I was going to just let this post run it's course, but cannot today. Maybe it's because I used my left hand (non dominant) to brush my teeth while standing on one foot or maybe not. I have been a lot more productive today than what has been the normal since sort of "Retiring".
I do understand that with any job, position, lifestyle and mostly a persons career choice money is paid for services. My issue is how the determination of who gets paid the most and what they are doing to get paid.
You can post all the "Studies" and news reports you want. I don't subscribe to the Wall Street Journal or any of the other news sources. I do not watch anything more than the local news and weather if I happen to put up my TV antenna and scrolling through the "Internet" news I only click on certain items that may have interest to me. Maybe I'm ill informed or less informed as others here.
I began working for a wage the summer after I turned 16 years old. I'd done some work for pay before that like many who were raised in the country on a farm. I wasn't a big strapping lad so putting up "Hay" wasn't my favorite job for money, neither was pulling weeds and/or cutting corn out of beans. If that was a winter job I'd be all for it. Being out in the sun with high humidity wasn't me cup of tea. At least at the "Gas Station" I started working at had "Air-conditioning" in the office.
After I graduated High School I started working a company called "Wausau Homes" a prefabricated home building company. I started working in the factory stuffing batt insulation into roofing panels. Again it was summer and being inside in the heat working with Fiberglass Insulation wasn't for me. Luckily my Uncle was a "Supervisor" for the "Erection" crew where the parts were trucked to the homesite and put together with a huge (at the time to me) crane. Or with a smaller Crane mounted to one of the Semi Tractors that also pulled a trailer with walls, floor or roofing panels. I did that for about a year before my older children were born, then it was back to Gasoline Service Station work for a few more years. During the last part of my time working in my families station I started volunteering for the local Fire Department, that led to Advanced First Aid ( to go out with the Ambulance calls) and finally to getting my Emergency Medical Technician certificate. After a failed attempt to run my own Service station on my own I began working for a County Ambulance Service thanks to my EMT certification. I progressed through EMT-1 and finally EMT-Paramedic before attending Nursing School graduating in 1989 as an RN. Things in health care were starting (in my mind) down hill very quickly. When I first started working for the "Ambulance Service" it was a "County" run service. There were two hospitals in the town and in my opinion health care for that area was top notch. The Physicians at the time were fairly young, but had seasoned mentors who had been in town for many years. Dr's took care of there patients in the ER or in the hospital. There were no "Emergency Room" Specialists, no Hospitalists, no intensivist Drs. Your family Dr. knew you, your history and if they needed assistance there were Surgeons, Internists and maybe a Cardiologist on call from the University Hospital. Yes a big portion of the job with the Ambulance was making the 90+ mile trip with patients to the University Hospital that was and still is a Top Notch facility. Unfortunately the facility where I gained so much very good experience and knowledge was sold to a "For Profit" corporation not many years ago and I wouldn't suggest anyone cross the threshold for healthcare now.
So this has gotten quite more long winded that I intended. And I'm not being as productive as I was this morning. I thought reading the forum while enjoying my lunch would be OK. Maybe not.
Do I even know where I was heading when I started this? Not sure. I guess the comment of the 20 Million dollars for a "Non Profit" administrator maybe hit a nerve. The last Hospital I worked in had a very highly paid administrator who also took much more from the facility before being terminated causing the "Staff" to have a pay deduction for a time before that was found to be TOTALLY the wrong way to go. I still have contact with some of the employees, but much of the middle management staff I'd worked for have gone to better pastures or decided it was time to retire. It's really not looking good for that facility and it's one of the "Catholic Health" network that usually had better concentration on "Care" at least in their outward appearance.
To finish up. I worked at many many health care facilities through my 30+year career. Some were better than others in the early years, but they all seem to be heading down the path of selling vs caring, cost cutting without evaluating the true costs and stuffing the pockets of people only interested in money. That's my opinion and why I started the post.
Rod Lappin RN