Dec 09, 2007  
What has really changed at Enloe?
 
We believed, or wanted to believe, that the atmosphere at our hospital had changed...

A new CEO. When Debi Yancer came to our hospital, we employees – those of us who were aware of the myriad problems at our medical center – were somewhat elated. We had read about the new CEO's stint at Shady Grove Hospital in Maryland where, apparently, the employees were actually happy workers.

Immediately after her arrival, the administration gave up its stalling strategy and recognized the service unit as union. Plans were made to begin the bargaining that the National Labor Relations Board all along had demanded. This was smart.

Those layoffs, which had been proposed by one of the administration’s many expensive consultant groups – one called Navigant – and carried out by the interim CEO, Beth O’Brien, who replaced Dan Neumeister, and who, it now appears, was hired to do just that: layoff a large portion of our workforce – well, anyway, those layoffs were rescinded.

But (and this is a big BUT) not all the laid off employees were brought back. Only those represented by the newly recognized union – at the “command” of the NLRB – were rehired. This should have been a red flag.

In other words, Debi and the rather private group known as our Board of Trustees were FORCED to bring back those laid off service unit employees.

We believed, or wanted to believe, that the atmosphere at our hospital had changed. However, a REAL change would have been to bring ALL the laid off employees back. A missed opportunity that would have shown our community that, indeed, there was a change at Enloe.

Of course, we’ve all noticed a small change here, a small change there. But those service unit employees who are on the contract negotiating team have wondered about the mistrust the administration still has of its employees. The administration appears to be negotiating with a mind to keep its employees in the service unit in their present status quo: low wages, poor health insurance, ignoring their staffing concerns, and many other things that are considered below standard by our fellow health care workers at hospitals in Redding, Red Bluff and other facilities all over the north state.

We employees want to be fair to the new CEO and her COO. Debi hasn’t been around much because of her terrible accident. We want to give her the chance to work her 'magic' as she did at Shady Grove. But you know, being understaffed, and living pay check to pay check, is still pretty hard for many of us in the service unit. We look forward to real change at our hospital. And soon.

JN