Hospital reveals additional layoffs
REDSTONE TWP. – More layoffs were announced Monday at Tara Hospital at Brownsville, bringing to 29 the total number of jobs cut in less than a week. The layoffs Monday included the remaining two certified nursing assistants who where not part of last Wednesday’s layoffs, three dietary employees, one person in central supply, one cardiopulmonary assistant licensed practical nurse and two plant maintenance workers, according to Lynn White, the president of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 471 at the hospital. White said another maintenance worker was offered a management position, which was accepted, after he was told that if he didn’t take the job, his union position might not be available.
Ten members of the OPEIU were given layoff notices last Wednesday, being told at that time that this coming Wednesday would be their last day of work. Friday 10 more OPEIU members were laid off, with the layoffs for them and the first 10 taking place immediately.
“I’m filing grievances against some of the violations they have committed,” White said.
White said the contract calls for a five-day notice before layoffs go into effect.
“They are trying to break our union,” White said.
The OPEIU covers all hourly employees at the hospital with the exception of the nursing staff, which is covered by the Pennsylvania State Education Association-Health Care. The union represents 130 employees at the hospital.
White said employees in the union have the right to bump employees with less seniority at the same or lower pay grades, but there may not be positions to move into.
“Some of the positions they could have bumped into were the ones that were furloughed,” White said.
Meanwhile, licensed practical nurses, who are also in the OPEIU, have been ordered to work mandatory overtime, White said, and because of holiday vacations, some housekeeping staff members will also be working overtime this week in order to cover all of the shifts. White said she worries about what will happen at the hospital if the patient census picks up due to an outbreak of the flu this winter.
“Of the 30 they have laid off, at least 13 or 14 have direct patient contact,” White said. “I said to them (the owners) ‘What about patient care?’ They laid the rest of the CNA’s off today. There are no more CNA’s.”
White said that with registered nurses and licensed practical nurses at the hospital handling as many as eight patients each, the CNA’s are invaluable to meeting patient needs, particularly if there is a patient who requires extra attention.
Tara Hospital at Brownsville is the private, for-profit entity that took over community-run Brownsville General Hospital with the approval of Orphans Court and state officials earlier this year.
“At the time of the purchase of the hospital in March 2005 the financial condition of the hospital was poor. The hospital has continued to lose money over the last three months. It was imperative that prudent operational controls be put in place and monitored on a continuous basis. The Hospital Administration and Board of Directors have made a commitment to the community and the employees of Tara Hospital to keep this hospital open,” the administration stated in a prepared news release Monday.
“We deeply regret the timeliness of the staff reduction, unfortunately, at this point it is necessary to ensure the future of the hospital,” Gary Gosai, one of the owners of the hospital, is quoted as saying in the release.
A second release put out late Monday afternoon to announce the latest layoffs states “the hospital board of directors and administration is gravely concerned about the financial future of the hospital.”
According to the release, the economic hardship is due to declining admissions, lower insurance reimbursements, and higher health care costs.
White noted that the buyers of the hospital, which includes a number of doctors, indicated that they would be increasing the patient census by drawing upon a patient base of about 60,000 people in their four offices throughout the region. White said that at present, only one in-patient at the hospital is a referral from one of the doctors in ownership of the hospital.
“At the public hearing, they said they wanted to build the hospital up and add new programs. They lied to the public and they lied to us,” White said. “They aren’t producing the patients they said they would.”
One news release sent out by the hospital Monday points out the positive changes that have been made so far this year:
“Since the new ownership several employees have been hired, many capital improvements have been made, including: $120,000 on the skilled nursing unit scheduled to open in mid December, $500,000 for a new roof, expanded the psychiatric center by 20 percent, paid past due vendors in excess of $2.25 million dollars, re-negotiated key vendor contracts, expanded physician privileges, set up a not for profit foundation for funding community projects, such as diabetes education.
The hospital is also currently in the process of introducing new processes to strengthen hospital operations, as well as, strengthening management positions by hiring key employees, such as a chief operation officer, chief financial officer, director of marketing, ER physicians, director of ancillary services, and most recently received accreditation by the American Diabetes Association.”