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Dueling emails Letter to the editor triggers comeback with tentative time frame By Kathleen De Korne Mezoff MD pediatrician at RMCHCS (1980-2014) retired
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MCH, ou r v it a l healthcare resource, appears to be sliding into failure, and many hearts are breaking, including my own. My connections with RMCH run deep. My grandfather, Rev. John C. De Korne, was on the Home Mission Board of the Christian Reformed Church to establish the mission at Rehoboth in 1903. Through my family’s close friendship with Dr. Marvin Vanden Bosch, I volunteered as a nurses’ aide at the old Rehoboth Mission Hospital in 1965 and 1966,
out of college. My husband and I externed at the Mission Hospital for 3 months in 1971, then returned in 1980 as pediatrician and ophthalmologist for our whole careers. In the love and dedication of countless people through the years, I saw the foundation of service and caring that has been built, on which RMCH will continue to grow and thrive, in spite of its current difficulties. In 2020, the COVID-19 crisis and a special state audit showing weak fi nancial controls led to the termination of prior CEO David Conejo. A contract was signed with the Community Hospital Corporation and Don Smithburg as Interim-CEO of RMCHCS, with hopes of getting back on track to thrive.
Letter continues on page 18
However, now more than a year later, continued mismanagement by Mr. Smithburg and his Board, all of whom lack a deep institutional understanding of RMCH and its culture, has led to the loss of multiple long-term and devoted staff members. Alarming management decisions have been made with no coordination or input from long-term clinical leadership. A culture of fear and intimidation has led to multiple employees being afraid to speak up for fear of aggressive retaliation. Staff reductions and resignations have resulted in alarming patient safety issues and understaffi ng of busy clinical services. Lack of value placed on the local relationships of
experienced staff (such as labor and delivery nurses and providers, for example) has led to their reluctant resignations, and CHC has relied on expensive temporary staff from elsewhere. RMCH has a long history of unique strengths that have sustained it through its ups and downs for over 100 years. It has always been part of a deeply-engaged community that understands that this community cannot thrive without quality, caring healthcare. Importantly, the roots of RMCH go back to two faith-based origins: 1) The Home Mission b o a r d of t h e C h r i s t i a n Reformed Church in Michigan; Rehoboth Mission Hospital was
established in 1910. 2) The mission efforts of the Catholic sisters of St. Francis, which eventually moved to the new McKinley General Hospital in 1969, and then merged with Rehoboth Christian Hospital in 1984. RMCH is led fi rst of all by a mission of service, knowing all of life as a sacred gift, and having a purpose of being a channel for the love of the Creator-Source for the healing of society. Prior to the pandemic, RMCH had a strong core of long-term nursing and physician staff who actively participated in previous RMCH administrations. In the last two years, RMCH started a Family Medicine Residency,
Responses on page 12