JLH on STX

cna's and na's ( not sure if i am correct ) were let go. money was set aside so that they could go back to school to become nurses. the hospital wants to acheive magnet status.
still hear complaints from patients. i guess all hospitals have complaints. there was a thread a while back that had more infor on this

cna's and na's ( not sure if i am correct ) were let go. money was set aside so that they could go back to school to become nurses. the hospital wants to acheive magnet status.
still hear complaints from patients. i guess all hospitals have complaints. there was a thread a while back that had more infor on this

Thanks. I will look for that thread. Appreciate it.

any time

For years that place has operated as a "hire your friend, it's easy work" business and now that some real staff is being brought in and the incompetents are being pushed out, they are under fire. That's the story as I've heard it explained by both people who worked there, got fed up and left and people who are still there, trying to make our hospital legitimate.

"Real staff" being brought in ???

Sorry, but they've been running off real staff for years due to various well known incompetencies.
Given current economic problems, cost of living, forced pay cuts, uncompetitive pay, forced overtime, substandard facilities, and frustrating work conditions, they'll be lucky to get real good staff to move there just to replace the ones they've run off.

One thing Jeff Nelson could do which could be quite simple, (but who knows) is make everyone in administration answer their phone!

About 90% of the time when you are trying to contact someone at the hospital their voicemail box is full and if you try and transfer to someone else who is taking calls the second person's voicmail box is full as well. It's almost impossible to get ahold of anyone in the administration.
Some policy such as "All phone calls should be answered within 4 rings, or the call picked up by someone else at least". prefer not having voicemail at all, because on the odd occasion that you are able to leave a message, it is very very rare for someone to call you back.

They have a complaint form on their website http://www.jflusvi.org/contact_us.php but I presume this is for medical complaints? I'm not sure.

Just a simple idea, that could improve their reputation, "to achieving excellent staff, patient and community satisfaction" as their moto says.

One thing Jeff Nelson could do which could be quite simple, (but who knows) is make everyone in administration answer their phone!

About 90% of the time when you are trying to contact someone at the hospital their voicemail box is full and if you try and transfer to someone else who is taking calls the second person's voicmail box is full as well. It's almost impossible to get ahold of anyone in the administration.
Some policy such as "All phone calls should be answered within 4 rings, or the call picked up by someone else at least". prefer not having voicemail at all, because on the odd occasion that you are able to leave a message, it is very very rare for someone to call you back.

They have a complaint form on their website http://www.jflusvi.org/contact_us.php but I presume this is for medical complaints? I'm not sure.

Just a simple idea, that could improve their reputation, "to achieving excellent staff, patient and community satisfaction" as their moto says.

I think that complaint section is not for medical issues but rather personnel/patient service issues. This guy Nelson seem proactive and really into turning the hospital into a financially-sound institution. I think he welcomes the challenge and the work that comes with it. The problem is that he's up against a culture here that's very crony-based. Also, his strategy may really work only in continental US. Then there are the physicians/medical workers whose livelihoods are threatened by his business decisions. He is in a tough position.

One thing Jeff Nelson could do which could be quite simple, (but who knows) is make everyone in administration answer their phone!

About 90% of the time when you are trying to contact someone at the hospital their voicemail box is full and if you try and transfer to someone else who is taking calls the second person's voicmail box is full as well. It's almost impossible to get ahold of anyone in the administration.
Some policy such as "All phone calls should be answered within 4 rings, or the call picked up by someone else at least". prefer not having voicemail at all, because on the odd occasion that you are able to leave a message, it is very very rare for someone to call you back.

They have a complaint form on their website http://www.jflusvi.org/contact_us.php but I presume this is for medical complaints? I'm not sure.

Just a simple idea, that could improve their reputation, "to achieving excellent staff, patient and community satisfaction" as their moto says.

I think that complaint section is not for medical issues but rather personnel/patient service issues. This guy Nelson seem proactive and really into turning the hospital into a financially-sound institution. I think he welcomes the challenge and the work that comes with it. The problem is that he's up against a culture here that's very crony-based. Also, his strategy may really work only in continental US. Then there are the physicians/medical workers whose livelihoods are threatened by his business decisions. He is in a tough position.

Is any one taking bets on how long he lasts??? That was "joke" by the way. Newbies are always criticized because they bring "new ideas" and "fresh prospective".

A few years ago I heard that the doctors on St Thomas had tried to open a private hospital, but the project was stopped by the gov't. Can someone who has been on St Thomas for awhile give a bit of history? what happened and why was it stopped? Just be interesting to hear what happened there.

A few years ago I heard that the doctors on St Thomas had tried to open a private hospital, but the project was stopped by the gov't. Can someone who has been on St Thomas for awhile give a bit of history? what happened and why was it stopped? Just be interesting to hear what happened there.

I hear the same thing on STX, that there's a group fighting the possibility of a private hospital here, or fighting the privatization of the hospital, one or the other. And I heard it's because the government doesn't want to lose control of the healthcare industry, which it can't control effectively to be begin with.

honey: It wasn't a private hospital but an outpatient surgery center. I think some of them have done a work around on it, though. And it was the hospital CEO, Rodney Miller, who tried to stop it, with the help of the legislature.

I know a few doctors who tried to open a private surgical center on STX. They could not get licensed because the government does not want private hospitals who can choose their patients to compete with the public hospitals which are required to accept everyone. The private hospitals would probably provide better care and would steal away all of the paying customers from the public hospitals.

you know what? i can't take it any more!! is it me , but i feel the gov't has no DAMN BUSINESS, running hospitals or wapa at all!! these all need to be privately run enterprises,with a business model, and some good old usa business competion!!! our elected officials can't even run this tiny territory...thanks for listening to my rant!!NO SMILEY FACES on this post!! have a great night everone.

but i feel the gov't has no DAMN BUSINESS, running hospitals or wapa at all!!.

The gov't runs the public schools and there are private schools here as well. Should the gov't stop running the public schools too and all schools run privately? Just wondering.... Does the gov't feel the responsibility to help patients who don't have enough income?

. Does the gov't feel the responsibility to help patients who don't have enough income?

I don't believe that governments have feelings.

. The gov't runs the public schools and there are private schools here as well. Should the gov't stop running the public schools too and all schools run privately? Just wondering.... Does the gov't feel the responsibility to help patients who don't have enough income?

The government isn't trying to shutdown the private schools AFAIK, what they do in the medical realm though is different, the actively prevent competition with their public hospital via licensing. You might make an argument that this is correct (as Rotor mentioned, if they didn't do this they would likely lose many of the paying customers who subsidize those who do not), but it is hard to correlate what the government is doing in the medical arena (proactively preventing private hospitals) to what they do in the education arena (allow private schools to exist).

I don't believe that governments have feelings.

Awesome quote!

Sean

but i feel the gov't has no DAMN BUSINESS, running hospitals or wapa at all!!.

The gov't runs the public schools and there are private schools here as well. Should the gov't stop running the public schools too and all schools run privately? Just wondering.... Does the gov't feel the responsibility to help patients who don't have enough income?

there are public schools along with privately run hospitals in almost every state on the mainland. these are 2 very different entities and i don't see any connection between the 2. just my opinion

I don't think there is a connection between schools and hospitals.

Schools have two levels, one for the people who can afford to pay (private) and one for the people who can't (public).

If the gov't wants to do the same thing for the hospitals (two tiers, one for wealthy and one for the poor), then it is true the cross subsidising wouldn't occur.

I am curious why there is a government hospital here in the first place. Perhaps someone who knows the history of the VI knows how these gov't run hospital came into being?

honey: You might want to get a copy of Harold Willocks's book, "The Umbilical Cord", on the history of the VI. It may give you some insights into the way many Virgin Islanders view the relationship between man and government.

Many services, which are privately operated in the states, are government operated here.