Reactivates “incident management system” but denies leaving patients behind or rationing care
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Three days after Joe Sluka resigned as president and CEO of the St. Charles Health System, the organization announced that it has fired and eliminated two top-level positions to reduce costs and reactivate its system. of incident command to deal with. the financial impact, capacity of patients and ongoing staff of COVID-19.
“As part of the ongoing financial recovery work of the St. Charles Health System, two executive leadership positions have been eliminated,” the statement said Friday.
“The positions of Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Physician, currently held by Dr. Jeff Absalon, and Senior Vice President of Strategy, currently held by Rod Marchiando, have been reduced as a cost-saving measure. Both positions are members of the St. Charles Executive Care Team. Transition plans for their areas of responsibility are currently being developed with the goal of making the reductions effective as of August 1. “
“I want to sincerely thank Jeff and Rod for their numerous contributions to St. Charles throughout their tenure,” said Dr. Steve Gordon, interim president and CEO of St. Louis. “They are talented executives who have dedicated years of their lives to improving the health care system. They care a lot about our caregivers, patients and the communities we serve. We will miss them and wish them all the best in their future. efforts “.
In response to a question from NewsChannel 21, St. Charles spokeswoman Kayley Mendenhall confirmed that James Reedy, head of nursing at St. Charles Redmond, had “resigned from his post after finishing his doctorate in nursing recently.” to pursue other opportunities “.
“It wasn’t a dismissal,” he added.
Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Goodman says the nonprofit health care system has seen total losses of more than $ 40 million so far this year, a factor in the May layoffs of more than 100 non-medical staff and the elimination of 76 vacancies.
Goodman said the hospital has not planned more layoffs across the board and is still trying to fill more than 400 staff openings.
Mendenhall also shared with NewsChannel 21 a clarifying statement that St. Charles provided the OPB after his story on the problems of St. Charles on Friday said St. Louis patients. Charles is “taking rational care” because of the increase in COVID-19 cases linked to the latter subvariant:
“We don’t take patients away and we don’t rationally care. Depending on a patient’s health care needs, we board them in our Emergency Department until a bed becomes available or we work with our community members. to put in a suitable establishment.
“Like other hospital systems across the state, we are at full capacity, even as we continue to struggle with the shortage of clinical staff. Earlier today, we activated our Hospital Incident Command System to manage the our significant patient flow and workforce challenges.Our goals are to stabilize staff, manage our inpatient admissions and discharges, and ensure the safety of patients and caregivers.
“The problems we face are not unique to St. Charles. Every hospital in Oregon has challenges in patient flow because there are not enough beds available due to lack of manpower, sustained growth in COVID-19 patients and other factors.local problem, but one that is prevalent throughout the state and abroad, ”the statement concluded.
Asked about the incident control system, Mendenhall explained, “We were in a Hospital Incident Command Structure (HICS) for two years to manage our COVID response,” and it was disabled on May 30. March because of the improving situation then.
“It essentially means that we are able to pool resources quickly to deal with difficult situations,” he said. “We reactivated our Hospital Incident Command System on Friday afternoon to manage the significant bed capacity and manpower shortage we are currently facing, as are so many health systems across the state.”
