Fresh Loaf

It was reported last week that outgoing Grady CEO Pamela Stephenson does not have all of the university degrees she apparently claims.

“Ms. Stephenson earned her PH.D at the University of Michigan … and a Law degree, also at the University of Michigan.”

-From a July 9 hospital press release titled “Pamela Stephenson is Good for Grady.”

“In a statement Friday, she apologized and blamed a “word processing error” for a hospital news release last week that claimed she had a doctor of philosophy and a law degree from the University of Michigan. She does not.”

-From a July 19 AJC story about Stephenson’s resumé.

“Memo To Grady Board: When Rep Stephenson shows up to claim her 2 year, $1.2 Million paycheck, laugh and tell her, “Oh yeah, that. Well, that was just a word processing error.”

-Blogger Icarus at Peach Pundit on July 18. Stephenson will exit Grady’s top spot on September 1 with a $325,000 severance deal.

Bookmark It

TEACHING TO THE TESTAMENT: Bible-as-literature classes clear legal hurdles in Tennessee and Georgia.

FLOCK ENROLL: Atlanta is the No. 1 major metropolitan area in the nation for college enrollment growth over the last 17 years and No. 2 in number of degrees awarded.

OVERRIDE: City Council takes Mayor Franklin down a notch by overriding three of her recent vetoes.

TESLER TRIAL: Jury deadlocked.

LANIER: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers takes heavy fire for its water-releasin’ ways at the Lake Lanier Association’s annual meeting Monday; the association is so fed up it’s funding its own scientific study on how much water the downstream mussels need to live.

GRADY CURVE: Grady Health System is officially taken over by Grady Memorial Hospital Corp. today, and also receives the first $50 million installment of the $200 million the Robert M. Woodruff Foundation pledged.

FOOT (AND MOUTH) IN THE DOOR: The U.S. farm bill includes a provision allowing the incurable foot-and-mouth disease to be studied in a mainland U.S. facility, clearing the way for the National Bio- and Agro-defense Facility, for which Athens is one of six candidates.

COMING TO BLOWS: Sustained wind gusts of 20 to 30 mph expected today.

Bookmark It

A surprise tragedy of the recent General Assembly – one of many such tragedies, we should note – was the failure of the trauma care network funding bill in the waning hours of the session on Friday night. Insiders tell us that, despite his public support for the network, most of the blame can be laid at the feet of the Speaker.

The loss of the bill is especially grievous when you consider that Grady Hospital’s future hangs in the balance. The Grady board was prompted to hand over much of its power to a new governing body on the promise that the ailing hospital would receive support from a state-funded trauma network. Grady held up its end of the bargain, but the state welshed on the deal.

In fairness, the state will provide a $58 million cash infusion to the network from the supplemental budget. But that’s a one-time hand-out. Without a permanent revenue source, the network is going to have trouble attracting a decent director and staff.

In previous years, lawmakers had looked at a rental car surcharge, a cell phone tax and, this year, a $10 fee on car registrations as possible funding sources. But, late in the session, somebody hatched the brilliant idea of using revenue from the state’s .25-mill property tax to pay for the trauma network. Gov. Sonny Perdue made waves at the start of the session by calling for the repeal of the state property tax, but by late last week, it was apparent that the Governor’s proposal was a no-go.

Supposedly, the property tax would’ve generated about $95 million a year to help support trauma care in Georgia – more than any of the other proposed funding schemes. The House/Senate conference committee that dealt with the trauma care bill had a few more details to negotiate before settling on a final version of the bill, but members say everyone was on board with the revenue idea.

When the Senate conferees showed the bill to Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, we’re told he praised it as one of the more significant achievements of the session. On the House side, however, Speaker Glenn Richardson stomped that sucker flat, telling his folks to end negotiations.

Now, why would the Speaker have done such a thing – especially since he was one of the biggest promoters of a state trauma network? His office didn’t return my calls. But he had threatened repeatedly from the well throughout the last day to stifle other legislation unless he saw movement on his tax bill.

As one lawmaker explained it: “The conventional wisdom at the Capitol was that Richardson held everything up because his tax bill didn’t pass the Senate.”

What’s the cost of failing to establish a trauma network? Well, look at it this way: The fatality rate from traumatic injury is 10 percent higher in Georgia than the national average. That comes down to about 700 deaths a year that could have been prevented with adequate trauma care.

Until the trauma network is fully funded, that’s a high price to pay to satisfy one man’s ego.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

Bookmark It

RON SAILOR JR.: State rep. pleads guilty to federal money laundering charges, is expected to resign today.

FLORIDA: Abandons mail-in Democratic primary do-over, considers allowing residents to shuffleboard in their votes.

TROY DAVIS: Retrial denied by state Supreme Court, despite seven of nine witnesses recanting their testimony that helped convict him of murder.

CHAMBLEE SIX: Half-dozen Chinese immigrants trap and subdue international fugitive in their home.

AIRLINE FRACTURE: Seniority negotiations between Delta and Northwest pilots break down.

GRADY: New nonprofit board meets for the first time, picks leaders.

OUT THE WINDOW: Replacing tornado-shattered glass from downtown’s skyscrapers will cost millions and could take months due to pre-existing construction projects and scarce manpower.

CLAYTON: Residents pray for help following Saturday’s vote by the National Accreditation Commission board to revoke the school system’s accreditation.

UNORTHODOX CHURCH’S: Atlanta-based Church’s Chicken chain expanding in Russia, calls itself “Texas Chicken.”

Bookmark It

GRADY COALITION RALLY DEC. 26: State Sen. Vincent Fort vows not to uncross his arms if Grady Hospital is privatized.

Last Thursday, about 15 people rallied outside Grady Hospital’s main entrance to protest the hospital board’s decision to turn the longtime public hospital into a private, nonprofit enterprise. State Sen. Vincent Fort said privatizing the hospital would threaten dialysis and prescription-drug access for poor people, as well as the job security of the hospital’s unionized employees. Protestor Addis Bay Ababa was more blunt. He called Gov. Sonny Perdue and state legislators racist for spending $19 million to fund government-operated recreational-fishing facilities while withholding money from a government-operated hospital that treats poor, black people in Atlanta.

Bookmark It

Reverend Joe Beasley twice calls Senator David Shafer a “race man” and accuses him of trying to get the City of Atlanta abolished when Maynard Jackson was elected Mayor (in the early 1970s when Shafer would have been in elemetary [sic] school). You can hear it here.

— Erick at Peach Pundit, on WABE-FM (90.1) series “Saving Grady” about Grady Hospital.

Note, Beasley doesn’t explicitly accuse Shafer of trying to abolish Atlanta. Instead, he seems to conflate Shafer with state legislators of the early 1970s.

Whether he’s actually accusing Shafer of being the Doogie Howser of legislative racism is beside the point. Beasley is clearly trying to short-circuit a serious discussion about Shafer’s legislation by calling him a racist.

Incidentally, Beasley also calls Maynard Jackson “the first mayor of the city of Atlanta.”

—–

Hey, it’s raining outside

— Mel at Blog For Democracy helpfully notes that it’s raining outside — as opposed to inside. Thanks, Sonny.

—–

I suppose some Democrats are going to say, “Clinton managed to balance the budget and create a surplus.” Clinton deserves some credit, but the Republican controlled Congress deserves just as much recognition for their part, like I said above…Congress holds the purse.

— Jason Pye accuses AJC columnist Jay Bookman of intellectual dishonesty for saying Democrats are more fiscally conservative than Republicans.

In the same post, Pye praises President Reagan for cutting federal spending, never mentioning that Democrats controlled the House of Representatives during Reagan’s two terms.

Either they “hold the purse” or they don’t.

Bookmark It

If Nancy Pelosi proposed we get rid of all state taxes and have the US House of Representatives decide how much of that revenue the state of Georgia got we would be up in arms. This nation was built on the premise of the government that is closest to the people works the best. We can point to plenty of examples where centralization has reduced local control (US Dept. of Education), why do we want to do that here in Georgia?

— Chris Farris at Peach Pundit, arguing against state Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson’s tax proposal. CL’s Scott Henry wrote about the speaker’s plan last month.

—–

I live on one of the two lakes that are important indicators for the water supply. Folks, “we ain’t got no water up here”.

— Stevie at Metroblogging Atlanta on the metro area’s dwindling water supply. CL’s John Sugg addresses the problem at length in his current column.

—–

This is not the state being paternalistic, overbearing or unreasonable. It is simply good stewardship. The ball is now in Grady’s court to show otherwise.

— GriftDrift digs into the Grady mess.

I went to Grady’s emergency ward for the first time on Saturday evening to visit a friend who’d been in a car accident. I didn’t realize you have to go through metal detectors to get into the emergency room. I appreciate and understand why, but it’s still pretty depressing to ponder.

Bookmark It

Just a thought:

(From the front of AJC.com)

Bookmark It

Grady Memorial Hospital is sick.

The state’s largest public hospital, its biggest resource for indigent care, its most sophisticated trauma center, its only poison center and its most significant physician-training facility faces a major budget shortfall. Some say Grady could be shuttered by year’s end.

On Monday, nearly 200 people showed up at a Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority board meeting about Grady, which, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, was far more crowded — and emotionally charged — than anticipated. The attendees demanded that a full public dialog about the embattled hospital take place. Soon.

According to the Business Chronicle’s account of the meeting:

Several times, Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority Chairwoman Pam Stephenson was forced to defend her board’s actions over the past several months. She pledged a round of public hearings about Grady’s future would begin in coming weeks.

Amid criticism the board had excluded the public, Stephenson said, “we are not that arrogant and not that inconsiderate.

So they’re just a little arrogant and inconsiderate?

Here are the details for the public hearings Stephenson, who is also a state rep, promised. Both Stephenson and Otis Story, president and CEO of Grady and vice chairman of the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, will be on hand to answer questions.

• Sat., Aug. 18, 11:30 a.m. Tucker Middle School, 2160 Idlewood Road, Tucker.
• Tues., Aug. 21, 7 p.m. Maloof Auditorium, 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur.
• Thurs., Aug. 23, 7 p.m. St. Philip AME Church Family Life Center, 240 Candler Road.

Bookmark It

On Friday, July 13, the Greater Grady Task Force will release its final recommendations for helping the beleaguered hospital get healthy.

The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported in late June that a draft of the recommendations, penned by a task force made up of local business leaders, called for a corporate-style shake-up:

The restructuring of the Grady board is perhaps the key recommendation in a new report issued Monday [June 25] on Grady, Atlanta’s only Level I trauma center and primary training ground for the state’s health-care workforce. … The 17-member task force thinks any hope of getting more annual funding for the hospital — including the possibility of state money — hinges on reorganizing the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority into a nonprofit.

Yet the creation of a nonprofit could be “politically challenging,” the article continues, because it would wrest power from the Fulton County and DeKalb County commissions.

Bookmark It

If these other counties owe Grady some money, then they need to cough it up.

— Andre at Georgia Politics Unfiltered on a proposal by Fulton County Commissioner Robb Pitts to sue Georgia counties that use but don’t pay for Grady Memorial Hospital

—–

From water to women, immigrants to local economies, fair trade to anti-war, all sorts of people defended all sorts of rights on Atlanta’s streets today. Thousands of people had come together not for one cause, but in recognition that all of these causes are interconnected and worth working for.

— Jessica Lind-Diamond at YES! describes the first day of the U.S. Social Forum.

—–

Dirty hippies, get a job.

— Erick at Peach Pundit will likely not be attending the U.S. Social Forum.

Bookmark It

Amount of money Grady Health System lost in 2006 and 2005, respectively: $20 million, $13 million

Amount consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal recommended Grady cut from its budget: $48.5 million

Total amount, over six months, Alvarez & Marsal was paid for its services: $2 million

Amount Alvarez & Marsal hoped Grady would save by offering early retirement packages to senior employees in March: $15 million

Number of Grady-operated neighborhood clinics Alvarez & Marsal recommended Grady sell: 9

Number of outpatient visits to those clinics in 2005: 888,594

Number of counties in Georgia that fly trauma patients to Grady: 14

Number of counties that contribute to Grady’s operating budget: 2

Sources: Georgia Watch, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Grady Health System

Bookmark It