Bozarth excited about progress at CCMH

Kimball,

Thank you for attending the CCMH Board of Trustees meeting last week.

The meeting was definitely a difficult and trying meeting with the four individuals who requested time to make comments. I think that our press release says a lot about the Board’s response to a number of the charges being leveled against the Board and Mr. Nichols.

The Board is very pleased with the work that has been accomplished by Mr. Nichols. Also, contrary to what has been said, we are very open and available to talk with any citizen of Cedar County. As you may remember, I have made myself very available and directed the staff of the hospital’s front office to give my phone number to anyone who calls and asks for it. To date, I have not received a single phone call from a citizen who is concerned enough to make that effort. I have talked to people in the stores, eating establishments, at the school, and in the hospital, to name a few. I’ve taken time, each time, to listen and answer any questions that were asked to the best of my ability and the limitations placed on me by the laws of this land. Yes, there are some questions that just can’t be answered even though I know the answer.

Also, I make every effort to go to the hospital at least two times each week at different times. While there I talk to as many of the staff and patients as I possibly can. What is interesting to me is the accusations that I’ve heard, repeatedly, that Mr. Nichols manages by fear and intimidation. In the over 40 years of my career, I’ve worked in these types of environments and am very well acquainted with the telltale signs of such a manager. In fact, when I worked at the hospital from 2017 to 2019, those telltale signs were evident throughout the hospital. Some of these signs include low morale, employees resigning and leaving, poor interactions with customers (in our case the patients and families), tense relationships between employees, and constant complaints about management, even when under threat. Additionally, in this type of environment, employees don’t recommend the company to others.

However, I encounter none of these. The staff at CCMH are some of the best I’ve ever interacted with. Everyone is happy, friendly, smiling, quick to laugh and offer assistance, and equally quick to answer my questions as a Board member. Interestingly, two years ago I did not experience anything like this In fact, I’ve been told how much the employees appreciate my visits and our conversations. The members of the staff tell me how happy they are to be working at the hospital. And, when I ask why, they state that everyone is so friendly and helpful. Definitely NOT an environment of an organization run by the use of fear and intimidation!

Further, the patients and their families express similar comments about all the staff at the hospital. They expressed to me how friendly everyone is and how nice it is to come to the hospital. I’ve even had a few people tell me how the care they are receiving is some of the best they’ve ever experienced at the hospital. In fact, in the last year, I’ve only received a couple of small complaints and they were handled immediately, and those who made them were very pleased with the results.

Instead of growing and adding new employees, in fear-based environments, people leave in droves and it is very difficult to keep good staff. That is exactly why we came to depend on traveling contract staff in the years prior to Mr. Nichols. Conversely, now we have employees and professionals (medical staff) coming to us and asking to work here. As was demonstrated in our press release, we’ve grown from 83 employees in May 2022 to about 150 today. We had 2 physicians at that time, now we have 5. Also, we had 8 specialists coming here on a monthly basis and now we have over 11. Again, this is not symptomatic of fear-based management.

We’ve expanded the services we provide, making it easier for citizens in the Tri-County area to get those services they need without having to drive somewhere else. We now have an MRI on-site. We’ve enhanced our CT scanner’s capabilities, improved and expanded surgery services, provided enhanced physical therapy, and improved the Cardiac Rehab facilities.

We’ve improved our lab facilities and have taken a hard look at those costs to our patients. Now, our lab costs are equal to or less than any in our area.

Finally, revenues have increased over the last year and a half. Yes, again, this is not something you see happening in fear-based management environments. Why? Simply, fear-based management drives away customers (again, patients). Fear-based management is not conducive to good patient care.

I could go on and on, but I will close for now.

If anyone would like to talk to me or hear about the exciting news happening at the hospital, they are free to call the hospital and request my phone number. They can stop me, wherever they see me and I will talk to them. Yes, I’m very excited about the progress and changes happening at the hospital, AND I love talking about them.

Sincerely,

David Bozarth