Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913

My Heart Hurts

It’s been nearly two years since I left Valley View Home. Although I initially resigned my position, I was eventually terminated. Either way, I didn’t leave willingly.

I thought I had left all of the hurt and hard feelings behind. However, recent events have dredged those feelings back up – and more. My heart hurts, I’m angry, and I’m worried.

My heart hurts because in the past two years, many people that I respect and consider friends have been terminated or pushed to resign from positions that they had literally dedicated their lives to. With the departure of just six of those employees, Valley View Home and its residents lost 150-plus years of experience and knowledge. There have been countless other staff that have left the facility – one way or another – all in the name of money.

I’m angry because for more than two years, the board of directors tasked with ensuring the success of Valley View Home has done nothing to put a stop to the exodus of staff from the facility. I’m not pointing fingers at any individual board member. I do, however, feel that the entity as a whole has failed in this case by not being more involved and proactive. When Health Management Services (the for-profit company that is being paid nearly $200,000 a year to “turn the facility around”) began terminating hard-working, caring, knowledgeable staff just because they were being paid what they were worth, something should have been done.

To add insult to injury, the man in charge, Karl Rude, calls in to question the “professional standards” of employees that have left. Let me just point out that during the tenure of those referenced employees, Valley View Home was NEVER in jeopardy of closing its doors due to substandard care.

The staff that are being terminated are our friends, family members, neighbors and more. They have children, hobbies, pets, mortgages. We work beside them in the community. We expect them to patronize our establishments and support the local economy. We expect them to volunteer and be involved. At the very least, they deserve to be shown that their work ethic and loyalty actually meant something.

I’m worried because our community cannot afford to lose Valley View Home. No matter what people might think of nursing home care, having a facility like Valley View in our community is a blessing – at least it used to be. We need a facility that can provide care to the ones we love – quality care. Valley View Home began operating in 1969 and has been functioning for nearly 50 years. It’s horrifying that HMS has managed to nearly destroy it in less than two years.

 

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