Let's Be Clear On The Wound Care Team

Last Fall, Northampton County Council did contract Premiere to manage and administrate Gracedale, however, it created the Gracedale Advisory Board to advise on operations - not to oversee operations. Furthermore, GAB was not created in the fall as is implied on BO's blog...but earlier this spring, and they did not have their first organizational meeting until just this past June. The topic of the Wound Care Team was brought up, but...it was kind of dismissed with a wait-and-see conclusion due to their not-organized status.

Now, we're not being critical of GAB, after all, they had just formed and are in the process of establishing themselves before really taking the bull by the horns. We get that...but the impression presented that GAB had not had an opportunity to discuss the matter is inaccurate.

Unlike BO, we did not see a divided council - we witnessed County Council at it's very best in years. Lamont McClure introduced the resolution that We The People had asked for. And Council in a very civil manner discussed all opinions and concluded by a 5-3 vote that keeping the WCT in place was the right thing to do.

No one was hostile...no one called anyone one names...and John Stoffa did not get his way.

And what BO failed to mention in his slanted piece was that it would probably have been 7-1 if Mr. Cusick and Mr. Dietrick were not so concerned about the issue going before GAB again for their recommendation. Neither indicated that they wanted to see the WCT disbanded...in fact, the opposite appeared true.

BO goes on to say "Gracedale does have a lower number of residents with bed sores than you'll find in most nursing homes, and most staffers are convinced that this is the result of the efforts of a specialized wound care team at the facility." Most staffers? We love you Bernie, but...come on - everyone in health care, and in the county, and country for that matter, understands just how vital a WCT is. With two exceptions of course - you and John.

Bruce Gilbert expressed his own slanted concerns about micromanaging, but Ken Kraft nipped it in the butt quickly saying: "That's our job, to micromanage the manager." In our opinion - Bruce needs to conceal his strings just a little bit better. It was quite apparent that he was siding with John Stoffa as he normally does, just for the sake of doing so. You see, it really does not matter what garbage John is selling, Bruce is always buying.

McClure reproved the idea that Council was micromanaging, instead he presented the viewpoint that it was Councils duty to manage the managers they place in management positions. And We The People agree with that position. And then McClure asked the pincipal question "Why would we ever stop doing the things we do well?" BO writes that "the pro-Gracedale crowd broke into applause." Well, in our opinion, it was not just the pro-Gracedale crowd, but, all the reasonable people in the crowd who understood and agreed with the response.

With regard to Premier's failure to be present to explain their position on this matter - as we stated in an earlier post, We The People believe that they too are being set up for failure by the County Executive John Stoffa. Remember, Premier falls directly under his control. And if BO really senses that Premier made two very big mistakes, he should also sense that County Executive John Stoffa made one catastrophic mistake - he turned his back on We The People. And for that...he should be concerned!

The resolution to keep the Wound Care Team in place was supported by:
Lamont McClure, Scott Parsons, Peg Ferraro, Ken Kraft and Bob Werner.
Nay Sayer's were:
John Cusick,Tom Dietrich, Bruce Gilbert.
Barbara Thierry was MIA.