Comment Archives: Stories: Last 7 Days
Re: “Appalling testimony”
Mr Moe does not understand that Hospice is for PALITIVE care. If he wanted more than that he should have withdrawn his mom from their care. As for not receiving tube feeding. That should have been addressed with the doctor. The nurses and rest home cannot give or withhold treatment unless ordered to do so by a doctor. I am very sorry for your loss. But I fear you didn't understand the concept of hospice. We had my sister-in-law ,stepfather, mother, and brother . All in hospice during their last days from cancer. We were aware that only comfort measures, or PALITIVE care is offered. It is a end of life service. And a person can withdraw at any time if not satisfied.
I was very happy with the care my loved ones received, My mother and brother, (and his first wife) died at home, It was hospice that allowed this, Without their help, they would have died in either a hospital, or a rest home. I am sure that many people are able to care for their loved ones at home only with the help of hospice. But in the end, it is the doctor that decides what medications, treatments and tests and such that hospice nurses give.
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
@ Steve Johnson: Thanks for clearing up that you were not the person who posted as John Stevens, again, I just found it "odd". You stated that you have the highest regards for PHC employees, yet you have allowed many of us to be treated this way, knowing exactly what was going on! Where were your full regards one year and two weeks ago when I was served a letter by PDQ asking me not to return to work after having complained about sexual harrassment? That's ok, no need to respond, your actions speak loud enough! I was a dedicated employee who allowed myself to be subjected to this poor treatment because I had co-workers, patients and my family that counted on me to be there every day. I absoluetly loved my job and had never had a complaint about my performance before I was pushed out. I too don't believe in being true to who I am, I don't pretend to be someone I'm not and I 'm proud to display my name here for all to see! It's the least I can do for all of the other people that are still being treated poorly. I would be more than happy to share all of the knowledge as well as the documentation I have kept to help solidify this case. Good luck to you Mr.Steve Johnson COO. I hope that you and anyone else who has allowed this to continue will stand up now and support those dedicated employees you hold in such high regards!
Re: “New questions”
Better than the usual anti-gun rant one would expect in the Independent, but Ms. Mair tries a little too hard to put herself above the gun debate. Well, I don't understand how any reasonable person could ask gun owners to not respond to the rants of anti-gun radicals, although I for one would ask why so many of these shooters were on psychotropic drugs, when clearly, in hindsight, they should have been institutionalized for their own good and the good of society.
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
Well Mr. Johnson, COO of Missoula county guess you have a lot of explaining to do about what has been going on and what has been covered up by HR, PHC board of directors, Masch, Delgadillo, and Nealon as well as many others that are under higher supervision such as yourself. Makes me wonder how far up the food chain does the corruption and blatant disregard of peoples bad actions, bad attitudes, and bad behavior goes? Maybe something that all tax payers should be asking
Re: “Counsel cuts”
Way to go John. We need more people who care.
Re: “Schweitzer”
Forget about the Senate! Schweitzer for President!
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
In response to the previous post, this is to let you know that I am not "JohnSteven." First, I have the highest regard for Partnership Health Center employees, at all levels of the organization, and I certainly do not agree with the sentiments expressed by "JohnSteven." Second, even if I did agree with those sentiments, I would not post anonymously about such a matter. That would be cowardly and unprofessional, and it's not my style. Finally, if I was going to post anonymously, I think I would be smart enough not to choose an "anonymous" name that was so similar to my real name. Thank you for the opportunity to clarify this matter. Sincerely, Steve Johnson Chief Operating Officer Missoula County 200 W. Broadway (406) 258-3293
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
As a former PHC employee and a person who seriously considered filing suit against them as well, I too can attest to the mistreatment of employees by Kim Mansch. I was never out to gain financially by standing up for what I believed in, I only wanted to be heard, and have things change for the remaining co-workers, friends and patients that I had come to call my second family whom I left behind when I was forced to leave. The accusations on this page are only the tip of the ice-burg in what I believe to be a huge cover up scheme made possible by many management members, board members, HR (Patty Baumgartner ), the Union and probably many others that I am forgetting. This is in no way exaggerated, the situation at PHC is frightening. The power that Kim Mansch has is indescribable. The only way to keep your job and be able to perform your responsibilities without fear of losing your job is to conform to what Kim wants you to be, which in most cases is weak and easily manipulated. I am not either of those things, therefore I do not work for PHC anymore. Once you stand up for yourself, the patients and what's right you have a target on your back and it's not long after that. I hope at the very least this opens eyes to what truly goes on behind those doors and somebody does some investigation. You know what they say about Karma......well I just hope I'm around to see Kim get what's been coming to her! Oh and another thing.....may just be coincidence, however, I find it interesting that the head of the HR Dept for PHC's name is Steve Johnson.....and the one person who doesn't agree with the people who have ACTUALLY been mistreated is named John Steven...something to ponder.
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
I must disagree, Mr. Steven, this is not simply a case of "over-entitlement." These employees work long hours for comparatively low wages. They are not "held at gunpoint" but bound to a mission to serve the undeserved.
Furthermore, I wasn’t raised to ‘quit’ and thus, respect these courageous few who have risked their livelihood and reputation to oust this tyrannical leadership. They live in fear every day at work and perhaps litigation is their last and only hope. If you asked the plaintiffs’ to choose between a fat settlement and a peaceful, productive workplace, all six would choose the latter. Additionally, a county entity cannot be sued for punitive damages, thus financially, the risks far outweigh their potential gains.
As a patient of Partnership Health, I have witnessed a colossal rate of employee turnover. In the past 18 months, nearly 60 out of 120 employees have left or been let go. This dismal figure is symptomatic of a much deeper scourge.
From the comments below, this rabbit hole is deep and tortuous. It’s high time to take a leap inside.
Re: “Flash in the Pan”
Two thumbs down to Ari LeVaux and The Independent. There are a number of arguments made for horse slaughter in this editorial, none of which I agree with, what irritates me the most though is that it's being said that these horses have "few natural predators to worry about". Maybe we should scale back on killing the wolves and other carnivores that live in the same ranges with the horses if we're having issues with overpopulation? And lastly, I would say that horses are not the same animals as cows, chickens or pigs, they are more intelligent which is why humans use them as working partners or keep them as pets. Many, many people have a serious ethical revulsion to horse slaughter, although maybe it's time that we all became a little repulsed with the lack of dignity and respect shown to the animals we eat on a daily basis.
Re: “Flash in the Pan”
check out how many horses are being held in pens by the BLM after the roundups
attempts at sterilisation have not been very successful is it humane to keep these "wild horses in pens"? and the slaughterhouses do need to be regulated but since there is a stigma around the subject the only people willing to operate them are unsavory types
i see lots of complaints but no real solutions to the problems the system is facing and those problems are getting worse since the economic downturn and the price of feed many people that owned horses are having trouble feeding them
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
@ JohnSteven: As a matter of fact I did quit my job, which was a great financial hardship for me and my family. As tough as the Missoula job market is, many PHC employees quit rather than put up with constant harassment. The pattern of abuse and mistreatment at this institution was and is still far too pervasive to blame the victims in this case. It is absolutely the most dysfunctional place I have ever seen in my 20-year career in healthcare. Employees who did their best to take care of sick people were not acting entitled when they asked to be treated with respect. It takes courage to stand up and publicly say that the way PHC is run is totally unacceptable. We should in no way feel ashamed to be taking that stand.
Re: “Flash in the Pan”
Over-breeding and irresponsible owners are what have put horses in their current situation. We need breed organizations and humane societies to call for a moratorium on breeding. Any backyard yokel can breed horses (or more dogs, cats or humans)....and frequently do. Ari LeVaux apparently only cares about filling his belly, then writing proudly about his opinions. Anyone who has or worked with a horse knows that they are trusting and devoted. There is no humane way to slaughter a horse. Period. Slaughterhouses are an environmental nightmare, besides. Wild horse populations have as much or more right to grazing land as cattle and sheep, and their numbers can be controlled with sterilization techniques and adoption. Horses (and dogs, cats and humans) are not "disposable", despite the practices of uncaring and ignorant humans. They deserve better. And we humans deserve better that to read LeVaux's column.
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
Partnership Health Center is a federally funded community health center. This means your tax money goes to help support its mission. Partnership sees over 1,000 patients per year. These are patients who are underinsured or who have no insurance and would otherwise go without healthcare or end up in our emergency rooms. They also compete for funding, which means doctors and nurses are expected to see 30+ complicated patients each day. It is a very demanding job, thus is difficult to find high quality people to do the job. Most of the professionals there are working there because they are passionate about the mission. Many of the staff there rely on the job to support their family and if they didn’t have the job would be one more of missoula’s uninsured population. You are correct, Steve, nobody is holding a gun to anyone’s head to work there. However, when someone wants to work to help serve the most vulnerable patients in the community they should be treated with utmost respect. When they are not, there is stress and high turn-over, which means incontinuity of care and low quality care. Comments like Steves are what the employees hear from administration, HR and the board over and over and it isn’t right. Mansch is correct in saying the staff work really really hard. What she didn’t say is they are unappreciated and when they can’t keep up with high volume phone calls they are belittled and threatened. Patients who are sick now and need to speak with a doctor have to wait weeks which often puts them in the hospital. Partnership is booked solid until July so new patients can’t get in, patients don’t get their questions answered, their medications on time, or the high quality care they deserve. This is not the fault of Kim’s hard working staff. It is the fault of administration. As a tax payer you should care about what happens. Abused staff know they have to take the abuse because there is no one who cares. Ask Patty Baumgartner from HR how many grievances were filed and shoved under the desk. Ask Tom Todd, the board director, how many professionals who serve patients at partnership have come to the board with these concerns. Thank you Adam, for braving the evil that prevails there. Thank you to the writer of this article. You give us hope that maybe someone will care about the employees and patients at partnership health center. Please consider putting this article in print
Re: “Flash in the Pan”
And now it reappeared??? What is going on with your comment line?
Re: “Flash in the Pan”
Odd! I posted a strong disagreement with your article. It was accepted and then promptly disappeared. Is that how it goes in Missoula?
Re: “Flash in the Pan”
Cattle and sheep ranchers, the BLM and their sympathizers are co-ordinating their talking points and going public. Last week a rancher stated on the Today show that the best solution for the penned up Wild Horses and Burros is to,”Let ‘em go to slaughterhouses”. Then he added, “What good are they now?"
Joan Guilfoyle, BLM head, tried to downplay the cruel and brutal footage of BLM roundups shown on that Today show and reiterated the BLM talking points that horse populations are basically uncontrollable. The BLM works closely with the powerful ranchers and maintains that the WH&Bs are responsible for the overgrazing of lands which are occupied by guest cattle and guest sheep grazing with permission in a ten to one ratio with the wild horses who are designated by law to occupy these lands.
When grazing in equal numbers, sheep, and cattle to a lesser degree, are responsible for over grazing land because they pull the grass out of the ground by the roots whereas a horse cuts or mows the grass. Oddly, the measurement of grazing used by the BLM is referred to as an Aum which equals the grazing of one cow and a calf to one horse but does not include a foal. Having been raised on a dairy farm in Minnesota it was common opinion that cattle overgraze a pasture faster than an equal number of horses.
Tom Gorey,” BLM spokesman, and advocate for the anti-wild horse ranchers, recently said, “The options are limited because we’re not going to put down healthy horses for which there is no adoption demand, even though the law authorizes it.” However, the law does not authorize that WH&Bs can be “put down”. What the law does mandate is minimal interference, free roaming, a natural lifestyle, and a thriving natural ecological balance on land principally devoted to WH&Bs.
Today's article in the Missoula Independent was rife with misinformation and anti-wild horse rhetoric. They declared that wild horses are actually an invasive feral species brought here from Europe. The truth is that wild horses have been in North America for 58 million years according to Craig Downer in “The Wild Horse Conspiracy” available at www.amazon.com/dp/B009XJ64P4
The Missoula article was very pro-slaughter of the WH&Bs who are the historical wild legacy that belongs to all of us Americans. They refer to the "clean" horse meat from wild horses that might find a market in spite of the horse meat scandal throughout the world. In doing so they reveal that the only interest of the anti-wild horse/pro-slaughter elements in the Ranchers/BLM is in money, profit, and motivated by greed. The article referred to the WH&Bs as an "ecological nuisance". They insinuate that the only horses sent to slaughter are used up, old, unwanted, and neglected. This, of course, is not true. Forty percent of horses slaughtered come from over breeders and are under the age of ten in good health, but rejected by those who care more about a few bucks from the killer than the horse.
Madeleine Pickens reacted to a recent article posted by the Star Telegram which depicts how the Wild Horse and Burro Program needs to be reformed and many mustangs are displaced saying, “We have offered a solution to this very problem. When I started this journey I reached out to the BLM and offered to buy enough land to take the then 30,000 wild horses out of federal holding facilities and provide long-term care back on the range. It’s 5 years later, and we don’t have a single horse from the BLM. We sit here waiting while there are homeless horses heading to auctions and the rest spending the remainder of their lives in federal holding facilities. Something needs to change now. We hope the appointment of the New Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, will get things going in the right direction.”
Polls indicate that over 80% of Americans oppose horse slaughter. Hopefully Secretary Jewell will represent the public.
The true motivation of these anti-wild horse, pro-slaughter fanatics is finally coming out of the shadows and rearing its ugly public head. Cruelty, brutality, hatred, greed, dissemblance, love of killing, and love of profit are the traits of these despicable criminals who care only about money while desecrating the spiritual wonders of the horse and those of us who love them.
Take action against these hypocrites by going below and VOTING IN SUPPORT OF THESE BILLS, SHARE, and then, CALL YOUR SENATORS and REPRESENTATIVE and ask them to co-sponsor S 541 and HR 1094
HOUSE VERSION
https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr1094
SENATE VERSION
https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/s541
Re: “Staffers at Partnership Health Center in Missoula allege harassment, wrongful discharge”
Mr. JohnSteven, these six courageous individuals did not in fact start this freedom-of-speech blog. Lawsuits are public record and therefore subject to public disclosure. In regards to your assertion that a person should just quit their job, why should any person have to quit their job because they are being treated unjust. It appears by your post and opinion, that you have either been fortunate to have a wonderful job, where you were treated as a human being, or your work history is riddled with job after job. The legal system was founded on the principle of justice....these people are asking for just that. Glad you are not the judge!
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Re: “Circus act”
There are so many ways humans mistreat animals it is hard to decide where to start in fighting for better laws to protect them.
I have been made aware of many states passing laws to make documenting animal abuse against the law. In California, the law calls it TERRORISM to take pictures of industry abuse of animals, like puppy mills, or meat producers, such as the chicken ,pig or cattle industry, who confine animals in pens where they can not even turn around, Or egg producers, where chickens spend their lives packed in little cages. Or slaughter houses that use cruel methods on "downers" that cannot stand long enough to be killed properly.
Many pictures have been posted on Facebook lately of the treatment on "factory" farms . The abuse these animals endure for their short life, Is sickening. And the industry is being pressured to stop such cruelty. Their answer is to make it illegal to document the continuing abuse. The treatment of living, feeling, creatures. as if they were machines, kept and fed, in the smallest possible space, It increases the profit margins for the company. The feelings of the animal is of no concern to them. And they are fighting to prevent the public from seeing just how inhumane it really is.
I only hope we open our eyes and see some of the more pervasive cruel treatment done to millions of animals who are raised to die for our food. And work for their humane treatment. And not allow laws to be passed to protect the industry that treats animals as crops with out feelings.