concerns are addressed promptly and fairly, following our established procedures, to uphold the integrity of the process.”
However, she said the hospital does not conduct exit interviews with employees to document their reasons for leaving employment.
Reporting processes are not always effective, Joy Varsha told the board. “How often do abuse victims report twice, three times, or over and over and over, with no one to hear their voice?” she asked board member Steve Alper, a retired psychologist. “Many victims don’t come forward due to a fear of retaliation,” she added.
“If nine people have come forward, how many do they represent that have been unable and fearful of reporting?” she asked, in an attempt to encourage the board to provide employees with an opportunity to report their work experiences.
I have lived in EP for almost twenty years and during that entire time the hospital administration has been a contentious issue. Why?? I recently served on a sub-committee of the Foundation and in the course of a year I have observed practices that likely contribute to the ongoing discontent: an apparent lack of effective communication among the various departments; a lack of effective employee evaluation at all levels, a dismissive attitude toward volunteers; and a pervasive frustration throughout the personnel.
Having one whistleblower come forward is often enough to initiate action in an organization, and EPH has nine people who are asking their organization to address concerns. Why have they and their issues been summarily dismissed? There are many ways for administration and employees to engage in constructive planning and policy-making to creative a cohesive work environment, and they don’t necessarily require an expensive survey.
Those of us living in EP contribute in many ways to our hospital and in return we deserve accurate information from administrators and the assurance that we have a well run facility for our care.
Employee survey is a good idea but I don’t know if people will be honest because Management will get rid of you if they find out who you are. It is well known that Pat will get rid of anyone on a whim. There are many people in positions they are not qualified for but if Pat likes you or someone you are involved with, you are set. Vern is rarely seen and when he is he doesn’t engage. Pat walks around here like a bulldog. Kaylee is rarely seen. Mark (noone knows what he does) but he walks around here like he owns the place. Lydia acts like she cares but will stab you in the back just as fast as she can. James is nice but just stands around waiting for someone to instruct him to do something. I have worked at several hospitals in Colorado and surrounding states and have NEVER seen EMS just hang around the ER. Every other facility including critical Access hospitals. They bring the patients in then leave. This is the weirdest practice I’ve ever seen. I love this community but will be leaving as soon as possible because I am in fear that I could lose my license.
As a current employee I can confirm that EPH is a toxic work environment. With all of upper management coving up and only reporting some of the story attempting to mislead staff.
Wendy Rigby said in a email dated 08/30 only reported that “Carda pointed out that a professional third-party survey would cost $60,000 to $70,000 and is probably not the best investment at this time, with affiliation negotiations ongoing.” Failing to report that during the board meeting multiple doctors and board members actually suggested that it would be a good time. Or that a woman in attendance stated that it could be done cheaply. What Mr Carna fails to realize is that without satisfied employees he would not have a job.
Wendy also failed to acknowledge Pat Sample’s lies. Pat said that she had checked the number of traveling nurses the previous day and said that there were 3 in Emergency Room and 1 on Med/Surg. When actually there were 6 in Emergency and 2 on Med/Surg. This is just another example that Pat Samples can not be trusted.
I believe it would be in the best interest of the board to review the structure of the upper staff.
How does a Pharmacy tech become Director of Environmental Care?
How does a Dietician become a Director of Environmental Services?
Are they qualified or even needed?
It appears there are several directors in positions they are not qualified for and for a hospital this size, how many directors do we need?
About a year and half ago the employees at EPH were given a non disclosure that stated you could not discuss any activities that go on in the hospital inclusive of personal information or any information about the goings on in the hospital. The document stated that you had to sign it to maintain employment. This is/ was exclusive of HIPPA which all staff is mandated to adhere to for patient confidentiality purposes.
Being a past employee, and knowing how terribly toxic ( and inept) the administration is in the hospital, and how deaf some of the board members appear to be to employee concerns. I can’t help but think this mandate ( scare tactic) pretty much speaks loudly to the fact that admin has something to hide.
I realize that these types of documents are requested to be signed often upon employment at other work places. My question is, why was it sent out at the time it was? Is it because the toxicity in the hospital and employee disgruntlement was starting to noticeably climb to uncontrollable heights for administration? Probably. It certainly is a good way to intimidate any whistle blower.
I am sure this will be met with, you are just a disgruntled ex employee. I am not. Change has been good for me and my family. I am saying this because I love Estes Park and the hospital that was once a friendly, cohesive, financially sound ( where are you Tim Cashman!), service oriented entity for the Estes Park community.
I am currently an employee at EPH. In reference to the investigations of employee misconduct, I have personally been witness to two formal reports made about bullying by management in the last year and neither report was investigated. Vern mentioned the leadership development and training program. While I completely support education and training, it will not solve the problem of toxicity at EPH. The middle management who are receiving this training are, for the most part, not the problem. The problem lies with senior leadership and as mentors of those below them, we can expect the problem of toxicity to remain unchanged and potentially get worse.
Vern also stated that recommendations have been made for an employee survey “10, 12 times” in the past, so there is obviously a problem. Another comment during the board meeting was that we will be affiliating soon and we should wait for that to happen instead of addressing the toxic issues now. While the potential affiliation will result in employee surveys being available to employees, is it fair to dump this issue on the oncoming hospital system? I welcome the change with the new hospital system and I hope that they will recognize that the front line employees are dedicated to our patients and the success of this institution but we deserve to work in a non-hostile workplace.
May I please ask with whom the EPH has partnered with? Thank you.