Hospital lays off top-tier employees

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital's new CEO hopes to cut up to $700,000 out of the struggling hospital's expenses by doing away with nine top-tier positions including three vice presidents.

Chuck Wright announced the personnel cuts effective as of today during a news conference at the hospital this morning. The hospital's board of trustees approved the plan Thursday evening.

"We have made substantial improvements in our financial situation over the last six months," he said, "but we are still ... not where we need to be to ensure a financially viable and stable organization."

"This is a very difficult but necessary decision," he said, adding that his choices were not performance related and would not affect the hospital's level of service.

While hospitals often cut personnel from the bottom up, said Wright, he decided that Rehoboth McKinley's staffing at the lower levels was mostly appropriate.

"The positions selected for reorganization were made in accordance with a guiding principle of mine with respect to staff reductions, which is to make those as far away from the patient's bedside as possible," he said.

By staying away from the "front lines," he said, and moving up the payscale, the cuts would produce "the most bang for the buck."

Consultants recently completed a study of staffing levels at the hospital to help officials determine where it should add or cut personnel. But Wright said the findings did not inform his decision, and was one of several contracts his predecessors spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on but produced "little or no results."

According to Wright, some of the people who filled the positions being cut have been with the hospital well over 20 years, and all but one more than five. He said they would receive severance packages worth between two and three months' salary, but would not be specific.

The hospital is still struggling to return to profitability after faulty accounting practices hid years of deficit. Wright said the hospital has already reduced its expenses by more than $7 million within the past year.

Following is a list of those whose positions were eliminated: Bernice Brewer, vice President of Patient Care Services Susan Macias, Vice President of Human Resources Michael Nye, Vice President of Professional Services Sherry Postma, Clinic Director Jay Vink, Clinic Director Carol Voss, Clinic Director Sarah Luginbuhl, Marketing/Development Unfilled, Marketing/Development Peter Procopio, EAP Coordinator