Hospital staff speak in support of CEO

Six employees of Crook County Medical Services District spoke in strong support of their CEO, Nathan Hough, at a meeting of the Board of Trustees on Thursday. The presentation, said Jamason Schmidt, Director of Operations, was to give insight into working life at the hospital as the contract with Health Management Services, through which Hough’s services are provided, reaches its expiration date.

“We know you have a decision to make coming up in the future, so we just thought we’d love to come and share our thoughts and opinions,” said Schmidt.

Schmidt described arriving in the county just under four years ago and hearing stories from community members who felt they would not want to be cared for at the hospital or within the district.

“We worked very hard as a team, under the direction of Nathan, to change that, and I feel like we’ve got a long way. Along that way of changing the community’s mind, we’ve won a lot of state and national awards, in the hospital, our long term care, our ambulances, our trauma, our lab,” he said.

But while proud of those awards, Schmidt said, “Honestly, I feel like we all feel that awards mean less to us than what the community thinks, and since that time we’ve seen an unprecedented turnaround.”

Feedback from the community has been extremely positive, Schmidt said, crediting Hough’s leadership with causing these changes for the better.

“Not only is our community happy, our employees are very happy,” he said, referring to an employee satisfaction survey that showed higher scores than he said he has ever seen in a healthcare agency.

“We’re very proud of where we’ve come in a short time and we feel that Nathan is vital to where we want to go,” he said.

Jean Snow, Nursing Supervisor for the Long Term Care unit (LTC), explained that, “When a decision as important as the one that is going to be made over this next year is coming up, I think it’s my duty to step up and voice my opinion, because this is going to affect all of our futures and this community.”

A 12-year employee, Snow said she can remember at least six CEOs in her time with the district. Hough has been with CCMSD for four years, she said, so the district went through five CEOs in eight years.

At first, she said, this was the only job of Snow’s career where she cried and felt sick to her stomach before work and cried again when she went home. “It was just disheartening,” she said.

Snow took a job in South Dakota but continued to work with the district and keep an eye on what was going on until she received a call asking her to come back to CCMSD full time.

“I was so glad that I came back and that I’ve been a part of this great change that has transpired over the last few years under the leadership of Nathan. We have the best providers that we’ve had in years, our staff is really happy with almost nonexistent turnover, and there are top-notch nurses I am so proud to work alongside. Our residents [in the LTC] call this home,” she said.

“We need Nathan for the organization, the hospital and our community.”

Snow concluded by sharing her opinion that it is the responsibility of everyone involved in CCMSD to make sure it prospers into the future and that she feels it will only happen under Hough’s leadership.

Brenda Andrews, Lab Supervisor, told the board her story is like Snow’s: she has been with the district on and off for 15 years. At first, she said, she also felt she would go elsewhere if she needed care.

“And I was working here. How disheartening for me to know that I couldn’t be treated in the same facility I was working in,” she said. “I do not feel that way today. Today, I am proud of where I work, I am proud of where I live and this comes from the leadership of Nathan.”

Under Hough’s leadership, Andrews said CCMSD has thrived and many improvements have been made.

“The lab is a great example of that. We have had many patients and many businesses seek us out for their care and our services,” she said. “I am very proud to say I am a member of this community and I am very proud to say that I am an employee of CCMSD, and that’s thanks to Nathan.”

Warren Shaulis, nurse practitioner in the ER and hospital, used to be a LifeFlight pilot who was sometimes called to the hospital in Sundance.

“The staff was always very kind and very nice to the patients and nice to us. We always enjoyed coming up here,” he said. “However, during that time, the care that was being provided was very often sub par…There was a lot of fixing to be done of the patients that were sent out of here.”

Shaulis almost did not accept a job at the hospital because the CEO at the time advised him against it and did not feel the facility was viable, he told the board. Calling the changes since Hough arrived “spectacular”, he described Hough’s leadership as creating a “shared vision for the future”.

That vision, he said, is why he remains at the hospital and enjoys his role. It is critical, he added, to maintaining the quality of care now being given to the community.

“I’ve worked in healthcare for over 30 years and I’ve never had the opportunity to work for and with a gentleman like [Hough],” he said.

Anthony Vopat, EMS Coordinator, told the board he is a relatively new employee who also has flown – and still occasionally flies – as a pilot with Black Hills Life Flight. He stated that he agrees with Shaulis’s view of the hospital in the past.

“Over the years, we’ve witnessed a change,” he said. “From the top down, I can only assume, the medical direction has improved.”

Starting this job has been life-changing, he said. There have been learning curves and challenges, but this has not included communication with everyone from the CEO down.

“I believe in the system that we have here,” he said. “What I’m witnessing is good.”

Amber Ondriezek, Director of Nursing, said the first decade of her 15 years working for the district felt like a struggle. The care was just ok, she said, survey results were not good and there was high turnover.

“We’re a five-star [facility] now and it’s because of [Hough’s] leadership and his uncanny ability to remove obstacles so we can just work. There’s no drama, if we have a problem we go and talk it out and it’s fixed, there’s no problems like there used to be with our CEOs,” he said.

The hospital used to be a band-aid station, she said, and the fact that so many patients can now be kept at the facility rather than sent elsewhere is due to the team that Hough has built.

“We’ve been recognized as a very functional, cohesive team here. I get two to three calls every week asking how we’re doing it – Sheridan, Buffalo, Newcastle,” she said.

Schmidt concluded the presentation by informing the board that Hough had not asked any of the employees to attend the meeting. In fact, said Ondriezek, he had not been in favor.

Hough does not ask others to recognize or “go to bat” for him, said Schmidt, but the employees felt it was important to share their pride in his leadership.

Trustee Sandy Neiman asked what had inspired the employees to feel that Hough would be leaving the organization. “We have not said that,” she stated.

“We haven’t decided anything as far as anything goes. We haven’t even discussed it, let alone the contract, so whatever you guys are hearing or the rumors, it’s not from this board,” she said.

Schmidt explained that the employees are aware there is an expiration date on the contract with HMS and feel there is a lot at stake. Their attendance at the meeting, he said, was to make sure the board is informed as to employees’ opinions when the decision is made.

Neiman defended the board’s actions over the years, noting that the board was heavily criticized when the relationship with Rapid Regional Health came to an end. Snow responded that, at that time, progress was being made and employees did not want to see that end; now, however, she feels the district is seeing “a progression of continued uphill growth” and she does not want to see traction lost.

“We have fought hard for everything we have…We have tried to build and we are still trying to build. We know that we have a lot of things to do yet,” Neiman said. When she joined the board, the district was $5 million in debt, she said, and the board has fought long and hard to move forward.

Schmidt responded that the employees do not wish to imply that the problems in the past were the fault of the board – healthcare is a hard industry. However, he said, things are in a good place and the employees would like to see that continue.