Letters: Comment draws response from hospital employees
To the Editor:
In the May 16 Your Turn section, someone wrote a short statement supporting the possibility of the two Marion County hospitals merging. The basis for the support was that "small town hospitals pay poor salaries and are desperate to hire anyone who walks in the door
While there are several arguments to be made when considering the idea of a single hospital in Marion County, I would be very reluctant to use higher staff salaries and a more competent workforce to support the single hospital idea.
The idea that St. Luke is paying poorly is contrary to wage and salary data provided by the Kansas Hospital Association. We receive this data annually, and it is reviewed with our payroll to make sure that our compensation packages are competitive with other facilities.
Concerned that this may be a common perception within the staff, I asked a few staff members how they felt about their wages compared to what they could make in other facilities. The overwhelming majority stated that St. Luke has very good wages and benefits compared to other hospitals. Some staff members who work extra hours in other, much larger, towns stated that they are actually paid a higher wage at St. Luke.
It is not uncommon for employees in general to feel that they are underpaid. However, I was happy to hear the overall sense of satisfaction that St. Luke is paying a competitive wage to its staff.
Could a brand new hospital in Marion County result in higher wages for the staff? Possibly, but not based on the data and market that we have today. St. Luke wages are based on job description, geographic location, facility size, employee performance, and other market factors. The only factor that would change with having one, new hospital in the county would be the facility size. I would expect that the increase in facility size would only minimally impact the current wage scale of St. Luke jobs, simply because we compensate our employees very competitively compared to other larger hospitals.
I have to take special exception with the suggestion that we "hire anyone who walks in the door" because we need to in order to survive. I am not sure in what context that statement was made, but the members of the St. Luke staff are some of the most qualified and caring staff members that have ever treated my family.
The credentials and capabilities of the St. Luke staff are exceptional when compared to other facilities of similar size. I have worked in seven different hospitals with sizes ranging from 10 to 400+ beds, and I would put our patient care (our staff) at the top of the list. If you want to be cared for like you are family, St. Luke is the place for you.
I am not choosing sides in the debate over a single hospital for Marion County; rather, I am trying to clarify some misconceptions regarding the potential outcome of a joint hospital.
Jeremy Armstrong, CEO
St. Luke Hospital & Living Center
To the Editor:
I am writing in response to an entry in the Your Turn column. The entry that I am writing in response to stated, "Small town hospitals pay poor salaries and are desperate to hire anyone who walks in the door because health care workers are at a minimum." It is true that in certain locations there is a shortage of health care workers. We are fortunate that in Marion that is not true. It also is not true that small town hospitals pay poor salaries, at least not at St. Luke Hospital, specifically registered nurses. We have found both through formal surveys and through personal interviews, St. Luke pays a competitive wage, oftentimes more than larger hospitals. I personally have found this to be true.
Now in regard to the statement "Sometimes they settle for less than the best workers just to survive in a small town." I emphatically disagree!
I cannot speak for other departments at our small town hospital although I suspect there is a standard that is to be met by those who "walk in the door." In the department of nursing we are required to receive at least 30 continuing education hours to renew our nursing licenses every two years.
In addition to that, most of the nurses at this small town hospital have received further certifications in areas such as ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), TNCC (Trauma Nursing Core Course), PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support), ENPC (Emergency Nursing Pediatric Course), as well as continuing education in areas of cardiac, burns, and pain management, to name a few. We continually strive to improve.
Perhaps the goal of the entry to which I am referring was not to shed a negative light on the employees specifically of a small town hospital, but rather to make a positive point regarding merging with Hillsboro.
However, having a small town hospital is imperative whether it be for a loved one who is experiencing chest pain or for a small child with a fever in the middle of the night. Our small town needs to be in support of the hospital we currently have and continue to seek care here.
Stacey Pedersen, RN
Marion
EDITOR'S NOTE: Well said. Pedersen's letter conveys an important message — St. Luke Hospital is dedicated to providing quality health care and we need to support it.
To The Editor:
I read with interest and a small amount of sorrow the piece in Your Turn concerning the person's comment about the possibility of the two county hospitals merging.
I won't speak of the merger, but I would like to respond to the comment about the quality of people that St. Luke Hospital is "forced to employee" because we are small and according to the person who wrote the article, we are desperate to hire anyone that "walks in the door."
I will not attempt to speak for every department or individual that works at St. Luke but I can tell the person who wrote the article that the hospital is fully staffed by some of the most talented, educated, and caring people I have ever had the pleasure of working with.
I chose to come to work at St. Luke primarily because my wife and I liked the town, we have family close by, and I felt that I could contribute to the quality of care that has always been a tradition at St. Luke Hospital.
In my 25 years of working as a radiologic technologist and as a radiology administrator there is not one aspect or area of diagnostic or therapeutic radiology that I have not been involved with. I have worked at a 250-bed hospital, a 50-bed hospital, and now at St. Luke and I speak from experience when I say that the level of care and caring you will receive at St. Luke is at or above what you will ever receive in the larger hospitals primarily because of the experience and dedication of the people who work here.
As for wages, when I started here I actually received an increase over what I was making at the 250-bed hospital, who by the way, just happened to be desperate to hire anyone who walked in off the street.
Joe Pickett
Radiology Manager
Compliance Officer
St. Luke Hospital
and Living Center
Marion County Home Care
