{"id":33373,"date":"2023-06-16T04:14:06","date_gmt":"2023-06-16T04:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/large-cortez-crowd-meets-with-hospital-board-some-demand-management-company-be-fired\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:09:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:09:11","slug":"large-cortez-crowd-meets-with-hospital-board-some-demand-management-company-be-fired","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/large-cortez-crowd-meets-with-hospital-board-some-demand-management-company-be-fired\/","title":{"rendered":"Large Cortez crowd meets with hospital board; some demand management company be fired"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Members
Members of the community clap after one of the attendees calls for the firing of the hospital\u2019s management company, CHC. (Bailey Duran\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

At a meeting to address the Southwest Memorial Hospital board on Thursday evening, more than 100 residents expressed their fears, told personal stories of high-risk pregnancies and voiced disgust in the Cortez hospital\u2019s management company, Community Hospital Corp.<\/p>\n

Joe Thomason, vice president of CHC, opened the meeting with an apology for how the hospital\u2019s planned closure of the birthing center was rolled out and for not listening to doctor concerns or asking for advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be remiss if I didn\u2019t offer an apology,\u201d he began. \u201cI\u2019ve apologized to the board members, I\u2019ve apologized to the physicians that are impacted. I\u2019ll take that totally. Truly, in hindsight, it was really poorly executed, and that\u2019s all me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board has asked us after that to continue to work with the physicians to see what options are available. Is it possible to extend before we take the pause? Is it possible to not even pause and continue to go?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Some community members, one holding an infant, asked how much money Thomason was making and said there had to be other alternatives to closing the birthing center.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou charge me $50,000 almost to have this baby,\u201d one young mother said. \u201cHow much do you make?<\/p>\n

Dr. Robert Heyl was the first to publicly speak, saying solutions should be offered instead of continuously rehashing the problem.<\/p>\n

I think it needs to be a broader stakeholder forum where we can bring our experience, both with private practices, and also dealing with prior CEOs. We\u2019ve had tremendous turnover of CEOs the last few years for various reasons. \u2026 We know what the problems are, now we need to develop solutions,\u201d Heyl said.<\/p>\n

Current and retired doctors spoke, including Cortez\u2019s only pediatrician, Moriah Tarpey. Expectant mothers, fathers, members of the community and those who had received care for themselves and their babies in Cortez also spoke up.<\/p>\n

Former hospital board member Chuck McAfee said he had multiple suggestions for helping the hospital retain its birthing center. The first, he said, was to fire CHC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t fire them, send them home, even if you have to keep paying them,\u201d McAfee said. \u201cAt least they won\u2019t be doing anything for us while they\u2019re here. They\u2019re causing damage, so get rid of CHC.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also urged the board to listen to their staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe how smart the doctors and nurses are here. Ask them to help. I would argue that if you got its mostly doctors together and nurses together and starting to form pods of knowledge about running the hospital, you can far outperform what you currently are getting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t imagine what it would be like if we did not have a hospital. And when you say we\u2019re not in immediate danger, I don\u2019t understand how you can come to that conclusion. You\u2019re losing doctors. You\u2019re losing nurses. You\u2019re losing people that are essential. You cannot say that we\u2019re not in danger of closing given the situation you\u2019ve got, it makes no sense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Eve Bruneau, a general surgeon who has contracted with SHS in the past and works in Shiprock, mentioned problems of retention.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, you guys pushed away five primary care providers in the last six months,\u201d she said. \u201cThese people are amazing. This place is beautiful. And you guys are like \u2026 it\u2019s rotting because of the mismanagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another nurse, who has been working at the hospital for 16 years, told her personal story of the lifesaving care she received at Southwest Memorial\u2019s birthing center.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to not look at just numbers. This is our community. This is our home. Many of these mothers would not be here today. I ask you to look at my daughter over here,\u201d she said. \u201cShe was taken a month early by emergency C-section. You say, \u2018OK, these people can be shipped out.\u2019 There are mothers like me who were too sick or will be too sick to ship out. I would not have made it. I would not be standing before you today. Neither would that pretty little girl.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay Yeager, who performed sleep studies at the hospital, said Dr. Erin Schmitt had helped her receive a diagnosis of endometriosis after years of pain, and helped her create a treatment plan to help her live her life without pain. She said she fears for all women in the county who would be affected if the birthing center were closed.<\/p>\n

I respectfully request that you all go back to the drawing board,\u201d she said. \u201cLook for other ways to cut costs, increase revenue \u2026 turn all the dials that you can turn to keep the services intact. At minimum, please delay the closure, allow for safe and organized transitions of care, for staff to be trained and for planning to happen. My life and the lives of every woman in this room depends on you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The
The ambulance bay at Southwest Memorial Hospital was full, and residents stood outside to listen. (Bailey Duran\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cMy youngest daughter had a complicated pregnancy and had a complicated birth,\u201d one woman said. \u201cShe had preeclampsia and had an emergency C-section. She\u2019s pregnant with her second child right now, and she\u2019s terrified. Absolutely terrified, and the baby is due in November. She\u2019s going to have to drive to Durango. What happens if you can\u2019t? What happens if she can\u2019t make it?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Others complained about the wait time for an appointment in Durango\u2019s Mercy Hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hospital has abandoned young mothers, young women and children. Babies will die. I guarantee babies will die. That is something that\u2019s on your hands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One man implored the board to change their decision, saying he was afraid to take his wife all the way to Durango when she goes into labor with the risk of severe winter road conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat am I supposed to do?\u201d he asked. \u201cI need to know where she\u2019s going to have her baby in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon, a medical assistant for Dr. Schmitt, asked the board and Thomason why it was the birthing center being cut.<\/p>\n

Thomason responded by saying the birthing center was one of the departments with the highest cost, and added that locums, which cost over $5,000 a night, were also draining funds.<\/p>\n

Others mentioned hiring a grant writer to help find grants that could help fund the birthing center and asked why minutes from past board meetings weren\u2019t listed on the hospital\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Tarpey tearfully spoke about the risk and harm that would be brought to women and children in the community, saying the fastest way to kill a hospital was to close its birthing unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have grown to love your children and your families,\u201d Tarpey said. \u201cNone of us can stay here under these conditions in an unsafe environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joe
Joe Thomason, vice president of CHC, apologizes to doctors and the community at the beginning of the meeting. (Bailey Duran\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Cortez City Council member Lydia DeHaven credited Tarpey with helping to save her son\u2019s life when he had low oxygen. \u201cWe were afraid we were going to lose him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

DeHaven criticized the way the planned closure was handled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis swift decision was made without any input from the city, the county, or public and its putting our women and babies at risk. As a council member, I would have appreciated a conversation with the city prior to making this decision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Southwest Health System board member Shirley Jones explained that while the hospital is required to keep 80 days of operational cash on hand because they are in debt, it currently has only 69, which put the birthing center at risk.<\/p>\n

The board said the hospital is $29 million in debt, down from around $40 million from a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Mary Dodd, chairwoman of the Montezuma County Democrats, asked the board to consider partnering with a management company that routinely works with rural communities and hospitals.<\/p>\n

Dodd and others criticized the board and Thomason for their lack of communication regarding the birthing center, open board seats and more, asking for more transparency.<\/p>\n

Internal medicine physician Dr. Eleanor Emery pointed out that many rural hospitals in Colorado deliver fewer than 120 babies per year and are still able to keep their doors open. Southwest Memorial delivers about 160 babies per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are committed to keeping their birthing centers open despite their own financial challenges. So why aren\u2019t we talking to them? Why aren\u2019t we working with our rural hospital colleagues learning from public health professionals and researchers that are studying this instead of taking CHC\u2019s playbook and just cutting and running? We are not the first people to face this challenge,\u201d Emery said.<\/p>\n

Those in attendance wished to hear from interim CEO David Faulkner, saying Thomason had been doing all the talking for him, but Faulkner passed on the opportunity to address the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want us to bring our dead mothers and babies to your door after you close?\u201d one asked Faulkner.<\/p>\n

Jim Spratlen, Montezuma County\u2019s emergency manager, said the closure of the birthing center would stretch emergency services thin, hurting ER response.<\/p>\n

Rhonda Russel, one of the administrators who was laid off Wednesday, told the board and Thompson that while they didn\u2019t know any of the doctors, she has spent years forming a relationship with them, and that they deserved better.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I thought losing my job would save the birthing center, I would gladly give up my job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe numbers aren\u2019t what fix it,\u201d Russel said. \u201cIt\u2019s the resources, and I\u2019m going to tell you where the gold is. The gold is in the minds and abilities of your staff. If you want processes fixed, you need to consult your staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many others who spoke called for the immediate firing of CHC.<\/p>\n

Despite repeated questions about whether or not the birthing center would actually close, the board and Thompson said they were exploring their options.<\/p>\n

At the end of the meeting, the board and Thomason said they would have a more concrete answer about the fate of the birthing center at the beginning of next week.<\/p>\n

Their next board meeting will take place on June 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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