Hospital employees delay resignations

Robbie Robertson/Publisher
The Newton Record

NEWTON August 22, 2008 06:33 pm

— A majority of Newton Regional Hospital employees that had set a 4 p.m. dealine on Friday to submit resignations backed down at the request of the board, the employees said Friday afternoon.
As the 4 p.m. deadline approached, the employees talked with the board via cell phone. At the 4 p.m. deadline, the group entered into closed-door meeting where they agreed to postpone their resignations.
"We are postponing our resignations per the board's request to give them time to resolve the problems and out of love for the hospital and the community," the group said in a statement to the media. "We are acting in good faith on the promise of the board of a resolution in the near future. However, if a solution is not reached soon, we will submit our resignations."
The group initially set a deadline of Thursday in a letter signed by 66 employees at the facility. After further discussion, the group agreed to make the deadline 4 p.m. on Friday.
The group presented the board with a list of complaints on a Sunday afternoon meeting at the Newton Depot but at the heart of most concerns was unpaid bills to vendors which was leaving the hospital short of necessary supplies. After a Sunday meeting with the hospital board, the group of employees had hoped that something would be done with current leaseholder Paulette Butler.
The hospital board met Tuesday with Butler and administrator Bobby Welbourn and came away from the meeting with a promise from Butler that she would clean up the problems.
The board met again on Thursday with long-time physician Dr. Sohaib Arain but again came to no conclusion to the matter, forcing the employees to live up to a promise they set forth in a letter to the board at the Sunday meeting. In the letter, signed by 66 hospital employees, the group said they would walk out if an amicable solution was not found.