Empty hospitals, bankrupt businesses, broken lives. This lie needs to end.
The article I am reprinting here is targeting hospitals for not releasing more data, not granting interviews, not allowing photos or videos inside their facilities… because they are EMPTY. Tens of thousands of people cannot get the healthcare they need, because their healthcare has been BANNED… deemed “non-essential,” due to a fake crisis that is never going to come. The hospitals themselves are in a tough spot; wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation by going against the narrative and risk being seen as a deplorable Qanon birther bitter clinger, right? Better to go along “being prepared,” while laying everyone off because you have no customers.
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PHOENIX — Most Arizona hospitals leave patients in the dark
…Banner, Dignity, HonorHealth, and Abrazo have repeatedly declined requests for interviews, tours, specific data or pictures showing their operations during the pandemic. Some hospitals groups including Dignity, Banner and the Mayo Clinic are now planning furloughs and pay cuts to save money.
“All of our volumes have gone down by about 50%,” said emergency room Dr. Nicholas Vasquez. “So a lot of us are sitting around treating COVID patients, but not much else.”
Dr. Vasquez is one of only a few Valley hospital workers who has been willing to speak out about what they are experiencing every day.
The Arizona Department of Health Services started releasing data last week showing hospitals have less total patients than usual, and there are thousands of empty beds statewide. While the data does not indicate individual hospital’s COVID-19 patient loads, it does show stable overall numbers of emergency room visits and vacant inpatient and intensive care beds.
Several hospitals, while declining interviews and tours, did provide statements to ABC15 Monday.
Dignity Health Statement:
Regarding the cancelation of elective surgeries and how it’s affecting our hospitals: Like many health care systems, we are experiencing financial strain during this crisis with large declines in non-COVID-19 volumes and revenue. Our daily census numbers at our Dignity Health hospitals in Arizona are currently much lower than normal…with the postponement of elective surgeries. Because of these measures, and in order to help minimize financial impact, our executive leadership team has temporarily reduced their base pay by as much as 15 percent through the end of the fiscal year. Additionally, we’ve asked some staff members to flex their hours and are asking all employees who don’t care directly for COVID-19 patients to use their flexible paid time off benefit. We recognize that this has been an incredibly trying time for some of our employees and their families and we are doing everything we can to support our staff during this difficult time.
Mayo Clinic Statement:
Richard Gray, M.D., CEO, Mayo Clinic in Arizona:
Mayo Clinic staff are doing extraordinary work leading in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic… Mayo Clinic is facing unprecedented challenges as a result of these circumstances, including a financial impact that requires significant adjustments to our operations. The decision to proactively postpone elective patient care…eliminated the majority of our revenue at the same time we are making critical investments to develop and expand testing, conduct research to stop the pandemic and re-align our facilities and care teams to treat COVID-19 patients.
Mayo Clinic is taking necessary steps to reduce expenses but additional measures are needed to ensure that we can emerge from this situation in a stable position. While we were able to protect full pay and benefits for our employees through April 28, temporary furloughs of some staff and salary reductions will be required after that time…
Banner Health Statement:
Today Banner Health announced several financial actions taken to address the current environment as a result of COVID-19. Banner team members who have and continue to contribute to the direct care of COVID-19 patients will receive a one-time bonus to be awarded in July. This award will be based upon hours worked with COVID-19 patients in March, April and May. Ed. Talk about a sure bet… the beds are empty.
…Elective surgeries and non-life-threatening procedures are on hold, and that means fewer than normal patients and a reduction in work for many of our team members… In response to those team members who want or need to be home during this time, we also offer a voluntary sabbatical program that gives eligible team members a month of unpaid time off.. In addition, Banner Health will implement a short-term furlough program this week for team members with low or no work, allowing them to be eligible for unemployment…
Banner Health will also pause hiring at this time for most non-clinical, non-revenue generating positions across the organization. This includes newly created jobs as well as vacant roles in the corporate office and facilities…
Lastly, all senior leaders at Banner Health – including senior vice presidents, presidents, vice presidents and CEOs – will take up to a 20 percent reduction in pay beginning in May. Members of Banner’s senior leadership team have also contributed $100,000 to the Banner Health Foundation’s Supporting our Staff (SOS) Fund to provide financial support for team members who may need it during this time.
I personally know of a man who died, precisely because he could not be admitted to a restricted hospital.
My mother had the same condition pre-Covid, and lived. One day in the ER. Simple prescription. She’s fine.
This man could not be admitted. His condition quickly worsened and he died. One example in my tiny little corner of the world.
Insane. The world, without God, is insane.