Workers encouraged to avoid town hospital

Scott Monroe

Nov. 1, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- PITTSFIELD -- The plant manager of General Electric (NYSE:GE) Security, the town's largest employer, wants employees who need hospital care to travel 22 miles south, instead of one mile down the road.

In an August 2009 company newsletter, obtained by the Morning Sentinel, Dave DeLater said that the plant's employees should travel to MaineGeneral Medical Center in Waterville, instead of Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield, if they need care. The company, which employs about 300 people, will provide reimbursements for cab fares to the Waterville hospital.

"If signs or symptoms appear outside of normal clinic hours we would like to encourage you to utilize MaineGeneral hospital in Waterville as care given at our local hospital has proven time and again to be substandard," DeLater writes in his newsletter. "We feel our employees deserve the best care. ... Your health and safety is our No. 1 priority and hopefully this new benefit will help more employees receive the best care possible for their potentially work-related injuries."

Sebasticook Valley Hospital officials said this week that they were aware of the newsletter soon after it was distributed internally to GE Security employees.

"The hospital does not agree with the statement," said John May, CEO and president of Sebasticook Valley Hospital. "Many attempts have been made by SVH administration and staff of SVH to resolve any issues that existed between GE and SVH. At SVH, we take great pride in our quality of care."

In an interview this week, DeLater, who has been plant manager since April 2008, said he stands by his statement in the newsletter.

"It was not just an opinion of mine," he said. "It was based on my experiences and the experience with my people who have gone over there and the data that also ranks all the hospitals in the area."

Even so, DeLater said the message to his employees shouldn't reflect a dispute between the company and the hospital. "Our relationship is not severed by any means with them," he said.

Sherry Humphrey, of Burnham, has worked for GE Security for 29 years; she's a lead cutter in the wires department. Humphrey said employees haven't discussed the hospital issue much, but she disagrees with DeLater and the way he's communicated his message.

"He didn't have to say that about the hospital," Humphrey said. "I did take offense to the comments."

Humphrey said she and her husband have had good care at Sebasticook, and she feels it's inappropriate to level such an assessment against the hospital.

"We're happy with the care we get at SVH," she said. "You're always going to find one thing, one doctor, one nurse you don't like. There's always going to be something at any hospital."

GE Security has its own in-house medical clinic for employees not feeling well during the work day. Work-related injuries that require hospital care at GE Security are rare, DeLater said, adding that the plant has had two recordable injuries so far in 2009 and had five in 2008.

The bottom line, DeLater said, "is I want my employees to get the best care and it's nothing personal against anything."

Still, Sebasticook officials took issue with DeLater's message and defended their care.

May, the hospital's CEO, said that Sebasticook and GE Security "have historically had a very positive relationship," with the hospital often providing "free services to GE for health and safety fairs for their employees, including health screenings and health information for their staff."

May cited several awards and designations in defense of the hospital's care, including: receiving an award for the for the past nine years for overall exemplary performance and customer service; earning the highest Blue Ribbon Rating from the Maine Health Management Coalition for patient satisfaction; and a hospital-performance rating that, compared with state and national averages, places it in the top 10 percent of U.S. hospitals.

"We have also recently been notified that SVH has been named on the Harvard Pilgrim Hospital Honor Roll recognizing those adult, acute hospitals whose performance was among the top 25 percent of those measured nationally on a set of composite quality and patient-experience measures," May said.

Despite the apparent rift between the hospital and DeLater, May said Sebasticook will continue "to provide the highest quality of care to GE employees and their families."

"We have been in communication with GE regarding this issue, and hope that we can maintain our historically positive lines of communication with representatives of the company," May said.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0221-39407712