Wednesday, January 7, 2009

WHERE THERE'S SMOKE...

...there's fire. Or so the sayin goes.



Miss Vero has received several emails concerning the going ons at the Indian River County Medical Center, otherwise known as the County Hospital. Yeah that's right County Hospital, y'all remember where they send the indigent folks? Only before we get to that email here's a little something that'll remind you that they really do care about you (and your finances):
http://www.wealthengine.com/pub/successStories/indianRiver.jsp

It just warms my heart to know that our little ole county hospital is assessing my health and wealth as I lay there in the ER!

So we sent this one particular email to a good friend of ours who is experienced in the hospital business, in fact he's got one of those MBA's in Hospital Administration, so we thought that he'd give us a fair assessment of some of the talking points made in the email.



"Well, where's thars smoke thars fire, darlin." (He's originally from deep Bubba country) "but don't be frettin, cause that's just how it is in about every hospital."

Hmm, that was reassuring.

Anyhoo, here's the email in question and just so y'all can't say we didn't warn you:

WARNING THIS EMAIL HAS NOT BEEN RESEARCHED AS TO IT'S CLAIMS AND YES,THERE IS PROFANITY!

Miss Vero hates censorship, as y'all know, so we are posting the email as we received it. We think that anyone who took the time to write such an extensive list deserves at least a post from Miss Vero. We asked y'all to contribute and y'all did.






"Not sure how to add a article to your web site but I do have a story for you: Points to ponder about Indian River.

Note all this is true.

1), In November of 2001 the hospital had over $150,000,000.00 in its long range portfolio's. This is per Nick Samilo the CFO that Jeff Fired, That money is no where to be found today?

2). Jeff Susie took money to the Islands and started a Malpractice insurance company. No mention of that any where they all go a few times a year and party ...

3). John Walker the Director of Materials Management at the hospital a guy that worked there for over 7 years was fired because He found where Dr. Rose was being paid over $45,000.00 per month. Through a company called CRT leasing they were acting like the hospital was renting equipment. Per Walker the stuff could have been purchased for two months rent. He went to Greg Gardner the CFO and nothing was done. When Val the new lawyer was brought in and she was made a VP he turned it into her as Medicare Fraud. Rose told Gardner if they stopped payments he would stop bringing patients to IRMC and he demanded Walker's Job less than a month later Walker was laid off.Walker did a great job and saved the hospital Millions in the time he was there. I know he is yet to locate a job.

4). All folks laid off were over 40, 95% were over 50.

5) Jerry Herrin was 62, he did not want to be laid off instead wanted to go ahead and retire. They told him NO!!!!and fired him.

6). The hospital signed a 10 year deal paying Duke 1 million dollars a year to use there name on the heart sign. Note no one in IRMC is from Duke the heart team came from Orlando? Rumors are Jeff Susie got 2 million back into his wallet?

7.) Barb Horn RN, Vice President, Barb has something on Jeff,. she ran CEBH into the ground loosing 3 million dollars per year for a few years until Jeff moved her to the main hospital he got rid of Judy Schanel, VP of Nursing. she left to a great job at Mosses Cone in N.C., Susie fired her a reason, she didn't get rid of the teamsters. They hired Dale Grinstead to run CEBH he turned the place around in 1 year it made 3 million dollars, Barb Horn was so mad that people were talking that she had Carl Fire Grinstead. Back to Barb, so she is over budget the last 5 years in a roll by over 3 million in Nurses wages., etc., so Jeff Fired Bob Zomok to make a spot for Barb and moved her in there. Bob was just a Director, Jeff gave Barb a $62,000.00 raise to move from the Nursing VP spot to the VP of Human resources. Something she knows nothing about.first tasks ....eliminated staff retirement, tripled the co-pays and the costs of insurance to staff. Bob left very quietly because they went ahead and paid off his retirement so he gets his couple thousand a month until he dies, so he is content and has never said a word and he won't he is one of them.

8.) Note the executive team did not take a hit., and they receive over $300,000.00 each into there plans each year. You know about the $800K they pay Jeff. cutting the benefits to staff saved the hospital $3.5 million dollars where did that money go?

9.) Barb hires the heart team, Dr. Stowe his salary is 1.2 million., they pay his staff, (11 people), double what they were making in Orlando to move here and they pay there rent on the beach for 1 year. They also pay the each $45,000.00 per year just for being on call and carry a cell phone that they provide? Scrub techs are making $110,000.00 a year on the heart team, a job that pays $40 at best? The heart team LPN made $88,000.00 working part time. A RN in the rest of the hospital makes $63K working full time. The purfusionist was paid $215,000.00 most make $70,000.00, the PA $210,000.00, average wage around 100,000.00, and so on, everyone was way over paid and they all bragged about it which made a lot of people mad.

10.)The heart team only does hearts they sit around waiting for heart cases doing nothing? There was two teams I heard they got rid of some? Susie spent millions more than the hospital had on the heart staff and supplies, they had a open check book, they ordered over $150,000.00 worth of supplies with out going through Walker and the purchasing department. Supplies were hitting the dock and no one knew where it went they created a monster of a mess. Doctor Stowe spent $96,000.00 on a desk and $13,000.00 on a stereo for his office. Walker refused to cut a PO with out receipts., Dr. Stowe never produced receipts Greg Gardner just cut him the checks back. No proof., how on earth can you spend that much on a desk?

11.) This past July $144,000.00 worth of supplies were thrown in the garbage because they had expired and could not be used. The team had bought way more stuff than they used and they never rotated anything thus wasted it., Central supply did not even know the stuff was there. Once they did know and tried to control it the items were outdated already. They found the stuff. The heart team told Purchasing what they did was none of there business, the purfusionist was a real ass his name is Ed, he spent money like he was printing it. They were buying from there friends and Walker found later that many things they were paying list price. Also the samething happened with the Vascular supplies and that new department, everything was out of control and Jeff Susie and Carl Martin allowed it. Supply responsibility was removed from Walker and he was told to stay out of Surgery? It was a joke. He was signing contracts based on finding what they were buying, behind there backs. Supply costs went up millions, Greg Gardner quit over it (CFO).

12.) To recover the losses from the year Susie lays off 44 people., all lower level people except for Walker, and the 3 other Directors that worked for Gardner. The above is all true. I have copies of the expensive desk check, the CRT leasing PO for $45,000 to Dr. Rose.

13.) A hospital bill that was a friend of Jeff Susies that was in the hospital., he told billing to throw the bill away., $17,000.00 thrown in the trash. So if your Susies friend you don't have to pay?

I could go on and on but whats the point no one is going to do anything about any of it. Like the wireless system They bought for $600,000.00 that never worked. Carl Martin bought it from his buddy then had to buy something else. we never got a penny back., Carl had also hired is cousin and had him working at the hospital for better than a year as a consultant, his name was Paul. Carl made one mistake after another he is not a smart man.

Dr. Greenberg was a complete story in himself the hospital put everyone in harms way with that guy and they knew it he was a nut., screaming and cussing in peoples faces, he more than 10 times screamed in staffs faces, he called Walker in Purchasing a Mother Fucker because he had ordered something that was not there, he ordered it that morning and expected it the same day? He did this in front of the patients he didn't care. He was finely let go because he told the Cath lab Manager Debbie Rose to suck his dick in front of the entire department at a department meeting? In short the behavior of Stowe and Company is not much better they belittle people and have gotten at least 10 nurses fired, many areas have had a total turn over since they came to town. So they do this lay off....but they hired two more Vice Presidents and Barb Horn hired her friend to be the Director of Human Resources???? She was a GYM teacher now she is a Director? Perfect ending to this note."




Sorry, no great picture today and we did have one. Blogger is not behaving in the usual way, maybe we're being hacked? Nah, who'd wanna shut down the Beach House? It's not like we have an open forum or anything...

MWAH!

missvero@live.com

9 comments:

virtual vero said...

It's enough to make a healthy person sick.

The most recent year the hospital filed taxes was 2006 (at least that's what's accessible on the Internet), and on pg. 42 of the 990 form it shows Scripps TCN (Treasure Coast Newspapers) was paid just shy of $200,000. Although nothing specific comes up under the Hospital Foundation, their payments to Scripps could be under a group heading of advertising. No wonder nothing's been reported. Shame, shame, shame.

Indian River Memorial Hospital, Inc.

Good reporting and networking, Miss Vero. I wonder if we can form a committee and demand an outside audit.

VV

Max Newport said...

This is powerful stuff Miss Vero. It needs a vigorous investigation. Whoever sent the email needs to contact an investigator with FDLE because it sounds too complicated for our local law enforcement agencies to handle. This is not a slur on our local departments, but this is the type of activity that would require a great deal of time and may be multi-jurisdictional.

The fact that Scripps is profiting off of this is not surprising, but they don't care what they do as long as the check clears.

This person needs to file a formal complaint since law enforcement cannot rely on an anonymous informant. This is serious stuff. More money is being wasted and our health care is diminishing due to taking care of the cronies rather than the patients.

Someone needs to shine a very bright flashlight on this picture. It won't be our local paper, since they tend to profit from ill gains.

Thanks for sharing this with us, bad words and all. People have been hinting at this corruption for quite some time. I am glad you have uncovered some specifics.

Anonymous said...

Dr john says: How interesting!Iagree with Max thatb a investigation is in order. Tax Payers money supports this hospital. When I moved to this area I was on the Staff of 4 general hospitals 2 psychiatric hospitals and had cuortsey privledges at 2 other general hospitalsin 2 states.When I arrived here I was invited to become a member of the IRMH staff for only the small fee of #500.00.plus filling out an application after a pre application. Asking me to pay for the privelege to refer my patients to IRMH seemed a stretch. I declined due to being tired of the politics and power struggles. This was with thr prior administration which seems to be mildcompared to this one

Anonymous said...

I forgot to add that IRMH is the only hospital that wanted moneyt0o become a staff member in my experience.Added by Dr. john

Anonymous said...

Dearest Miss Vero,
Thank you for posting this story. There are a few of us that have the goods on the IRMC fiasco and the advice given here by your posters is appreciated. There's really no fear of retaliation now, what else can they do to us, right?

Anonymous said...

Wow is this interesting. I was a nurse at CEBH from 1999 to 2005. I was there when Barb Horn ran it into the ground and I was there when they hired Dr. Dean and Dale Grinstead to come in and turn the place around. In one year we were profitable, and in the second year Dale Grinstead and Dr. Dean broke all records.

Dale Grinstead resigned after two years he was not fired. Many at CEBH took him leaving very hard especially Dr. Dean. Things were never the same when he left and we all felt we had lost something special. What a waste.

Dr. Dean is now back but it's too bad they can't go and beg Dale Grinstead to come back. In fact he would make a great replacement for Carl.

I don't envy Jeff Susi with all the scrutiny he is coming under and he has a difficult job but one way he could turn some of this around would be to go and hire back talented business people like Dale Grinstead and stop the wasteful nepotism that exists at IRMC.

Dale Grinstead and Dr. Dean were an unbeatable team at CEBH and the hospital ran him and Dr. Dean off just like Judy Schanel, John Walker and many others.

Anonymous said...

I am currently employed at IRMH so this goes out anonymously but I worked with Denise Linclau and Judy Schanel who are both great nurses.

When Barb became CNO the hospital started looking for a COO. At the time Judy Schanel was filling those shoes as well as overseeing nursing.

This worried Barb Horn because if they hired a COO what would become of Judy or Barb. Clearly they did not need two CNO's.

Denise Linclau who was head nurse in the ER was set up by Barb Horn to call Judy Schanel out in hope to call attention to the fact that Judy's job was being replaced by Carl Martin.

This was all set up purposely by Barb Horn and was discussed the night before the meeting.

Denise called me and asked me what I thought. Denise told me that Barb had promised her protection and the Director of Nursing job for the new ER that was just getting ready to begin construction. I told her I thought she was getting into bed with the devil.

The next day at an organizational meeting, during round table discussions in front of every director in the hospital Denise Linclau (with Barb sitting at her side) asked Judy Schanel what she would be doing since they were replacing her job with a COO and Barb was the new CNO.

Judy, the professional she was answered Denise's question with dignity and assured everyone that Jeff had a position for her but everyone in the room knew she was caught clearly off gaurd.

Judy was humiliated and subsequently resigned. Denise was fired as a result but was given the opportunity to resign and found a job in Sebring. Two great nurses who I admired and respected gone because of one inept nurse.

Barb promised Denise protection but when it came down to protecting her Barb turned her back on her because ultimately Denise was a threat also.

I remember Barb bragging that she had made a pact with Carl Martin because supposedly she had the deciding vote whether Carl got hired. For those on Barbs bad side she had Carl make their lives a living hell.

When is the hospital going to look at performance records and replace those that continue to fail. Barb was a failure at CEBH, so they hired Dale Grinstead to take her place then when he was successful she was so jealous she had Carl make him just miserable enough to leave.

On top of that in an independant survey, Barb was voted the least liked nurse in the hospital 1 month before becoming CNO but somehow was appointed by Jeff to become CNO of the hospital.

How does this happen when just the year before she had run CEBH into the ground. Did Jeff think that she could do better at the larger hospital.

Barb brags she has dirt on Jeff. I don't know if this is true or not but she told several of us in confidence that she has her sights on Jeffs job and won't rest until she gets there.

She told several of us that she had to get rid of certain people first,then point out Jeff's faults and poor performance to succeed.

So let's see, Judy's gone, Bob Zomack's gone, Carl's gone, Greg the CFO's gone and John Walker's gone, so who does that leave?

Jeff Susi better watch his back!!!

Michael Gervais said...

Looking for Dale Grinstead

I found this posted on the Internet while searching for Dale Grinstead. I know he's from Vero Beach but the Dale Grinstead I am looking for is a builder that built an amazing house in Costa Rica.

I rented his house in Costa Rica for my honeymoon last year and when I went to rent it this year for my one year anniversary I was told he no longer rents it.

Can anyone tell me how to contact him. We really want to rent the home again.

Michael Gervais

Anonymous said...

Michael,

I was googling Vero Beach and somehow this site came up and I noticed Dale Grinsteads name.

I played in a Golf tournament with Dale two years ago and after hearing about the house in Costa decided to rent it for a family vacation.

I took my entire family and your right his house there is amazing. The home he built here on the beach in Vero is equally amazing.

Dale is not hard to find, his office is here in Vero Beach. I don't want to publish his numbers here but I did a simple white pages search and he pops up so you shouldn't have much trouble.

I bumped into his partner not long ago and inquired what Dale was up to and was told he spends a great deal of time traveling between his home in North Carolina, Costa Rica and here in Vero so you might want to leave a message.

Good Luck!