Now that the investigations have been completed concerning the AGH CEO and AGH hospital board, as well as the issue of the former family health team, I feel compelled to write to express my views on this very, very sad situation.
I first wish to quote from the CEO notes sent to all MICS employees in Jan 2012.. "BE STRAIGHTFORWARD AT ALL TIMES AND SPEAK THE TRUTH"
From the get go in this mess the CEO has accused the former FHT physicians of "short changing the clinic" in the hours of delivery that they gave to the citizens of Iroquois Falls. On page 46 of Mr. Ron Gagnon's report there is a statement" Ministry staff advised me that the lead physician and other physicians had not breached the requirements of the RNPGA. Ministry staff advised me that the lead group physician was verbally advised of this conclusion and on Jan 30 2013 the ministry wrote an email to the hospital CEO and advised that the ministry had followed up with the RNPGA physicians in regards to their service coverage in the community"
Yet since this notification the CEO, with the AGH board's consent, continued to claim that the FHT doctors were short changing the residents of Iroquois Falls by the lack of time spent in the family health team office. At one point there were only Drs. Guy Lupien and Phil McGuire providing services to the in-patients in the hospital as well as manning the Emergency dept. putting in 60 to 74 hours per week to ensure that the basic needs of the Iroquois Falls residents were looked after.
In Feb at the engagement meeting I attended, I directly asked the question if the RNPG contract was still the issue and the CEO said yes, and waved a copy of the contract signifying that the docs were in breach, knowing full well that Dr. Lupien had been cleared by the Ministry. He even scoffed that Dr. Lupien told him the ministry had said they had cleared him "OR SO HE SAYS, BUT HE DOESN'T HAVE A LETTER STATING SO". This can be easily confirmed because the recording secretary Sue Gadoury was busy typing up everything that was being said at this meeting. I also understand that there may be an audio recording of these meetings as well. In further media releases the CEO alluded to this shortcoming a number of times. Talk about "SPEAK THE TRUTH".
Another quote from the CEO notes: "WE ARE BOUND TO SPEAK THE TRUTH TO OUR TEAM MEMBERS. IF YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING NICE, SAY NOTHING, BUT DON'T LIE.'
The CEO and board chairs mentioned that Anson General Hospital had to absorb a $200,000 deficit of the Family Health Team. On page 50 of Mr. Gagnon's report it states " There has been no financial burden absorbed by the hospital with regards to deficits of the family health team." This was confirmed to Mr. Gagnon by the MICS Chief Financial Officer. So where did the board chairs and CEO get this data? "DON'T LIE?"
RECALLING THE CEO"S NEWS RELEASE ON TV DIRECTED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY AT DR. GUY LUPIEN, so much for "IF YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING NICE SAY NOTHING."
In a couple of articles of the newspaper, there are many references to the fiscal responsibility of the CEO, having surpluses at 2 of the hospitals. If one reads Mr. Gagnon's report there is a tremendous amount of money spent on legal fees, (hence the news release about the fees spent by MICS due to the legislative changes, understanding the complex legislation etc.) Nothing about the fees spent on the lawsuits, amalgamation etc.
No mention of the $15,000 spent on a consultant to help handle the "uprising in Iroquois Falls" then having the CEO completely ignore the results made by the consultant on how to handle the PR campaign to try to change public perception. What a waste of $15,000.
CEO Quote "WE EXPECT OUR MICS TEAM MEMBERS TO NOT LIE, OR CHEAT, OR STEAL, OR ABUSE, OR DEFRAUD OR TAKE ADVANTAGE, OR CON, OR TRICK, OR HINDER OR SWINDLE." In reading the report one can see the CEO received pay raises that according to Mr. Gagnon" he was concerned the pay increases to CEO and executive compensation appeared to be contrary to the Public Sector Compensation Restraint to Protect the Public Services Act. " IS THIS REASON FOR THE OPP INVESTIGATION THAT WAS CALLED FOR?"
Is this a case of do as I say, and not as I do? Not only were pay raises given, no performance appraisals were performed by the board on the CEO???
Throughout the report, Mr. Gagnon references the lack of minutes of the board meetings for many major decisions, both policy and financial. He alludes to the extremely high legal fees, and to the ineffective board who relied heavily on the CEO and legal advice unquestionably. The amount of money spent this year alone in legal fees will almost equal the CEO's compensation. Why do we need both?
I found the article in Aug 8th edition of the Enterprise quite interesting. It is entitled "SUPERVISOR WELCOMED BY AGH OFFICIALS". In the article" THE BOARD AND CEO OF AGH HAVE WELCOMED THE INTENT OF THE MINISTER DEB MATHEWS TO APPOINT A SUPERVISOR FOR THE IROQUOIS FALLS HOSPITAL....IN THE COMING DAYS WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH MINISTER MATHEWS TO DEFINE THE MANDATE OF THE SUPERVISOR."
With 45 recommendations made by Mr. Ron Gagnon to remedy what is wrong in Iroquois Falls I do not think that either the CEO or present board will have any input into the mandate of the supervisor. He or she is being sent to "right the ship". How can either the CEO or the board help him or her is beyond me. They couldn't sail the ship to begin with!
You have to read the report to see how poorly the AGH hospital was run by the present CEO and board. There are 45 recommendations. The report is 65 pages, and I could take that many to make more comments.
I have provided health care services to this community for almost 40 years. About a year after the current CEO came to town I requested a meeting with him. I met with both him and the CNO. I expressed my concern about the festering problem starting in AGH in particular, and I said at that time he had too many people that had not done the job that they were ordering other people to do. I said that moral was very low. It was a constructive discussion. I also suggested that exit interviews should be conducted with the large number of well seasoned and experienced staff that would be leaving their employ due to retirement. I have since talked to a number of people that have left the employ of AGH and none have had an exit interview. What a waste of insight.
I have witnessed a lot of tough times in health care over 40 years, but nothing like this fiasco. Families divided, people hurt, friendships lost, and the reputation of two of our most caring, competent and talented doctor's personal and professional reputations tarnished (Dr. Guy Lupien and Dr. Phil McGuire).
Many are to blame; The LHIN for not listening to the complaints nor launching an investigation earlier, the AGH Board for not fulfilling their duties as board members, the board chairs relying so heavily on "legal" advice and the CEO, Ministry of Health taking so long to act on the complaints, and also their failure to send Dr. Lupien a letter exonerating him from the CEO"s unjust charges, and the hospital administration for not challenging the erroneous information about the phantom deficit at the old Family Health Team that was mentioned many times by the board chairs of AGH and the CEO. All enabled the problem to fester and grow.
If anyone says that primary health care in Iroquois Falls did not suffer while this circus continued, they are wrong, wrong, wrong. Many people fell through the cracks.
What we need the supervisor to do is find people that
" DON'T LIE TO EACH OTHER, DON'T LIE TO THE MANAGERS AND SUPERVISORS. BE STRAIGHT FORWARD AND SPEAK THE TRUTH."
"REMEMBER YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HUMAN LIVES. YOU SCREW UP AND PEOPLE GET HURT. IF YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING NICE, SAY NOTHING, BUT DON'T LIE."
There is nothing wrong with the CEO notes of Jan 2012 except that they seemed to have been ignored !!
I sincerely hope that the supervisor is successful in addressing the problems at AGH. We in Iroquois Falls deserve better than what we have been given by the board and AGH administration in the recent past.
Sincerely James Keizer
Retired Pharmacist
Connaught, ON - 705-363-2107
