On the Nursing Home: Rescued from the Comments

A Silent Majority Who Prefers to Remain Anon

Banner is a great part of the community. They and their employees contribute much, and receive much in return. However, Banner is not the only company who could or would successfully run the hospital and nursing home. Banner staff is rightfully proud of what they do, but they do need to realize that they are not the only solution to the current situation.

We all appreciate what Banner does, but any such non-profit would do the same. And should do the same. Of course the poeple most upset about Banner's possible leaving are the employees. They are the ones benefitting the most from Banner and the ones with the most at stake. But presenting reasons such as "it's just 25 people being affected by the nursing home closure" does not help their cause, or how they look to the community.

It's up to the Hospital District Board to research and evaluate what company (Banner or someone else) can do the most for the community. That may be Banner, but it may not be Banner. The mistake on the board's part would be to assume that Banner is the only company that can do it. The mistake would be to not look into other potential providers. Likewise, the mistake on Banner's part would be to assume that they are the only solution to the problem.

We need a nursing home in the county, and it should be a great nursing home. What are the requirements? What does the community have to do to make that happen? We need leadership on this. We need involvement by all, but we also need someone to step up to the plate and make something happen before the unfortunate March deadline. Whose "fault" the deadline is doesn't matter at this point. What matters is that we the people of Platte have something in place before it happens.

Banner, will you work with the county to keep the nursing home open, or do you see this as an opportunity to get out of the "unprofitable" Nursing Home business while continuing the very profitable Hospital business? That's an important question. County officials and and citizens of Platte, are you willing to find a way to provide necessary funding? Not all of it, but some of it?

What about asking businesses to "round up to the dollar" on their sales, like Safeway is doing for donations for breast cancer research? No one misses the "cents" be it 2 cents or 98 cents, and that money could all go into funding a nursing home.

Where is WADCO in this? Let's bring in a Nursing Home business. No, it's not millions in wind energy, or another coal plant, but it IS a business and it would bring in jobs along with something very necessary to the community. With baby boomers living longer, and Wheatland's reputation as a "retirement community", there IS considerable profit to be made in a modern, efficient, well-run facility for aging residents.
Surely Wheatland and Platte County can do better than this bickering back and forth about what is NOT being done, and trying to make the blame stick somewhere other than themselves.

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Sunday
9/6/09 8:14 PM

Stacy :

I agree I believe that the county should kick banner health out of our town and bring in people that care about our citizens. Wheatland deserves better i am a nurse myself and cannot find a job, If the hospital would find nurses and physcians that are willing to work the floor instead of playing games on computers. Lets find some way for Wheatland to earn money to get a new team to run our nursing home and who willnake a difference in our citizens life.

Monday
7/27/09 3:45 PM

Wake Up Out There:

I guess from the complacency people must not think we're paying enough in taxes. Maybe the county could also tack on another levy for a new courthouse or update the fairgrounds or something. It sounds like this is the year to get it passed.

Monday
7/27/09 6:28 AM

Oh Boy:

Oh Boy! More taxes

Thursday
7/23/09 1:47 PM

Wake Up Out There:

There has been very little published about it. I believe in the August election we will be asked to pass a 3 mil property tax levy to pay for the nursing home. This I believe is on top of the levy already in place for the hospital. I will be the first one the say we need nursing home , but is this the only way to go about paying for it?

Wednesday
7/22/09 5:35 PM

How is that nursing home coming along:

so how is that nursing home coming along? You never hear about it anywhere, either here or in the weekly paper. could that be because nothing is happening and if no one talks about it everyone will forget about it? Or? At this point I'd like to hear anything, even the Wheatland Inn and Vimbo's rumor mill ideas on what is going on.

Monday
12/22/08 2:38 PM

catbird seat:

Where is the county going to come up with the cash to cover the losing money nursing home if the professional health care people were not able to make a go of it then how will the once a month meeting commissioners and a hands tied hospital district board do it? Has any one in Wheatland ever heard of a spreadsheet? If so, someone should put a great big one here on Wheaterville and keep track. Money out, money out, money out, money out. If someone would of done that for Banner's multi million dollar face lift last year (footed by taxpayers) maybe the figures wouldn't be so fuzzy of math.

Thursday
12/11/08 12:54 PM

Money is no object???? ...really....?:

As much as I hate to get into all this blogging about the Hospital District Board (HDB) and Banner, I do have many concerns that I think we all need to think about. At the December 9th HDB meeting the board explained that they felt it was probably in the best interest of the county for them to choose a different manageing system for the hosital and nursing home. They also expressed the fact that while there was some concern about putting the county in at least 5 million in debt to remove Banner, they were still leaning towards that decision. They also stated that it was not an issue that the organization they are considering had never actually been to PCMH or the Nursing Home.......hmmm......that concerns me! How can any of these organizations want to invest in a facility they have never been to?
But even more disturbing was when asked how the HDB planned to replace the systems and technology that Banner had in place so we are able to keep the quality of care at it current high standards, the comment was "if we are going to be in debt 5 million dollars, why not 6 or 7 million" !!

So here's the question............apparently money is no object........so then why are we doing this at all? Why have we put our residents, hospital and nursing home staff and entire community through all this turmiol? Why haven't we just spent the money on the nursing home to cover losses and make it a safe place for our residents and moved on?

Additionally what happens if this incurred debt or line of credit becomes in default? How will this affect “us” the taxpaying residents?

Certainly questions to consider…..

Monday
12/1/08 9:49 AM

RN:

Everyone is making good opinions on Banner and the County's abilities. Although the complaining is not solving. So, all of us, think outside the box and write it. If the commissioners or the hospital board is actually reading these comments maybe we can help and make a difference.

My idea is to continue with the County control of both hospital and nursing home if we can keep the CEO and CFO. Have "advisors" consisting of nurses and doctors who actually work the floor (not the directors who think they know what is happening) advise and problem solve with the board and talk to the county commissioners. The big problem with that is there is so few RN's that are employees, most are travelers that have no vested interest. But there are a few that live here and working out of town that may want to be involved.

Through all the years of turmoil, the nurses do care about this hospital. They are professionals and should be treated as such.

Thursday
11/20/08 12:45 PM

Dont count on it:

Dont count on Wadco to do anything. Have you seen any major businesses show up in this town for the past 5 or 6 years? No! The last thing that looked like it might be big was Wheatland Fire Equipment. After the the owner was gone the place went down. Between Wadco and the county, I dont believe much will get accomplished

Thursday
11/20/08 6:54 AM

Mutt Hoople:

Banner will come out of this fine either way. Banner employees want to keep their jobs, from the high up guys to the doctors and nurses to everyone else. We probably don't want the county to run the hospital or the nursing home. Seriously. The countys mess up is why Banner has the county over a barrel here. They ignored the letter and gave Banner the out they wanted from the contract. So no, I don't think we want the county running much of anything. We have two organizations that we should be hearing from, and that is the Chamber and the WADCO. The WADCO's entire reason for existing is to bring in business into Wheatland. It looks like it's time they earn their money. Find someone, not the county, and not the hospital board, to run the hospital and the nursing home, and do it now before its too late.
Do you know that no one, not the board of commissioners, not the hospital district board, NO ONE who is pulling the strings on this and supposed to be in control, has even once gone in to the Nursing Home to talk to the people who work there and tell them what's going on? They read it here like everybody else. Thats pathetic. And that's why even though it might be a wise move to move Banner out, we really don't want the county to run things either.
Thier idea of running things is to close thier eyes and pretend nothing is happening while they put thier paycheck in thier pocket. Same with the WADCO.

Wednesday
11/19/08 1:00 PM

Agree:

I agree. The county should kick Banner out and either find someone else or run it themselves.

Wednesday
11/19/08 9:47 AM

RN:

Banner has been here for 40 years and if anyone has had some real health issues they can tell you that Banner has a history of sending people out of town and not allowing them back to this hospital. Legally they can do this because if they have care being provided in (lets say) Denver, Banner can refuse this patient back home. Banner got rid of home care and they will abandon the nursing home without batting an eye. No matter how much money we throw at them. So, why would we want them here in Wheatland for the hospital version. They have wasted more money than we all can imagine and they blame the economy, the medicare problems. . .medicare has changed in the nursing home and in the hospital but they think they can run the hospital with a surplus of money. Non-profit does not mean that they cannot make money. So, if we were to tell Banner to get lost altogether, the CEO and the CFO will probably not have a job. What if we were to ask them to sign a contract and stay here for 3 years under the guidance of the commissioners and the hospital board (hopefully they will ask for advisors) we can run our hospital and nursing home maybe even get our home care back that will provide the best care to our county. We all can agree that our county is different needs than Niobrara or Laramie . . .. Please respond

Friday
11/7/08 11:26 AM

Tod:

I read this regularly and it's itnteresting that no one until now says that banner will run the nursing home if the county gives money.
Exactly who are the decision makers here?
Can they get together and work something out or are the residents just kicked out on the street on March 31?
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but Banner ISN"T such a great and wondcerful organization if Wheatland loses its nursing home. A great and wondrful organization would work with WADCO and the county attorney and the people to get a nursing home that worked for all.
What happened to the very large donations made to the nursing home from residents? Yes, that is a fact, hundreds of thousands of dollars in bequethed monies. Where is that? Who is in charge of it. Why is there no talk of that?

Friday
11/7/08 7:43 AM

Local yocals:

"Banner staff is rightfully proud of what they do, but they do need to realize that they are not the only solution to the current situation...Any such non-profit would do the same" from the previous letter. Really? What experience do you have to make that judgment for others? Talk is cheap! What criteria did you use? Banner has been in this community for 40+ years--to replace them will take up to a year or more of negotiations and hard work; it doesn't happen overnight or easily. It's safe to say that we need Banner far more than they need us. Quit making the corporation out as the bad guy---that's too easy and doens't solve anything. So who's writing the paychecks and providing benefits and providing care while you're busy finding a better corporation than Banner? Who else is willing through the years to put up with a bunch of locals making decisions for future healthcare for our community? Get real.

Expecting Banner to solve our local politics is the eternal hand extended out for government to come in an solve all of our problems. Please! Banner has repeated that they will run both parts---IF the county finds some subsidy---the county can find money for some things (fair buildings), but not for healthcare. Let me remind you that this town and county has been "broke" for nearly 10 years---when is someone going to address that? Why are we so afraid of progressive, positive growth for this town and county? All of these elected officials like to keep business "status quo" and "the way we've always done it!" Well, I'm sure they will be happy with the first aid station that that will end up with at the end of this craziness.

The truth is that this district board was put out of commission by our previous farce of a county attorney, Eric Alden. Help us! Now the district board is being run by the next one (Why can't we get a good county attorney?) Eric Jones. These board members obviously have some psycho personality traits of their own and none of them really want to work hard on this issue---oh, I forgot--Eric will do it all for them.. Who elected him as a member of this board?

You would think that grown men could sit down together and eventually get this solved---but that is too much to ask of public officials I guess. After all, the more we use our county attorney, the more he gets to bill!/$$$$

The board members have repeated over and over---they don't want input from the community or the employees or the residents or the patients. They have ALOT of experience on boards so they already know how to make the right decision for us! Somehow, I'm not comforted by that. The actions they've taken so far are to waste time fighting, acusing, abusing (my those tempers!), and building up their own egos.

Platte County citizens need to call their elected officials and demand better performance. Attend county and town meetings and don't accept distortions! Listen to those who work in healthcare everyday---they are not being influenced negatively by Banner---these people know what it takes to run successful healthcare and want to be heard. They have good brains and experience. Give them some credit. Those who were previous employees and now have axes to grind who primarily write on these blogs are currently not employed in healthcare for a reason! The board members and the hospital and nursing administration should all be sitting down at the same table to work this out NOW rather than watch the district board whine and march off into executive session.

Get Involved! Stop accepting what you hear from uninformed people and go to those making the decisions and ask for positive progress. Don't accept the usual blaming and excuses. This community should have a district board that oversees the county's financial involvement in the hospital and nursing home and contributes to the success rather than destruction of our local healthcare.

Tuesday
11/4/08 6:48 AM

Wind Fan:

I didn't appreciate the author's shot at wind energy development for our area. This has huge potential for our area and should be encouraged.

Monday
11/3/08 5:29 PM

RN:

Has anyone put a timeline as to the 2 large constructions done on the hospital in the past 8 years trying to turn an old building into a modern one with electricity, oxygen, plumbing. . .and the more recent complaint of not being able to make a profit? We spent millions this past 2 years wiping out the millions of the first construction.

Has anyone asked why most of the nurses working are travel nurses rather than permanent? Do you know how much money travel nurse agency charge per hour? I can tell you it is around $50.00/hr.

Yes both of these issues are the hospital's but my guess is that they know how to place all the expenses on paper to reflect how they want. Banner wanted out of home care and they are out. Now they want out of long term care. They will be out. Call Banner's bluff has the best idea. Banner has not been good for the community for many years. The fact that the nurses and the nurse aids stayed in the community working there for as long as they did was because they wanted to care for their families, neighbors, and friends. But employee harassment and extremely poor pay has sent many packing. Rumor has it that they are close to packing again.

Monday
11/3/08 10:23 AM

CALL BANNER'S BLUFF:

They say they'll leave if they don't get out of the lease, then let them. Banner's problem is that they are too big fro their britches and think theyre the only game in town. When you rent a house, and sign a lease, you are locked in and you pay a penalty for early leaving. Same with your IRA, a penalty for early withdrawl. Even when you get a cell phone, you say you'll have it for 2 years, and if you switch to another phone company, you pay the penalty. It costs you. It should cost Banner to get out of the lease of the nursing home. That is obvious. The penalty will be less then whatever thy're "loosing", but it would be money that could be used as seed money to build a new nursing home, and obviously we'll find someone else to run it. Vote to call Banner's Bluff.

Monday
10/27/08 11:16 AM

Mutt Hoople:

Good idea about the rounding up for the nursing home. We need more constructive ideas and less bitching and back-biting from everyone. There are a lot of people willing to do their share on this.

Sunday
10/26/08 11:42 AM

Dani's Mom:

As time grows short it does seem like the bitching should stop and someone should step and do instead of complain. WADCO would be a logical place to start. So would the Chamber of Commerce. I would like to know who the Hospital board is who is making the decisions, and I would like to know where they stand, officially. The same for the board of commissioners. The people need information not all this in a vacum that we can only complain about after something or nothing has been done. If we voted you in, it is your duty to tell us where you stand. I hope some of the people I elected, who are in office by the way, tell us here on wheaterville or in the Record Times, or better, both, where they stand and what they are doing. It is very important. Or, as someone said, let's get rid of them and start over. first of all who are the actual people who are right now deciding the fate of the nursing home? Why don't we know this?

Sunday
10/26/08 8:04 AM

Wendy:

WADCO you ask? Still cant say they have been in some of the local businesses. This is sad. The new director appears to be "to Good" to shop local or even try to support the local shops. (cant say much for the Chamber of Commerce either these days)
Why would they bother to waste energy on the Nursing Home?

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