The Grand Deception

Appearances can be deceiving, and at Whidbey General/Health over the four years of the Geri Forbes reign what we saw was not what we got.

Before and after the transition from CEO Tom Tomasino to Geri Forbes, I was extremely active in trying to ferret out what was really going on at our hospital. During a two-year stretch of activism, I submitted over 60 public records requests, and I obtained probably 500 pages of documents.

Using those documents as a basis, I published on a website like this one 45 investigative reports. I relay this so those who read postings on this site will have confidence that I’m well versed in the history of our beloved hospital. If I rant at times, I do so only after I have first done painstaking research.

For the final five years of Tomasino’s time as CEO, the hospital’s financial ledger ended up in red ink at the end of each fiscal year. While there were lots of reasons to replace him, it was the finances that finally caused the board of directors to let him go. By the way, I didn’t even have to order those year-end financial ledgers – they were publicly available on the web, along with those of every other public hospital in Washington.

Geri Forbes began her time here in April 2015, so her time at the helm, which ended dramatically on Tuesday, worked out to almost exactly four years. 

Almost immediately, there appeared to be a financial turnaround. I’d have to go back, but I believe that in her first three years of the Forbes era, the financial ledger went from red to black. The year-end profit figures were modest, but after so many years of being deep in the red, this seemed astounding.

Forbes’ leadership and genius were of course trumpeted as the reasons. She was a miracle worker. The board of directors was so giddy that when her three-year contract was up, they made sure they’d retain her by giving her another stupendous deal.

Forbes’ base pay went from $279,000 to $390,000 – a 40% increase. Coupled with her bonus pay, which ranged from $60,000 to $70,000, Forbes’ annual income came to exceed $450,000. 

I believe the reason this was done was simply so it could be reported that her base salary was $279,000, when in actuality she was getting $340,000 to $350,000. Many in the community criticized the Board for paying her too much, so this base-plus-bonus scheme gave a deceptive appearance. In my opinion the entire scheme of giving our CEOs a bonus should be abandoned. 

Forbes’ bonus was based on whether she had accomplished an agreed-upon set of goals each year. The contract stipulated that Forbes herself had to agree on what were usually five separate statistical goals, so if she felt a proposed goal was going to be difficult to achieve, she could simply not accept it.

The proof that the goal-setting was a bit of a ruse came, as I recall, in her second year, when only four of the five goals were achieved. Instead of going by the contract, board members gave the maximum bonus of $70,000 anyhow. This is an example of how the public was deceived.

Getting back to WH’s overall financial situation, I think we’re now coming to understand the shell game that produced those positive ledgers. We don’t have to speculate, because hospital leaders themselves have let the truth slip out here and there.

Somewhere around the end of 2017, the Board informed us that it was going to seek a USDA rural health loan of $20 million. It’s going on a year and a half now, and that loan has yet to be approved.

Why would a business with a string of year-end profits have a sudden, and desperate, need for $20 million? A public hearing was required as part of the application process, so one was held on March 21, 2018. As we know from the Mueller investigations, you better not lie when you are presenting information to the federal government.

Our new CEO, Ron Telles, then the Chief Financial Officer, told it like it was: “(T)he hospital was primarily focused on covering daily operations, choosing to defer long-term facility maintenance to a future date.” Granted, these deferrals were going on at the same time the new inpatient wing was being constructed, but that project had its own separate funding source - $50 million approved by voters for that specific purpose. 

The CFO went on: “(T)he District still has multiple deferred maintenance needs that have accrued over the years, with an estimated total cost of approximately 35 Million dollars. Currently, the District has about 9 Million dollars in the bank and is unable to finance the long-term maintenance needs using its capital.”

And what if the USDA turns us down? Telles answered: “(T)he District will have to drastically reduce costs somehow, and go out to a local bank. This would significantly drive up the interest rates, but the hospital has to get this work done.”

Geri herself answered another of the audience’s questions: “(O)ur team would like to update this department; however the focus is on the electrical panel and HVAC at this time. These systems are very outdated and out of code, no other plans or changes at this time are being considered until the immediate needs are met.”

So, our hospital has been in violation of state regulations for some time, and will remain so far into the future. Even $20 million will only be a beginning to the money needed once immediate needs are met. And should the $20 million be approved, it of course has to be paid back with interest – that rate currently is 4.25%. 

WhidbeyHealth has dug itself into one deep hole. It seems that deferring such costs has been going on since the Tomasino administration, which began almost eleven years ago. 

If you are a homeowner, you know how spendy it is to maintain your property. Shingles need replacing at some point, carpets don’t last forever, kitchen appliances have a shelf life, water heaters go bad – even windows need to be replaced over time. And if you don’t replace those shingles, you end up with a leaky roof and dry rot within your walls.

 

We thought we were all set with a gleaming new state-of the-art facility. But the hospital still has the over forty-year-old original hospital building, and about a dozen other major facilities, which are apparently seriously outdated, out of code, and perhaps unsafe as well. I’ll do a public records request to get an item-by-item listing of these deferred maintenance needs, and publish it on the site.

The abrupt closure of the existing pharmacy and emergency construction of a new pharmacy with a proper ventilation system is the perfect example of what happens when you keep kicking the can down the road without dealing with problems at hand.

There’s been a lot of deceit over the years, and the blame falls squarely on our five board members – with those who have been there the longest shouldering the most blame. Ron Wallin, since at least 2008, Grethe Cammermeyer since 2008, Nancy Fey since 2013, Eric Anderson since 2016, and Kurt Blankenship since 2017.

I wasn’t half-cocked when I called this week for all members of the board to resign. This is why. These five people are ultimately responsible for the perilous financial state of our hospital. They need to be held accountable. The 6-year terms of Wallin and Fey are up at the end of the year. If they don’t resign or retire, they need to be defeated. 

The filing deadline for such candidates is May 17. If you reside on the Island essentially north of Coupeville, you are probably eligible to run – check with County Elections. Your community needs you.