Who Is To Blame?
Times are tough for all of us, but at DMH, recent comments suggest their finances are deep in the toilet. Hiring freezes, involuntary time off, benefit cuts, staff cuts, etc. It's even been reported that DMH administration said they'd take a week off without pay. Wow.
Who is to blame for DMH's blatant failure? Who should DMH employees point their finger at when they're asked why they have to take a week off without pay? Who is responsible for the continuous decline of quality of care at DMH?
You be the judge.
Also, calculate out what that week of pay means to DMH administration.
Who is to blame for DMH's blatant failure? Who should DMH employees point their finger at when they're asked why they have to take a week off without pay? Who is responsible for the continuous decline of quality of care at DMH?
You be the judge.
Also, calculate out what that week of pay means to DMH administration.
posted by Watcher2300 at 7/11/2009 04:46:00 PM
67 Comments:
This information is disturbing. I am in awe simply looking at the compensation some of these idiotic human beings have received. They are the source of the problem and we are feeding right into this.
I am glad I moved away from there, and I will never take a job there under the administration they have now. I will see to it all my family members go to St. Mary's. I only encourage the other viewer of this website to do the same.
I am not in a position to change anything at DMH, and certainly not in the city of Decatur. I only hope the employees of DMH see this astonishing news and the right eyes of public administration sees it too.
I have printed out the salaries and leaving copies throughout DMH...so their employees can see just how MUCH DMH really care$...about equity and fair wages for work...for all employees.
How are these salaries justifiable within a "not for profit" institutionthat pays no property taxes to the City of Decatur?
Do not these salaries reflect a profit?
DMH is looking kind of grungy and unkempt.
Is it true that Smithmeir and Stone are relocating soon?
That's the rumor at DMH?
Amazing information!
News flash to Dr. Sobol - you are NOT THAT GOOD! Is that why you left Decatur 15-17 years ago? At that time you thought you were so great you could compete with the "big boys" and really talented surgeons in Pittsburgh at the big medical center? You thought you were so great you were definitely too good to spend the rest of your life in pundunk Decatur. It took you less than a year for the really good ENT surgeons there to prove to you that you are not as good as you thought and still think you are. Took you less than a year to come back to Decatur where you could be a big fish in a little pond and make a lot more money by teaming up with DMH. Much better to be a big fish in a little pond (town) than vice versa, isn't it? You are way too arrogant and impressed with yourself for me or a member of my family to go to you for medical help. But you don't need the pittance that you would receieve from us or our insurance companies when Ken and his board of directors pays you way closer than 2 million a year than you would ever receive from us.
Dr. Fulbright - a question for you. How much did Smithmier, DMH, and the board of directors pay YOU to return to Decatur after you, too, left Decatur only to return to a town that was once not good enough for you? Do you sleep well at night knowing what you are doing to the people of Decatur and healthcare in Decatur?
Dr. Kraus - your father was an honorable man and a great surgeon. Do you think he is proud of you and smiling down upon you from heaven as he sees what you have allowed yourself to become a part of? Most likely not. As I said, he was an honorable man.
Is Dr. Dold the only honest man at that neurorsurgical practice who truly cares about patients?
To the directors: you doctors and Dr. Kathy Booker (a nurse), have lost all respect from many people in town. You politicians will never receve another vote from us. You businessmen will never receive any of our business again.
While I realize this means little or nothing to any of you, sleep well knowing that you have done the people of Decatur a great service by steering us towards St. Mary's and a hospital where patients are put first.
"How much did Smithmier, DMH, and the board of directors pay YOU to return to Decatur"
That is exactly my point in posting these salaries. In a smaller town like Decatur-Forsyth, docs who are in-demand can ask for an often get higher salaries than others in the same specialty simply because of location. Smithmier has tried to make DMH into another Mayo Clinic by literally bribing these specialists to come in and give us all the appearance that they are really something.
Trouble is, the gamble has backfired. I have heard the docs are being told their salaries are being cut to offset the record losses DMH has recently suffered.
BUT will the administration follow?
On another note...there are many reasons why doctors leave one town and start work in another. Same as me. I began my small business here in Forsyth a number of years ago, then when my wife's mother had a stroke, we moved away for a while to be nearer to her so we could take care of her. I suppose these guys may have other reasons why they left. Sign on bonuses, marriages, divorces, who knows.
But one point you did make right on the money--no question: They were PAID very well to work in Decatur. Trouble is, there's a lot less money nowadays to rake in. First the employees get squeezed, fired, laid off, whatever. Then the doctors get their salaries cut some. But who doesn't get theirs cut?
Administration.
Like I said many times before: THIS IS ENRON.
In what reality would Steve Sobol earn twice as much at DMH as Smithmier?
Where is the other shoe with the total figures of ALL compensation paid listed and when will that shoe be dropped?
By the way, Sobol returned to Decatur at least 4 or 5 years before Smithmier came to town, so we can't blame his return on Smithmier.
Smithmier seems to have truly lost touch with reality. Turning DMH into another Mayo Clinic? It was never going to happen and seems more likely every day that the doctors he paid so well to come to Decatur will soon be leaving and taking more doctors with them as the cash cow continues to dry up.
If it weren't for St. Mary's Decatur would really be in trouble. Fortunately for the people of the entire area, St. Mary's has been quietly and with dignity been recruiting more qualified physicians in all specialities to fill in the void that will be left at DMH when the high paid doctors for hire at DMH tell Ken and Zia where to place their contracts.
Ken certainly did gamble with OUR money. He would have had better odds making better use of that gambling money in Las Vegas.
Seems as though DMH will implode from within because of Smithmier rather than explode because of a federal investigation.
At least the feds shined a light on what was really happening at DMH.
C'mon, you really expect us to believe that a doctor like Sobol is paid that much more by DMH than Smithmier , Stone, Zia, etc?
Where can we find the REAL NUMBERS about TOTAL compensation?
Or has Smithmier finally gotten religion and decided to give up a salary and bonuses he never deseved in the first place and give back to the community that has supported him in such royal style for so many years?
Why do I think the last choice is not the true choice?
How much are the accountants at DMH paid for this sleight of hand shift of the numbers? Do they face jail time for cooking the books?
Nobody I know (including those who know him personally) believes Smithmier would accept less money than a mere doctor - especially DMH employees who have to sit through his BS sessions about why employees have to take the hit financially.
Someone SHOW US WHERE THE MONEY REALLY WENT!
I just got off work at DMH a couple of hours ago and gotta share this one with readers of this blog. The salaries posted on this blog have been popping up all over DMH. Posted in locker rooms, lounges, placed in personnels mailboxes and so on. Not long after they are taped up in public areas they are taken down as you would expect. Funny thing is, they soon reappear! Must be gremlins at DMH and hundreds of copies of these salaries floating around to be passed out to employees who had the weekend off!
I am sure the hammer will come down hard from administration Monday when administration is back in full force and the word from on high will be that anyone caught posting this information will be fired on the spot. The attitude among most employees is "so what".
We have had so much taken away from us over the past few years morale has never been lower, they have fired so many people we are working with skeleton crews so losing this job won't be much worse.
Finally after years of abuse from administration we now have a tiny if ineffective way of protesting and morale has been pretty good this weekend. And more people have learned about how to find this website.
You would think it would be a pretty strong message to the people behind the glass walls that separate administration from lowly employees but I don't think the big guys will see it that way.
Finally a fairly fun weekend for the working people at DMH.
Besides how many more people can they fire without starting from scratch with all new employees?
It may seem childish to those on the outside but seeing these salaries in print have really energized the employees that are left. And that is good for the patients.
I just went back to earlier postings and saw that for 2006 Smithmier was "compensated" $778,912.
This last posting shows he was "compensated" $770,410.
What a great guy he is to cut his pay by $8,502 over 3 years. Of course this doesn't include bonuses paid to him.
That $8502 would have made a lot of mortgage or rent payments for his employees but is pocket change to him.
The greedy SOB deserves to have his empire crumble around him. His "let them eat cake" attitude isn't flying around here anymore.
I scrolled to the right of that IRS form and was intrigued by "Contributions to employee benefit plans & deferred compensation plans"
Smithmier was well within his rights to make contributions to a retirement fund but I thought there was a limit to the amount you can contribute each year. I am not an accountant so don't know if he exceeded any allowable limits.
Wish I made enough to contribute over $200,000 to a retirement fund in a single year though. I'd work for 5 years and then say adios folks.
What I don't understand is what a deferred compensation plan is. The way it is worded it sounds like it is money earned this year but deferred until sometime in the future. That would make a nice get away in the middle of the night fund if that is the case.
Any accountants out there care to explain what this column means?
I have so little trust in anyone in administration at DMH now that I don't trust any of them to do the right thing.
If that deferred compensation is actually money that they are to be paid at some point in the future, wouldn't it be nice if all these guys who got rich on our dime donated all that money they would be paid in the future to help pay off the debt at DMH and perhaps give their employees a little relief?
I am sure they would not have to change their life styles one bit by donating that money and living off the outrageous salaries they actually are paid.
Who knows. They might even get to wrrite it off their taxes.
One of my neighbors did some math this afternoon and told me that we could divide Smithmier's salary by 5, and the 5 households on this block would each have an income of over $154,000. We could live much more comfortably on that than we are on our current salaries.
Good God how much money does one man need?
She didn't even bother with Sobol's salary because she couldn't imagine what any of us would do with that much money in one year.
Maybe a great punishment for these guys would be to make them live in housing in one of the poorest run down high crime neighborhoods in the city with the same income as the residents of that area for 5 years. Make them figure out how to pay the rent, power bill, buy food, clothes on that same income of their new neighbors.
Might be better than a federal prison where they would be served 3meals a day on the taxpayers dime.
Of course they should still be charged with felonies so they have to live with that for the rest of their sorry lives.
Happy to report that there are many copies of the salaries of administration and the highly paid doctors are still being passed around DMH. Apparently a lot of jaws dropped Monday when employees who were off the weekend saw the figures for the first time.
What a morale booster the availabilty of these figures has been for staff at DMH.
Now at least we feel that someone somwhere is trying to let people know what has been happening at DMH especially to the employees.
No word from the biggies in administration today to lowly workers but we do expect the hammer to drop soon.
So what?
We are just happy that someone is really paying attention to us and seems to care about us.
Please keep us posted on any new developments. We have learned the hard way that Smithmier is not going to tell us the truth.
I will be off for a couple of days (census is down and we are forced to take time off without pay) but those who will be working seem energized by this information and will continue to spread the word.
Thank you for helping get this information to us.
I think the patients would like to thank you too because there is a fresh attitude among employees and patients are benefitting from happier nurses lab techs cleaning ladies etc.
About those contibutions to employee benefit plans and deferred compensation plans.
Are those contributions made by the employees or the hospital?
If they are made by the hospital, then it just make Smithmier and his crew look even slimier than they all ready do.
"It's even been reported that DMH administration would take a week off without psy. Wow!"
Would be nicer if they WORKED for a week without pay.
Or perhaps they could work for a couple of years for the salary they pay someone in housekeeping with the same benefits as that housekeeper. I'm sure they all have enough money stashed away so they wouldn't have to change anything in their royal life styles but the medical bills on a lowly employees salary might be hard to keep up with if anything serious happened to them.
DMH is lightening fast to turn bills over to a collection agency.
This move would save DMH a ton of money and might help get the financial picture to look a little brighter for DMH.
Best move yet that admin could take to save DMH from its dire financial straits would be for all of them to take the rest of their lives off from DMH without pay or severance benefits (I'm pretty sure the >150 employees they fired last year didn't get pretty severance packages) and let a new team of adminstrators come in and run the place with the interests of the people of the area as their main concern.
In the meantimee, the stampede of patients to St. Mary's continues.
Good job Ken! You and Tim and your hired doctors have done more to help St. Mary's than any of us thought possible a couple of years ago.
I like the idea of Smithmier, Stone, and the rest of their gang serving time in one of the poorest high crime areas of Decatur. A few rules, though. They can't use any of the money they stole from DMH to live on. That money should be given back to DMH to help it get back on its feet and give long suffering employees some relief.
Smithmier and company would have to find some way to pay their bills that did not involve more taxpayers money. No health care benefits for them either that are any better than the ones the people of the neighborhood they serve their time in.
Perfect solution! Help prevent overcrowding in our already seriously over crowded jails and give them some idea of what real people in the area face on a daily basis while they have been living like kings.
Of course, they would have to have passports taken away from them and mugshots sent to police all over the country. Fingerprints and DNA samples should be put in every national and international database so they can be easily identified if they should somehow manage to escape and try and start the same scam over in a new unsuspecting town.
Electronic monitoring bracelets would be a must.
I bet we could put "donation cans" in local businesses so people could donate money to put up billboards all over town and the area with their mugshots on them with some snappy punchline. I bet those cans would fill up fast. They would probably like that since they seem to like billboards so much.
Seems a much more appropriate punishment for them than serving time in a federal prison.
Don't think 5 years is long enough for them to serve their time in a poor neighborhood though. The time they serve should equal the time they have been robbing the paople of Decatur and the surrounding area.
When is all of this crap going to end?
The IRS, state, and fedreal investigators have had well over 4 years to investigate all the alleged wrongdoing at DMH.
Apparently no doctor or their staff members are going to step up and tell investigators what they really know. It is apparent that Smithmier, Stone, Peacock, Zia, Fahey and the docs for hire have no interest in giving investigators the information they need because they lack any semblence of a moral compass, ethics, or simply knowing right from wrong.
If it is not a crime for Smithmier and his friends to receive salaries that are well above the national mean and skim profits for their own personal gain while DMH goes into the tank, it seems like it is time to move on and let Smithmier get away with robbing the system and the hard working people who paid into the system and for insurance, expecting to receive good healthcare in return (which they did not receive).
Sad thing is hardworking honest DMH employees are being fired for trying to do their jobs or being reprimanded for very minor infractions (taking sick days, etc).
Meanwhile patients and some doctors are finally getting the message that there is another healthcare facility in Decatur where they can receive care and give care in an an environment that puts patients first.
It is time for charges to be filed if the evidence is there or let the matter drop. How many fesral and state dollars have already been spent on this investigation? There comes a point when it is time to fish or cut bait. I think that time is now or very soon approaching.
Give him enough rope and Smithmier will hang himself and DMH will go under because of him, not federal investigators.
How long did the ADM/lysine, Enron, banking, wall street investigations take? If there is no proof of wrongdoing at DMH other than greed, it is time for this investigation to end. At least we would have the pleasure of watching DMH destroy itself from within if the feds can't do anything about it.
DMH will survive, but will remain a joke until Smithmier is gone, either because he is actually accused of some wrong doing or the profit margin is so low it is no longer possible for the administors and doctors at DMH can't milk the cash cow for any more money. Let them leave in the middle of the night with fat bank accounts if that is what it takes to end all of this.
Just finished reading the Sunday edition of the Decatur Herald and review.
Interesting and often overlooked information caught my eye in the Life section of the paper.
Listed in the "births" section was the following info:
6 births at DMH over a 3 day period
9 births at St. Mary's over a 2 day period.
This shows me that people are finally really going to St. Mary's instead of being forced to go to DMH.
Small but significant numbers if added up over months and years.
Wonder what the stats are for other departments?
Thank you Ken Smithmier for showing us that we do have a choice in where to receive health care and that our doctors are finally listening to US
Scrolled back to previous threads on this blog and was amazed at what I read.
Outrageous salaries and benefits paid to administrators and doctors employed by DMH while employees actually providing physical care at the bedside to patients are punished by having benefits taken away from them. Long term employees fired because they had been at DMH long enough to be at the top of the pay scale and replaced by new, inexperienced "warm bodies" who do not earn as much as those fired. What good are overworked, stressed out, inexperienced employees going to be for the patients? Absolutely NONE! This is not how you build employee loyalty and keep experienced nurses, physical therapists, radiology techs, and so on working for you.
Is this why DMH's application for recognition as a "Magnet Status" hospital went nowhere? Magnet Status means you have the Best of the Best nurses with tons of experience actually providing care to patients.
Linda Fahey, please step up and tell us what happened to all of those experienced nurses. Seems they have moved on to "the mistake by the lake" as Smithmier and Stone refer to St. Mary's, nursing homes, public health nursing, or actually taking jobs with drug companies, insurance companies or medical equipment companies where they are paid higher salaries, provided better benefits, and are treated with dignity.
Linda Fahey, you are so beholden to Smithmier and your salary that you do not listen to what your nurses are desperately trying to tell you. They honestly care about their patients but get no support from you. You as well as the doctors owned by DMH have sold your soul to the devil and patients are suffering because of your spineless willingness to to go along with whatever Ken and Tim tell you to do.
What does the Illinois Nurse Practice Act have to say about your actions, Linda? I have seen nurses punished by the state of Illinois for offenses far less serious than those you have been a party to. Or does the standard for nursing (and ability to keep your license) change once you move to administration?
Was fascinated by the post from a blogger on a previous thread about the VP at DMH who was fired because he had the backbone to stand up to Smithmier and essentially tell him that he could not treat employees the way he was. His reward for doing so was being canned. Interestingly enough, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to him. I did some research and questioned employees of DMH and finally figured out who he is. He truly is a great, honest man who has a thriving business in Decatur. Best thing that ever happened to him was standing up to Smithmier and being canned for his gall for having the nerve to go to bat for DMH employees.
Many DMH employees (present and former) know who this great man is and support his business with great enthusiasm.
Smithmier, Stone, Peacock, Fahey, and Zia will be responsible for the demise of DMH. The greediness of these administrators and the doctors that are beholden to them will be responsible.
The citizens of the entire area owe all of you greedy ---'- a pat on the back for being so blatant in your greed. You may in the end escape criminal charges but you are the ones responsible for shedding light on your misdeeds and lack of concern for patients. You are the ones responsible for the increase in census at St. Mary's and the ruination of DMH's reputation. You alone will have to take responsibility for the destruction of your reputations.
Keep it up DMH administration. You have no one to blame but yourselves for making patients aware that they can receive quality healthcare just 4 or 5 miles away from your monument to greed.
Wow! It is Sunday afternoon, I do not have to work today and thought I would catch up on email and computer surfing. Got tired of looking at stuff about Michael Jackson so I decided to surf the web for information about DMH since it that is much closer to me than MJ's life.
Guess what I found?
An invitation from Linda Fahey (VP of nursing at DMH) inviting student nurses to come to DMH and follow an RN around and hopefully come to work at DMH after graduation.
Read further down in the requirements and listed at #2 or #3was "do not come to work if you are sick (temperature >100/rash, etc)
My question is this. If students are told not to come to work if they are sick how come employees are penalized with no raises or worse being fired if they follow the same guidelines?
What kind of logic drives this? A double standard for students and employees who are already on the payroll?
No wonder DMH is in such trouble. With morons like this running the place I am surprised they still have any employees left and that the doors are still open.
Hope any students out there are smart enough to read the employee handbook cover to cover before they take a job at DMH. Standards will definitely be different for you once you sign on at DMH as a real employee!
THANKS MOM!
I am 22 years old and recently found out I am pregnant with my first child. Since my mom is an RN and has worked at both hospitals here I asked her advice about which hospital to deliver my baby at, which doctor to go to and so many other things. I won't tell you which hospital she works at now because I don't want to get her in trouble.
My mom is a great woman and would not tell me where I should have my baby. She told to to take tours of both hospitals, interview doctors, see which hospitals they would or would not deliver at, and talk to my friends who have had babies at both hospitals. That way I would get the information I needed on my own and hopefully make a good decision based on facts.
Oh, she also told me to check out this website.
The tours of the hospitals were very informative. I was treated like a queen at St. Mary's, the staff answered all of my questions, they seemed to be excited for us about having our first baby and kept congratulating us and eager to give us information about pregnancy, labor and delivery, and care of a newborn. We were told to call at anytime with questions and someone would be happy to help us. I cannot express enough how impressed we were by how nice the nurses at St. Mary's are and especially how CLEAN ST. MARY'S IS.
The tour I took at DMH was much less impressive. The nurses did not seem interested in answering the questions my husband and I had. That was when we could find a nurse who would answer our questions. There were at least 3 nurses sitting at the desk when we arrived at DMH. One was reading a magazine, one was filing her nails at the desk, and who knows what the third one was doing. My husband and I stood there for at least 5 minutes before one of these nurses even acknowledged our presence. At least that gave us the time to read a poster they have there at the desk about how the unit is staffed. It was scary reading that poster. The best way I can describe the attitude of the nurse who finally got off her chair is bored and surly. Oh, we also had enough time while waiting to really look around the OB floor. IT WAS FILTHY! The desk surfaces appeared to be clean but the walls and carpeting were disgusting.
I talked to friends who have had babies at both hospitals and they all told me to go to St. Mary's. One friend told me a horror story about her experience at DMH. She had to have a c-section and when her mother came in the next day, my friend still had a catheter in and was still on a pain pump. She could hardly turn over in bed without help let alone take care of her baby who had been parked at the foot of her bed. Her husband works a night shift and could not be with her all the time. They were new to Decatur and didn't have family or good friends who could stay with her and help her out. It was after noon when her mother came in and my friend had still not had a bath or had her sheets changed. The sheets were covered with blood and her mom went ballistic. Her mother went and got clean sheets and a clean gown for her, changed her bed, and helped her get cleaned up. Her mother then started taking care of the baby. His diaper was soaked and full of poop. Grandma changed the baby, cleaned him up, changed the sheets in his bassinet and fed him. There was a chart on the baby's bassinet but it had nothing written on it. Her second and third babies were born at St. Mary's and she could not believe the difference in the care she received. The staff at St. Mary's actually helped her, taught her one on one how to care for herself and her baby.
I finally came to this website as mom suggested and was appalled by the information I found reading all of the blogs that have been posted here for at least 4 years. I also read some of the Jackson file blogs. All of this information was very informative.
I want my baby to be born in a clean hospital with nurses who really care about me, my husband, and new baby.
St. Mary's wins hands down and this much wanted child will be born at St. Mary's.
Holy cow. Just read the previous post from the pregnant woman and her comments about the differences between St. Mary's and DMH on her tours. The story of her friend's experience at DMH after having a
c-section there just about made me toss my cookies.
Looking at the info Watcher has posted about the salaries of doctors and administrators at DMH makes me wonder why Linda Fahey the VP of Nursing is paid so much money.
Isn't she supposed to be responsible for nursing care delivered at DMH? If she is, why aren't patients getting basic care from the nurses there that patients are paying for? Why do family members have to do the most simple things like giving a bath or changing filthy sheets?
It is ridiculous that a patient's mother has to come in and give her daughter a bath, change her sheets, and take care of a newborn infant. What the hell are the nurses doing there? Or why are they allowed to get away with this lack of care for their patients?
Reading magazines and filing your nails at the nurses station is outrageous when you have patients who need common sense basic care.
Actually my own daughter had a similar experience at DMH after giving birth to her first child, so this is not an isolated incident but obviously a trend in the nursing care given at DMH.
Obviously those administrators need to get out of their offices and see what their cost cutting measures are doing to patient care.
Maybe the administrators don't care what is happening to real live patients as long as they get their money from insurance companies Medicare and Medicaid.
I am sickened by the stories I have read here and will never go to DMH again. I simply don't trust the place to provide the simplest care.
I can't imagine what kind of care really sick patients with terrible wounds or are in ICU are receiving. If nurses on the OB floor can't even change bloody sheets on a new mother's bed, I am sure that nurses in other areas of the hospital are failing to provide the most basic care to critically ill patients.
When DMH has to close its doors it will be because administrators failed to make sure that patients get the care they deserved and paid for.
These horror stories about the terrible care at DMH are rapidly spreading through the community. Administrators just need to look in the mirror to see why revenues are down at DMH and they are losing so much money.
God help us all if things do not change quickly at DMH. At least we still have St. Mary's to go to to get good care despite Smithmier and Stones efforts to drive them out of Decatur.
Who exactly decides what the salaries of these high paid adminstrators and doctors at DMH receive and what their bonuses will be?
Is it the board of directors, the administrators and doctors themselves, accountants, or some outside consulting firm?
The salaries that Smithmier, Stone, Sobol, the cardiac docs, the neurology docs and the salaries and bonuses the other administrators received are truly out of line especially when the hospital is in such a deep financial hole.
How can they justify these salaries at a time when the employees actually doing the back breaking work are force to give up vacation time, lose retirement benefits they were promised. Why do the employees have to take to take the financial hit while the doctors and administrators continue to grow richer?
We really would like to know the names of those who approved these salaries.
The way it is supposed to work is that the DMH Board sets the salaries and/or approves them.
The trouble is, Smithmier has his claws into almost all these people in some way or another. If your business does business with the hospital, how can you say no?
Basically the whole set up is very much like Rod Blagojevich. And, like our former governor, the FBI is on the case, maybe wire tapping as we speak, and getting all their ducks in a row waiting for the big day.
If you want to complain about the inflated salaries, complain to the DMH Board. They are the ones that okay'd them.
Awesome information about who approved these salaries. What is most disturbing to me is that there are healthcare professionals on the board. They have a moral and ethical and legal responsibilty to their patients and clients and students (in the case of Dr. Kathy Booker).
Dr. Booker is in charge of the nursing program at Millikin. What kind of example is she setting for the nursing students who will soon graduate and start "caring" (term used very loosely here) for patients?
How could she possibly be deep in the pockets of Smithmier? Does Millikin have some sort of financial arrangement with DMH and pay Kathy more for the work she does at DMH on the board? Does this "mere nurse" get something on the side from DMH or Millikin which is probably noted in the second set of books that DMH keeps?
Dr. Booker worked at St. Mary's for years. I know her personally and she always seemed to care about the nurses she worked with at St. Mary's and especially the patients she cared for on the floor and then in the critical care areas before moving on to education. It appalls and disappoints me that this RN I once respected would be a party to this crap now going on at DMH.
Dr. Wade is another one I have now lost all respect for and am disappointed in. When he came to town he truly cared about his patients and would literally spend hours with patients and their families, checking lab values, fighting administration for the best care for his patients, teaching nurses personally on a one-to-one basis what they needed to know about taking care of oncology patients, making sure all departments from nursing, physical therapy, social workers, dieticians, lab, radiation oncology and so on attended the weekly conferences he led on the huge oncology floor every Friday afternoon so that all departments could share information about every single patient on the floor. He encouraged the nurses to go on for continuing education in Oncology and often paid for this continuing education. That huge oncology floor is now Smithmier's cardiac unit. The current oncology unit is a joke.
I know that Wade started moving away from actual patient care and started spending more time in Springfield and Washington testifying for changes in laws so patients could receive the latest and best care since there are new discoveries everyday but the FDA was far behind the curve in approving drugs for "investigative" use of drugs for treatment. He and Smithmier really butted heads when Smithmier first came to town. I wonder what made Wade decide to go over to the "dark side". Wade has always had plenty of money. First thing he did when he came to town was buy one of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Houses.
So who on the board is going to pay any attention to letters from mere citizens? I imagine any letters we send will end up shredded in their rectangular files.
Since so many people are deep in the pockets of Smithmier it seems more and more hopeless that there will be any meaningful changes at DMH in the forseeable future.
I will write letters to all members of the board and encourage my friends, neighbors and co-workers to do the same but have little hope that any of them will pay attention to our concerns.
"Who is to blame?"
Looks like it is the DMH board of directors for bending over for Smithmier and Stone.
"If your business does business with the hospital, how can you say no?"
Simple. Just SAY NO! Care about your employees and reputation in the community as well as the people who trust DMH to give them the care they need. Care about your families and friends. We know your names now and so do your business associates and employees.
"DMH board sets the salaries and/or approves them."
Get real, board of director members. Long after Smithmier and his friends have disappeared into the night, you and your families will still be here, the citizens will be aware of your names, and will be slow to forgive you for for the harm you have done to DMH.
You board members will be left to suffer the consequences and ruination of your reputations while Smithmier moves on and leaves you in the dust.
"If you want to complain about the salaries, complain to the DMH board. They are the ones who okay'd them."
Will do, although I think complaining to the board will be useless. I will also write letters to the IRS, Medicare and Medicaid, elected local, state, and federal officials. It may not do much good, but we have to start somewhere and I will receive the satisfaction of knowing that I at least tried to do something.
Think I will also send letters to Obama, and the leaders of both houses of Congress since they are now debating healthcare reform for the country. Smithmier and DMH will be a wonderful example of what is wrong with healthcare in this country.
Off now to buy more stamps for letters I will be mailing and ink for my printer.
i am a nurse at dmh and i take exception to all the negative comments about the nursing staff. the people i work with are compassionate and competent. we give the best care possible wih in our staffing guidlines. please put the blame where it belongs----at the top.
If the DMH board sets and/or approves these salaries can they be held responsible for the financial problems at DMH?
The people on that board are not dummies. They are businessmen, doctors, nurses, politicians who are aware of salaries for similar positions in the area.
If Smithmier succeeds in bankrupting DMH aren't they, too, liable for the mismanagemnt of the hospital sinced they signed off on these grossly inflated salaries?
If Smithmier or anyone else at DMH is indicted (please let that be sooner than later) can any of them (board members) be indicted for Medicare and Medicaid fraud, violations of the Stark Laws and other crimes committed at DMH?
Just wondering since it seems to me that Smithmier and other administrators and their doctors for hire couldn't have done this without help from board members.
I think most people ARE trying to blame the people at the top for the decline in care at DMH rather than the nurses. After all it is the administrators who are getting the big salaries not the nurses.
The nurse at DMH who said she and her fellow nurses gave compassionate and competent care "within our staffing guidelines".
The words "within our staffing guidelines" are the key to the problem. Administration is responsible for cutting positions in all areas of the hospital, not just nursing.
It is difficult enough to give good care to patients who are so much sicker now than they were 20 years ago when you are well staffed, but when nurses are forced to work short staffed there are bound to be things that get missed.
You hear horror stories about every hospital - just turn on the national news to hear them - but this site is about DMH and the problems Smithmier has caused.
I would suggest that the DMH nurse and the nurses she works with take their complaints to Smithmier, or Stone on one of his famous walking tours of the hospital, or the board of directors and let them know how THEY feel about the staffing guidelines at DMH.
Maybe administration will listen to them. They don't seem to listen to anyone else.
The DMH nurse who posted yesterday that he or she takes exception to all the negative comments about DMH nurses, might I politely suggest that the nurse go back and read all these posts again?
I saw exactly 2 posts on this blog about nurses on a specific unit at DMH that were not flattering.
The vast majority of posts have been DEFENDING all the employees of DMH including the nurses who have been forced to give up sick time, vacation time, retirement benefits, bonues and so much more just so administrators could continue to maintain their fancy lifesytyles.
Loved the post from a previous blogger who suggested that a sign be placed over the doors of the new cafeteria that is being built telling them to thank employees for the new, unneeded cafeteria. After all, it is the employees who are ultimately paying for the place by having benefits stripped from them.
Anyone been in the present cafeteria lately? I have on several occasions and have never seen it even close to being full.
To the DMH nurse who takes exception to this blog and the comments on it, please realize that the people of the area ARE ON YOUR SIDE! We realize that it is the hardworking employees who give hands on care to patients that are taking the brunt of the cubacks at DMH.
Tell the administrators how you feel. They certainly aren't listening to anyone else. Ask them why so many of your fellow employees have been laid off or fired in the past year. Who knows? Maybe one of them will atually have a conscience and tell you why you are forced to work "within the staffing guidelines" they established.
"Who is to blame for Dmh;s blatant failure? Who should DMH employees point their finger at...?"
To the DMH nurse who wrote "I take exception to all the negative comments about the nursing staff" If you read carefully the comments here you will see that most writers are not complaining about you, but DMH administration.
Most of the writers are defending you for continuing to work so hard despite having benefits taken away from you and working for an administration group that shows no concern or respect for you.
I'm sure this has been addressed in previous threads on this blog, but if it has I missed it.
Whatever happened to Lisa Madigan's attempts to sue Carle and the Christie Clinic? I think it was over medicare and medicaid but am probably wrong about that.
What ever happened to her efforts to take away the nonprofit status of Carle and Provena Covenant because of their failure to provide enough charitable care to poor and medically underserved patients in Champaign/Urbana to jusify their noonprofit and therefore tax exempt status?
Whatever happened to the legislation she proposed that would require nonprofit hospitals to provide a minimum amount of charity care that would be equivalent to 8% of their operating costs?
What kind of charity work does DMH do in Decatur? I'm not talking about diabetes education classes or cardiac rehab (patients have to pay for these services.) I'm not talking about the cholesterol and other screenings they do, since patients are usually charged a fee for these screenings. I'm not talking about free mammograms for women. The state pays for these services.
I think some great charity work DMH could do would be sending its hired doctors to CHIC every day of the week to give those poor and truly overworked doctors some help in providing care to the medically underserved in Macon County. The doctors would have to donate their time at CHIC since they are already well paid by DMH. These doctors are already very well paid and it would be a blessing to the community and true charity work. There are enough of these doctors that they could probably get away with just spending one morning or afternoon a week at CHIC.
DMH does not provide enough "free" care to patients to really qualify as a nonprofit institution. I just found out that DMH is very fast at turning over unpaid bills to collection agencies. A lawyer told me that once a hospital turns over a bill for collection, that case does not qualify as charity anymore even if the patient never pays a dime.
Does anyone know what kind of charity care DMH does? Is this listed anywhere on their tax returns.
Times certainly are tough for all of us.
We all know the financial sacrifices DMH employees have been forced to meet.
What, if any, financial meaningful sacrifices has DMH administration and its doctors for hire made?
Any of them taking a cut in benefits ($8500 cut in pay over a 3 year period does not count, Smithmier), cutting back on entertaining expenses, downsizing their homes or cars, buying store brand foods or cheaper cuts of meat for their families, turning off the air conditioning in their homes, or doing any of the things the rest of us are being forced to do?
Why does everyone have their knickers in such a knot over all of this?
This is the way things are done in corporate America today. And DMH is a corporation even if they do call themselves a non-profit organization.
As with so many other big corporations in the USA, it is the employees of DMH who take the
financial hit with reduced benefits, scaled back (or no) pensions, no healthcare benefits after they retire. The employees are the first to be fired or have their jobs eliminated. One need look no further than Caterpillar to see that this is happening everywhere.
The auto industry is another prime example.
Meanwhile the administrators and highly paid doctors seem bullet proof to all of this.
I guess we should all just suck it up and get used to it.
At least DMH employees have the cold comfort of knowing their jobs (for the most part) can't be outsourced.
Meanwhile the rich get richer and the workers get screwed.
Someone suggested previously to the DMH nurse that she and her coworkers take their complaints to Smithmier, Stone, or the board of directors since the nurse complained that the fault lays at the top not with the nurses.
I suggest she that she does that also. I would suggest that she start with Tim Stone on one of the walking tours he does unanonunced on all 3 shifts. That way all 3 shifts will get a chance to air their concerns to someone at the top. Stone is famous for his great personality, sympathy, empathy, and concern for all DMH employees and I am sure he will promptly see that those concerns are addressed by those that are in a position to change things at the hospital.
Yah, right! Stone is really famous for his arrogance, lack of concern about employees and their needs. Unless you are a new building or or part of the landscaping at DMH you are expendable.
Please do organize and take your concerns to the top. I guarantee you that names will be taken (and not put on adminstrations good list) and they will find someway to punish you for having the gall to question them.
But by all means, if you think nurses or any other employees at DMH can make a difference, make that trip to administration.
Please let us know how that works out for you.
About those "deferred compensation plans"? Is that a code or accountant speak for bonuses? If it is how can the board justify approve such high salaries and bonuses when DMH is indeed "circling the drain"?
With DMH finances so deep in the red it seems anyone with a brain (this means the DMH board of directors) would start with the highest paid employees to start making cuts rather than employees at the lower end of the pay scale.
I also agree that this is sadly the way business is done in corporate America today. The employees who do the actual work at a patients bedside and do their best to keep the hospital going are the first to be fired and/or have benefits cut to keep the royal biggies happy.
Love the idea of DMH administrators and very well paid doctors doing volunteer work in Decatur and Macon County.
I think CHIC is a great place for them to start. The DMH doctors, especially Sobol, Zia, the neurosurgeons, the cardiologists, and the hospitalists can really help the CHIC doctors care for the medically underserved.
Smithmier, Stone, Fahey, Peacock and members of the DMH board of directors can go to the Good Samaritan Inn, put on aprons and those cute hair covers, help cook, stand over hot steam tables and serve food to people who have no other place to receive a good hot meal.
Their wives and husbands and any of their kids 13 and over can volunteer in Decatur schools, especially the inner city schools. There are many other organizations in the city and county that could really use their help.
I think it would be great if these bigwigs met the people who really need them face to face. If they don't have a change of heart about policies at DMH at least they would see first hand what the citizens of the area face on a day to day basis.
Maybe the biggies won't have a change of heart, but perhaps there is hope for their kids. It might just make those kids realize that Ipods, computers in their bedrooms, their own cars to drive, private schools, new clothes whenever they want, college tuition paid in full, and so on are not a God given right but must be earned. Maybe it might open their eyes to a different path available to them to really help people who have not been blessed by rich parents and have trouble feeding their kids and finding shelter for them on a daily basis. Oh yeah, these kids might learn that not all people and their kids get basic healthcare and immunizations and good educations like they do.
This would be REAL charitable work and might make DMH a place that is worthy of its non profit status. Of course, none of the administrators or doctors should be paid a dime for their volunteer work since they are already paid quite well by DMH.
If DMH and the board really do accept this challenge to something for the community (instead of living off the backs of the people in the community) they should not put any ads in the paper, send out expensive 4 color mailings, or put up billboards all over the area about the great things they are doing for the people. They are already well known in the community and word would soon spread like wildfire about the really great things DMH administrators and doctors are doing with no strings attached.
Oh my gosh! I just woke up from my dream and realize that no one in administration, its doctors, or board members would ever consider getting their hands dirty by actually coming into personal contact with the poor, unwashed (through no fault of their own) residents who so desperately need help from them.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if they actually did this, though?
"Delayed Compensation" isn't a true bonus but more of a tax shelter scheme--kind of like a 401K. There are government regulations on them.
What I would like to know is how Mr. Smithmier could sock away $200,000 in ONE YEAR as part of "Delayed Compensation." Sounds like a LOT more than what our government would allow.
Perhaps Mr. Smithmier will be taken out of power much like Al Capone? Not by the FBI getting him for what he really did, but for tax evasion.
J. Edgar Hoover would be proud.
Your analaogy to Al Capone and going to prison for tax evasion is an apt one.
Smithmier, his over paid doctors, all the administrators should be under IRS scrutinity.
Does anyone know if the IRS has been involved in this ongoing investigation?
And what about Sobol? Do those numbers on that IRS form include money from his "private" practice of medicine, or is it just money paid to him by DMH?
The IRS truly takes no prisoners. Would love to see them involved in this.
Truth of the matter is DECATUR IS CIRCLING THE DRAIN.
Because the once strong working middle class is leaving the city, Decatur will soon be left with just 2 classes - the very rich and the very poor.
City management talks a good game about revitalizing the city but what strong well paying companies have they managed to attract to the city?
The middle class is being taxed to death. Our last real estate tax bill was the final straw. It is well more than 3 times higher than the tax bill we received when we first moved here. Protesting the outrageous assessment in the middle of the declining real estate market did no good. Just wish we could sell the house for what the board of assessments say its fair market value is.
Real estate taxes are rising every year, forcing those who remain to give up more in expendable income to support a public school system that fails to provide safety and decent education to our children, while rich companies like ADM Caterpillar and, yes, DMH get tax breaks that ordinary citizens would love to have.
City and county government are indeed deep in the pockets of places like DMH and offer no hope to mere citizens.
Corporations like ADM truly are beholden to Smithmier and company and continue to eliminate well paying jobs replacing them with lower paid workers as do Caterpillar, Tate and Lyle, and of couse, DMH.
Our house is on the market. We will gladly take a loss on it just to escape the high taxes and decline of basic services.
We are taking our six figure income and moving to a place that is not filled with crooked cronies who are interested only in lining their own pockets.
Ken Smithmier, you are in great part responsible for our decision to leave a city that we have called home for over 20 years.
We are moving to a community with excellent schools, exceptional education for our kids, and a much lower crime rate, and oh yes, excellent healthcare.
Thank you Ken Smithmier for helping us see that things here will not change in the near future.
Good God! You have even managed to get people like Julie Moore on your payroll. Bet she makes a hell of a lot more than the nurses who do the back breaking work at your monument to greed. Is there no one you will not buy or bribe to save your empire?
Smithmier, Stone, Zia, Peacock, Fahey, the DMH board of directors, Dr. Sobol and the rest of the well paid DMH doctors have much to answer for.
How will you be able to maintain your empire and incomes when the only people left in the area are poor and rely on medicaid and medicaid to pay their medical bills, or are the wealthy with good insurance that allows them to receive preventative medicine and early care for problems and therefore keeps them out of your hospital?
Hope the IRS nails all of you arrogant SOB's. Would like to see all of you serve time in a state prison rather than some federal "country club" prison reserved for white collar criminals. As far as I am concerned you are no better than the coke and meth dealers who get people hooked on their merchandise. Only difference in my eyes is the type of merchandise you have managed to get this area hooked on.
We will be watching for the resolution of this scandal, but thankfully will be doing it from a great distance where it no longer affects us on a daily basis.
Peacock is retiring at the end of the year. I wonder if the heat is getting to him?
So, Peacock is retirng.
Wonder how much he has "earned" at DNH over the years? Wonder if it was worth leaving with such a bad reputation?
Wonder if he feels any guilt or remorse for playing such a large role in ruining the reputation of the once proud institution that was DMH before the current administration started using the hospital to finance a personal cash cow and live a life of luxury while over worked employees have their benefits cut or taken away completely?
Wonder if he will have healthcare benefits paid for by the hospital?
Wonder where Smithmier and the board of directors will find a clone who will come in and continue to do the job the same way Peacock has been doing it?
I wonder if he will have the guts to finally talk to all the investigators? He knows so much about the REAL way the numbers have been have been manipulated at DMH.
It would be worth giving him immunity he if told federal and state investigators the truth about all the fraud, violations of Stark laws etc.
Is he finally becoming a moral man who will tell the TRUTH?
Gary Peacock could end up being a HERO and save DMH from further decline if he would only be honest with investigators.
Wonder if this is just the start of the exodus of current administrators from DMH.
Maybe he is starting to feel the heat or maybe he does have a conscience and will do something to save DMH.
We can only hope and pray that he does the honorable thing after he retires.
Wow, if this news about Peacock is true, lets hope it is the begining of a trend of administrators exiting DMH. The others will probably leave more quietly in the middle of the night but who cares as long as they are gone?
Smithmier and his friends have already extracted as much cash as they can from DMH so there is not much reason for them to hang around much longer either.
After they are gone DMH can start the long slow process of rebuilding the reputation of DMH that Smithmier, Stone, Zia, Peacock, Fahey, Sobol and the other rich doctors on the payroll have destroyed.
Can the feds still pursue them even if they do leave town?
Anybody think any of them wll talk to the Feds after they leave? I agree that it would be worth giving them immunity if they just step up and tell the Feds what they know. Maybe it will be like we see on TV crime shows. Whoever talks first gets the best deal!
Good luck, board of directors if all of these guys do "retire". You will be left to answer questions and explain why you approved the salaries and bonuses of these folks when DMH was going deeper and deeper in the hole.
Remember what happened to Blagojevich when the Feds saw that he was about to get away with another big crime? They went after him and put the investigation into high gear.
Regardless of where they go or where they are working, the Department of Justice does not give up. I'm sure they already know about Peacock's retirement. They probably also know what he had for breakfast this morning, and what brand of toilet paper he buys.
It's only a matter of time
I agree it is only a matter of time. Trouble is DMH continues to falter because of Smithmier and Stone, employees and the hospital itself continue to suffer.
Wish one of the folks in administration had the guts to finally do the right thing and step up and tell the DOJ what they know.
Maybe one of the docs for hire will reread that Hippocratic oath they took and do the right thing.
If something doesn't happen fast there will be more DMH employees who cannot afford to pay for the insurance DMH offers them, file for bankruptcy, go on public assistance for food stamps and medicaid, simply quit in disgust over the steady decline in their income and benefits, or even be fired to make up for the money that continues to bleed from DMH every day.
We can only thank Gary Peacock (if he is truly retiring) for shining a light on the administration at DMH that is starting to fall apart.
Also glad to know that they cannot run and hide from the Feds.
Trouble with your comparison of administrators at DMH and our former governor is that the governor was trying to commit another BIG crime.
The SOB's at DMH are just nibbling a little bit at a time and I am afraid that will escape the notice of the DOJ.
I always thought that the administrators themselves would be responsible for the ruination of DMH. If the DOJ can't do anything now, lets just hope that more of the big guys follow Peacock out the door.
Maybe that will catch the eye of investigators. Maybe that will be the BIG CRIME that finally forces the feds to move.
Glad to know the Department of Justice does not give up. The administrators at DMH are slicker than snot and their lawyers are even slicker.
If Peacock really is retiring, somebody had better grab his passport and those of his family quickly. If any charges are going to be filed it should be soon.
Can't see him sticking around the Decatur area during his golden years. Most likely he will head for a country that does not have an extradition treaty with the US. He has robbed the citizens of the area of enough to finance a "retirement" that will allow him to continue his fancy lifestyle.
Too bad the money he "earned" at DMH is probably already stashed in some country that does not give information about clients to US officials.
It would be nice to see him gone though. Even nicer if the other administrators - especially Smithmier and Stone - leave with him.
I too would like to be able to sock away $200,000 a year in a retirement plan. I would retire by the age of 40 and never look back. If I started putting that much money away every year starting at age 20 I would have $4 million not counting interest when I got to 40 years old. Trouble is I would have to do it legally or else the IRS would be all over me.
So how come the IRS is not all over Smithmier, Stone, Peacock, Zia, Fahey, the doctors who got rich on money received from insurance companies Medicare Medicaid and payments made on a monthly basis to DMH and it's doctors from those who didn't have insurance but were trying to do the right thing?
In the meantime DMH continues to go deeper and deeper in the hole while the people who run the place get richer everyday.
Something smells at DMH and it is not a pleasant smell.
Have the top people at DMH painted themselves into a corner?
Is there no way out for them but to retire - or skip town?
They will take OUR money and our faith in people we literally entrust with our lives and get out of town before the feds have their ducks in a row and any handcuffs are applied.
What will happen to DMH employees? Will they be like Enron employees and be left with nothing?
I'm a fairly new employee at DMH but I'm not long for their warped world. I have worked at two other healthcare organizations in Southern IL, and while neither of them were even close to perfect, they were a far cry closer to it than DMH's circus act. I have never seen such arrogant physicians with such an "untouchable" attitude which is continually reinforced by administration. DMH is in a time warp with no regard to the realities of managed care and/or medicare reform. Tick, tock, tick, tock - - the end is VERY near DMH. I labeled Smithmier as a real tool the moment I met him - - at our new employee orientation where he told a story about meeting his wife when he was a patient and she a student nurse (at an out-of-state facility) and how she caught him looking down her blouse - - - nice! Ever heard of sexual harassment, Ken? Just watching you leer while you told that story made me want to file a lawsuit. Not to mention that I wanted a hot shower. What an ego. Oh yeah, and I can't stand the filthy carpet throughout the place but it certainly isn't the fault of the 2.5 housekeepers assigned to the entire hospital on a daily basis. I should have done my homework before accepting a position in, as another poster put it "Smithmier's Monument of Greed." The employees really do try, I feel especially sorry for those trying to hang on just a couple more years to retirement. How depressing for them.
I have worked at DMH for about a year & a half, but like the previous poster, I also am leaving.
Previous poster and I must have been at different new employee orientations where Smithmier gives his "Welcome to life at DMH" speech.
At the meeting I was at Smithmier bragged about how he dropped out of high school and he was going nowhere fast. He said that he was involved in some activities he is not proud of. PERHAPS SOME CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES? Only a guess on my part but other employees at the same meeting were left with the same impression. He told us he finally got his life straightened out and worked very hard to get to where he is today.
From where I sit, the way he conducts his life today is not that much different from when he "was involved in some activities he is not proud of."
Ken are you really proud of the way you are living your life now and the way you treat your employees? Talk about arrogance!
I have less than 2 weeks to go at DMH and the days cannot pass fast enough. I have been asked to attend an exit interview. I think I will skip that one. DMH is not really interested in what I think.
I have been at DMH less than 2 years and cannot believe how much things have changed in that short time. It gets worse every day. The final straw for me was the meetings Smithmier had for us telling us that we were going to lose vacation time sick days and retirement benefits would be cut. I am young enough that I can start over at my new employer with a higher salary and better benefits. I was smart enough to talk to lots of employees at my new employer before accepting this new position (thanks to a friend I have who works at the new place. She arranged a get together at her home with employees from all departments so I could meet and talk with them. She used to work at DMH and knows what goes on there). They all seem happy with the administration, everyone pitches in and helps everyone else, and the patients get good care. They say that the RN's are just as likely to get down on their hands and knees and clean up messes patients make on the floor as housekeepers are. When I was doing my orientation on the floor at DMH I was with an RN who has been there far too long. I started to pick up some dirty sheets from the floor and she stopped me and told me that was not my job. She told me to call a CNA and have her do it. I should have known right then and there that things at DMH are really screwed up.
I have worked as an LPN and RN in 2 other states before moving here because of my husband's job. I have NEVER worked at a healthcare facility that shows so little respect for employees as DMH.
There are problems in every work environment but DMH is truly unique in its attitude towards employees.
Physicians at DMH are living in the past. They treat nurses like handmaidens, do not listen to what nurses have to say about subtle changes in patients conditions, but are quick to yell at nurses, when something goes wrong, hang up on them when they dare call them about a patient.
I am not happy, patients are not happy, so it is right for me to move on. I too feel sorry for the employees who are hanging on just until they can retire. Most of them aren't happy either but they feel like they are stuck.
Time for me to jump in the shower so I can drag my unhappy ass into DMH for another day of misery. Can't be even 1 minute late because I will get an occurence if I am. DMH treats its employees like naughty children. No wonder that morale is so low there.
Thanks administration for taking good care of yourselves and the rest of us like trash.
Suppose Peacock, Smithmier, Stone and the rest of the gang at DMH are actually nailed by either the state or the feds. What kind of fines or jail time are they actually looking at? Think any of them would have the guts to face a jury? If so, please pick me to be on that jury. Doubtful that any of them would be brave enough to face a jury anywhere. People all over are fed up with high executives getting rich while the little guy gets robbed.
Does anyone know how many people are still employed at DMH? I know Smithmier used to brag that DMH was the county's 2nd largest employer right after ADM. If I remember right, the number of employees at DMH was either 2400 or 2600. I can't imagine that there are still that many people still working there after Smithmier and Stone started their mass firings of the people making the most money. Those highly paid people were cutting into the money that administrators had available to line their own pockets.
Oh by the way I agree with the nurse who posted earlier. That carpeting has to go. What a sorry sight it is. I'm sure it is a great germ factory with people coughing sneezing and losing body fluids on it every day. Maybe the administrators could get out of their offices and really clean it every day since the housekeeping staff has been decimated. I wonder if the nurse in charge of infection control has ever considered doing cultures on that nasty carpeting.
I just don't understand what the problem is with the investigation of DMH.
The numbers are there, printed right on this blog. If you could get them why does the government have so much trouble getting the facts?
Supoenas were served more than 4 years ago. If the administrators, doctors, medical equipment companies, etc refused to give the information then what makes anyone think they are going to tell what they know now? Can't they at least be charged with obstruction of justice?
Administrators, doctors etc making outrageous salaries and stashing deferred compensation in tax sheltered accounts while the hospital continues to lose money every day makes no sense.
Is Smithmier right? Is the investigation over and all of this chatter much ado about nothing?
Either do something about the mess that is at DMH and its administrators or toss in the towel. I think all these guys owe DMH a lot of money but they will walk off into the night without paying a penny for the fraud they have committed. DOJ doesn't seem to have come up with anything to charge them with. If it is true as Smithmier says that the investigation is over then it is time for all of us to move on - to St. Mary's.
The folks at DMH seem to be above the law.
Is Peacock really retiring from DMH or is that just another rumor floating around the community?
Does anyone know the FACTS about this?
If he does retire without talking to the feds I can only imagine what kind of big retirement party Smithmier, Stone and the board of directors will throw for him. Bet he gets more than a sheet cake and fruit punch (on a paper tablecloth) like the real worker bees at DMH used to get.
Who knows what kind of send off Ken and Tim will give him.
I would expect there to be a little visit from the US Attorney's office before he leaves.
I work at DMH and am disgusted by the salaries I see posted here for administrators. Linda Fahey's salary and bonus or deferred compensation or whatever you want to call it would more than cover the salaries for at least 6 or 7 RN's. Does she do the work of 6 or 7 RN's, clean patient's butts, break her back lifting patients, change nasty disgusting dressings on gross patient wounds,expose herself and family everyday to MRSA, TB, VRE, virulent flu viruses, pneumonia, HIV? Absolutely not!
She is almost never seen on the floors where actual real live patients are. Last time I saw her on a patient unit was when DMH rolled out its computer charting system at least 4 or 5 years ago. She is almost more invisible than Smithmier. I can't remember the last time I saw her anywhere in the hospital. Of course I am not invited to the fancy luncheons that administration has on a regular basis (wonderful restaraunt quality food free to the administrators.) She might eat in the cafeteria, but I doubt it. The cafeteria food is expensive, nasty and loaded with fat. What was the meat entree yesterday has probably been chopped up or grinded and added to today's special or saved even longer just to reappear in soup later in the week. I don't eat in the cafeteria anymore because I can't afford to, so she might be there with the common people.
Does Fahey even care about her nurses or is she just in it for the money?
Seeing these salaries in black and white has made me furious and seriously consider my employment options. After seeing these salaries, discussing the whole mess with my husband, I have decided that I too will be joining the nurses who have left DMH and will do so very soon. The patients will be better off without me because I can no longer put my heart and soul into a job that I loved, my family on the back burner while I come home late every day, miss soccer and baseball games and no longer have the physical or emotional energy to handle the stress of dealing with an organization that does not give any indication that they care about employees. I won't put my health on the line or give up time with my kids for administrators who don't give a rats a-- about the people who work there.
We nurses really do try to give everything we can every day to our patients but it is becoming harder and harder to do the job the way we should because of short staffing and administrators who let us know very often than we can be replaced.
By the way on those days I come home from work late I do not get overtime pay. I have been told by my head nurse that I should clock out on time then come back and finish charting, check orders, call doctors and so forth because DMH WILL NOT PAY OVERTIME ANYMORE. Other nurses on my floor have been told to do the same thing. I think this is a violation of Illinois State labor laws but just try and tell that to someone in administration or your head nurse. They just tell you that you are unorganized and need to manage your time better.
Oh, copies of the salaries that were posted on this website are still floating around DMH, just more quietly and carefully. Administration was not happy when they found copies laying around the hospital.
It IS a violation of Illinois State labor law not to pay workers for actual hours worked and companies that follow this practice can face major fines.
Proof positive that at least Timmy Stone has firsthand knowledge of this blog . . . today he was on one of his "walking tours" of the hospital and his foremost agenda seemed to be the filthy carpet. I almost laughed out loud when I heard him talking to a custodian about "what we could do about these marks . . . is there something we can use to remove them?" The sad thing is that if the carpet is the focus of his day we are all seriously screwed. And yes, the copies of the salaries are still floating around . . .just don't get caught with one in your hand.
It was announced in the department meetings about a month ago that Peacock will retire at the end of this year. They are currently using a "search firm" to find his replacement. Mark your calendars, in December ol' Gary rides off into the sunset.
Can the feds still pursue them even if they do leave town?
- question posted above
Federal Agents will (and regularly do) pursue criminals unto the ends of the Earth similar to "The Terminator" character of movie fame.
They never stop until they take their subject into custody.
They can run but they can not hide.
Hysterically funny that Stone was out checking the carpeting on the units. Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what those stains were that he wanted to remove? Yuck!!!!!
Further proof that DMH and Stone do not care about basic care for patients and don't care about the staff.
As previous poster said unless you are a bulding or part of the landscaping at DMH you are out of luck. Add furniture and carpeting to things Stone cares about.
Since Tim is out checking the carpeting and probably the paint on the walls, employees should stop him and ask him about their salaries and benefits.
Why do I not think that will happen? Can you say "FIRED".
Good luck DMH employees. If you don't stand up to administration nothing will change, so don't whine when the public complains about the lack of care they receive from you.
Anybody in the healthcare profession who makes that much money should be giving something back to the community instead of continuing to milk the "cash cow" that DMH has become.
DMH is certainly not a not for profit organization as it is run by Smithmier, Stone, Peacock, Zia, Fahey and the board of directors right now.
Seems like they owe the city, county, state, and federal governments for unpaid taxes.
Come on, IRS, get these guys for tax evasion if nothing else.
People in the community are becoming more and more aware of the greed of Smithmier Stone Peacock Zia Fahey and the doctors for hire at DMH.
Stopped at grocery store Friday and when I went back to my car I found a really nice printed version of the salaries condensed to one page under my windshield wiper!
So now we have copies of these salaries floating around DMH and also floating around the community for the public to see.
Good job, DMH! Not only are your employees po'd at you, now the general public is starting to see your greed in black and white.
Carpet cleaning en masse is still going on at DMH. I don't think those "extractors" had been fired up in years. I guess Tim Stone misunderstood when someone told him the place needed "cleaned up". They meant personnel first (starting at the top) and then buildings. Oh well, its not a big surprise he got it backwards.
What's this? No "compensation for expense accounts and other" listed on these forms?
Did all these administrators and well paid doctors decide they already know it all and have no further need to attend meetings to keep up with the rapidly changing healthcare industry?
What about all the fancy luncheons and big fancy dinners for the big donors listed? I worked at DMH for awhile, and believe me, these big shots with the money get much better food on real china with real linen tablecloths and napkins, actual silverware that us common folks who foot the bill never see.
Ken, Tim, and company, do you honestly think we believe that somehow the people you are actually billing for ho-hum medical care at DMH are not paying for wining and dining the big shots with the money and power you crave so blantantly?
Is that why my insurance company denied more than half the charges you billed me for because they "exceeded the usual and customary fees for similar services in this area"?
Surely there is someplace on these IRS forms where hospitals have to disclose what they spend on this fund raising stuff and smoozing with the big boys.
Is it hidden in lawyers or accountants fees which I did not see listed on these forms?
Off to work now at the other healthcare facility in town where I am treated with respect and dignity.
http://www.ci.decatur.il.us/council/1-20-2009packetinfo/Item%20III%202.pdf
Where are the fancy new signs?
Is DMH going broke?
Where is the new luxury five story VIP building?
Is the other hospital taking over?
It appears DMH may be in arrears?
The other hospital seems to be expanding faster and more efficiently than their competitor?
Maybe new management at DMH can save the day?
The employees would shout in unison Hip Hip Hooray?
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