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NEWS: GMH Doctors and Nurses voice concern about senators leaking confidential GMH report. Accreditation is the symptom, funding is still the solution.
“The primary issue is that the unfunded mandate to GMH is about $30M-$40M annually for decades. Our political leaders have failed to provide the dedicated funding source required to improve patient care and patient outcomes.” – Dr. Vince Duenas
February 3, 2018
(Hagåtña) – Yesterday, GMH doctors, nurses and employees poured into the GMH conference room late afternoon to discuss accreditation information that was released under strict confidence to both Senator Dennis Rodriguez and Speaker Benjamin Cruz. Within hours after releasing the report to these senators, the information was leaked to the media, breaking confidentiality and trust.
GMH Medical Director Dr. Vince Duenas said, “The confidentiality of the Joint Commission Peer Review on Guam and our hospital was broken by some people, exposing it to the public. The breakdown in integrity by these people has a chilling effect on our medical staff. We are very concerned now that our medical staff peer review process may also be compromised by political leaders through public disclosure,” said Dr. Vince Duenas said.
The leaked report has exposed the people of Guam’s hospital to potential lawsuits.
A group of GMH doctors and nurses, frustrated by the release of confidential accreditation information by trusted leaders, defended the employees at GMH, took ownership for any shortcomings on their part and said they were working to fix these issues; but then asked senators to not distract from the real issue and to take ownership on their responsibility – fully funding GMH with a dedicated funding source and the ability to modernize.
“Funding GMH is the primary role of the Legislature and for 40 years now, the hospital has lost money. The shortage of medication, supplies, staffing, technology and perhaps the loss of accreditation are symptoms of poor financial posture and health,” Dr. Duenas said.
In a statement to local media yesterday with Senator Dennis Rodriguez present, Speaker BJ Cruz referred to GMH employees with the following statement, “It’s like having a drug-addict sibling and Mom keeps saying, “support them,’ and then you find out they’re still doing drugs.”
The Doctors and Nurses defended the hundreds of hardworking employees at GMH against statements made by the senators.
Assistant Administrator of Nursing Zennia Pecina said, “When something goes out saying that staff isn’t monitoring patients, it sends out the wrong message to the public. For one, we know that the staff are monitoring patients, they’re monitoring them hourly because it’s documented manually. I want to make it clear that we do monitor patients hourly.”
When doctors and nurses were asked what their message was to senators for breaking confidentiality and politicizing the issue, GMH Intensive Care Unit Director Dr. Joleen Aguon responded, “The main thing is the underfunded mandate to GMH for decades. That is YOUR responsibility. You’re taking the negative, and you’re using it against us, and that hurts. We need money and that’s the bottom line. You don’t work in this hospital.”
The solution for future accreditations and fully funding GMH for the people of Guam is now in the Legislature’s hands. The issue is funding.
### To view the interview in it’s entirety, log into Governor Eddie Calvo’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/eddiebazacalvo/?hc_ref=ARTdhZFrzFf4ixeYL4sShbe6bqGS0doyBfMKZ-h3LkifpntVQkDwwL380LfUJ8CiK5U |
