It's apparent Darryl Wolfe resigned because he is an utter failure and too cowardly to publicly face what he has done. This will begin to happen at every government facility in Clallam County. There are incompetent people making hundreds of thousands of dollars in charge of every government entity in the county; schools, hospitals, parks, roads, refuges, elections, taxes, governing. All of it run by incompetence and greed. This is why the tribe is taking everything over, they are the one entity that has a competent person in charge.
In the real world, when your business fails there is a huge degree of shame that goes along with it. All of these leaders need to be shamed as their incompetency is put on display. There is no tax payer funded executive job that Darryl Wolfe should ever be allowed to have again.
It also appears that the nursing staff is woefully under trained at OMC. Many of the violations have to do with basic nursing. Most of the nurses there have come up through the PC program so this makes me deeply question the program that Peninsula College is running. Another government program exhibiting incompetent results.
They can be woke and still graduate skilled people. But apparently they are graduating nurses who do not even know how to take basic notes or check in on patients.
PC should be the next government agency that gets a compliance visit. They are graduating dangerously incompetent nurses.
Hopefully the incompetence witnessed has to do with individual workers' paradigms though. This last year the only nurses I thought weren't doing proper follow-up were for short stay upstairs. That was only 2 people, so maybe it was just a bad day for them, and I get that the patient was delusional. I think the ER does a good job, it's just the prescription of opiates for smaller things that is a bit of a red flag to me.
The ER is atrocious. Most of the ER staff is contract workers and severely understaffed. My wife had to go there once and we were there for 6 hours. She never went to an ER room and was treated totally in the lobby. Even private questions were asked right there in front of and within hearing of others waiting for treatment. It was horrible.
I was there last April in pretty bad shape. Admitted by ambulance so got put in a room right away about 7:30pm. Lots of testing and an IV medication started but then I had to lay there (on their gurney bed) til about 3:00AM before finally being transferred upstairs to a hospital room. The last 4 hours of that 7.5 hours felt like forever! I kept asking WHY it was taking so long but the young guy in charge there couldn’t give me an answer.
Oh wow that is terrible. I have a lot of clients who are 60+, they go to Silverdale for care instead, and I take my girlfriend to Silverdale for her leg. I guess I forgot about that whole side of things... I was only thinking of what I personally witnessed when I commented earlier.
I was also there once, spent 9 hours waiting for different areas of treatment. I asked at the front desk of the ER if it was exceptionally busy because I had been there so long and got a "no not really". I just shrug my shoulders and shake my head at health care in the US!
I went there with 103 fever and a horrible infection. I got to the ER at 7am and was still sitting in the ER at 4pm and they finally took me back at 4:45. Since living in Sequim off & on since the 80s and having been admitted to the OMC hospital probably 5 times in my life for a serious blood clotting issue, I almost died in their care twice, not due to my condition but due to mistakes they made or terrible care.
WHAT? Prescription of Opiates for "smaller things?" I have been to the ER maybe twice in the last handful of years and was post-op screaming in pain once and had 16 blood clots in my thigh another time and felt like my leg was being pinched off my body and they refused any sort of pain medication. I have never had an addiction issue, haven't been on any sort of pain medication or anything for a decade and they treat you as if your a criminal if you are in serious pain. Also, I almost lost my life due to that ER. The ER is the WORST.
Saying PC is WOKE is the most ignorant statement I have almost ever read. Instead of believing what you have been indoctrinated to believe by the ultra right - woke means aware of the world and what is happening around you- not what the Trump regime has warped your mind to believe.
words change meaning all the time. Nice used to mean stupid or foolish, now it means pleasantly agreeable. Awful used to mean "oh wow, that's amazing" now it means bad or unpleasant. Bully used to be a term of endearment, now it's a term of abuse. Gay used to mean joyful, now it means attracted to same-sex. Myriad used to mean to have exactly 1000 items of something, now it's just a bunch. Naughty used to mean you "had naught" or NOTHING, then it became "evil" now it's just a little misbehaved. Quell used to mean "to kill" now it's just to subdue. Divest used to mean "to undress" now it's just to sell an investment. Meat used to just mean food to eat, now it's animal flesh. Black used to be a color associated with mourning, now it describes an ancestry which includes a lot of the pigment melanin, that protects skin from harmful UV rays.
You have to keep up with words and their meaning.... our language is living and evolving. Woke used to mean being aware, but now it's a pejorative to criticize those who are overly sensitive, and a bit deranged.
Your rundown of language evolution is spot-on; really engaging to read. That said, I think there’s a deeper issue here. The problem isn’t just that woke changed meaning, it’s how it’s being co-opted as a catch-all to dismiss things people don’t agree with or don’t want to understand. Words evolve, yes...but they can also be weaponized. When woke becomes shorthand for ‘anything that challenges my worldview,’ it loses all meaning and shuts down actual discourse. That’s not linguistic evolution, it is intellectual evasion. So while you're totally right about etymology, there's also power in how words get twisted, especially in public dialogue.
That is true. Everyone seems to be butchering the language these days. One side says "nazi, king, despot, tyrant" the other side says "TDS" "Woke" and "whack-a-doodle". We've all forgotten how to have a polite discourse, and listen to the other side.
don't forget "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me" ...another person's feelings are THEIR responsibility, not mine, not yours.
Costco has a policy against making political contributions to any party or government, at any level. Individual employees, may, and these are not attributed to Costco.
Incompetent managers lead to incompetent procedures. People, performing the work, nurses, may be competent in their skills, but if not presented with competent administrative procedures and oversight, may not have the necessary guidance to document properly. There is a hierarchy, newly graduated nurses need to learn and gain experience, become competent through years of practice, become head nurses and lead others, just as in any other industry or profession. It is management’s job to ensure standards of performance are set and monitored. The mismanagement of this hospital is glaringly apparent. Let’s work together to push for immediate fixes.
There are OMP clinic managers and supervisors who have never been more than medical assistants before their promotion. No college degrees and no significant clinical experience — but they’re supposed to manage BSNs and MDs.
You are bang on about the systemic incompetence and corruption...at every level and every institution...the hospital is harming and probably killing people, or at least increasing their chances of mortality. We're better off taking our chances without it...but I'm sure it will be pegged as too big to fail and hundreds of millions will be spent trying to resurrect it...under current 'leadership', this county is doomed!😎
I agree. I’m inclined towards no money or bailouts. This is an amazing opportunity for a large hospital system on the mainland to gain a presence here and promote a different kind of “remote work”. The downside is that scenario has potential to bring a LOT of people to the peninsula.
That incompetence at the core of why we have to end local management of OMC. There are plenty of employees whose greatest expertise was having friends and family already employed there — and bring PA or Sequim natives.
I believe the person you're referring to is the Mayor. The first listed learning outcome of the program she directs is to "holistically assess the biopsychosocial-spiritual-cultural dynamic needs of the client".
What does that even mean and why are they being trained to look at clients instead of patients?
wow... nice word "biopsychosocial" means to consider biological, psychological and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery....
Another case where words mean more than actions. Makes sense now.
Isn't this exactly the opposite of what we, as a "under god" country are supposed to embrace.. "let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth"
Leave PC out of this. Those nurses all have to pass the stringent state boards to be licensed as nurses. They don't pass a test at PC and become nurses at OMC.
Yes, All the nurses have to pass the "stringent" test. Yet here we are, so many basic nursing violations that the hospital may have to shut down. Who's to blame? Management? Nurses? Training? The cause of incompetence lies somewhere and to leave PC out of the blame completely is unserious. The PC program was set up specifically to address the nursing shortage at OMC. The majority of nurses working there have gone through the program. CMS has proven that OMC has a dangerous problem with basic nursing. PC to blame.
I looked at the nursing program at PC when it first got going and decided to pass. They provide a decent beginning level educational foundation for sure, but only for a few semesters. Once the students complete the foundational studies they do their last year training at OMC. When Karen Hart broke her hip in winter of 2001, the microbiologist from OMC was hired to take over her classes so the next crop of nursing students could finish the class and get hired on. I was taking microbiology that year as well as all the nursing students. While I opted out of finishing until the next year when Karen returned literally ALL of the nursing students took the last semester with OMC's Penny (forget her last name). None of them were higher than "C" students during our first semester yet many that I spoke with at end of term had miraculously finished with A's and B's and were bragging about how Penny made it so easy on them. I was a 4.0 and super glad I waited for Professor Hart to return because, unlike most of the nursing students I was there to learn, not to get my foot in the door at OMC.
I had learned that OMC was pretty much a "C" student itself. Over the years I lived in PA I had to have treatment there twice. And, twice, I ended up having to go to Seattle to have the damage done from their treatments re-treated. I haven't stepped foot in that hospital since. They are notoriously inept. The doctors and nurses at Swedish and Harborview openly concur. This happened between 2000 and 2002 and from what I gather the dysfunction there is worse than ever. We should sell off all their properties and buy a couple helicopters so our EMT's can transport folks to Seattle for emergencies
It's clear that these over-paid execs were more interested in the prestige, salary, 4-martini lunches, and other perks than doing their jobs. The lot of them should be fired immediately and replaced by competent leadership, with public oversight.
But, I see the writing on the wall: JKT will waltz in and change OMC to Jamestown Family Health. Could this have been what our silent commissioners had planned all along?
If Jamestown Tribe can save and improve OMC, as much as I don't like this solution, we will at least have a local, certified hospital. I doubt any other 'savior' will act quickly enough to make sure our good physicians don't leave us holding a cold stethoscope.
The physicians are already not our physicians. They 'belong' to a Wall Street consortium, Sound Physicians I believe. The only loyalty is to the corporation.😜
And we hire someone for $12K a week to slam the door shut in our faces? Sounds like Middle Ages "blood letting", using bloodsuckers to get every nickel out of the dying patient.
Where were you, where are you Ann Henninger? Am I missing something in the narrative? This problem has been present for how long? No airing in the PDN, SG, KMSQ, KONP!? Weren't human beings created with a tongue to speak up with?
No different than any other council, commission or school board member who is all gung ho at the beginning, promising transparency and a new voice. It never takes long for them to learn that if they’re going to get along on that governing body, they’ll have to play by the insider rules.
Just out of curiosity, what role would Dr. Allison Berry, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson County (and, as a reminder, the savior to WA State in a 2 year moratorium on local resident's ability to live and work outside the home during the 'pandemic') have in this fiasco? This is a pitiful outcome for those members in the community who have a need for surgeries and immediate care. Obviously, you need to head to Port Townsend.
She won't be MIA if there's another pandemic. She will be out front pushing her Johns Hopkins liberal culture on everyone. She should be held accountable for the despicable things she pushed during Covid.
Yes. We make the drive to port Townsend whenever we can for hospital service. Its a better facility with good bedside manner.Unfortunately for my elderly mother, who is paralyzed from 2 strokes and has to rely on an ambulance for transport to and from the emergency room is unable to go to PT.
Perhaps if omc does shut down, they will have no choice but to take her to PT. At least then she will have a chance. It's been very disheartening as a full time caregiver to my mother to watch the incompetence and neglect that my mother has to repeatedly suffer from omc. I say good riddance. I hope that a larger entity with more ethics takes it over. But I wonder where that tax money will go.
This feels as if it is just another of many calculated attempts to get people off the land on the peninsula. As you said towards the end of the podcast, if this goes through, people will leave the area. So much seems to be tying together.
Realtors take note. You'd best to be telling potential buyers (let's call it full disclosure) of this issue. Question, If a potential buyer for your home asks you, the seller directly, "Why are you selling?" must you be forthcoming in saying, "We lost our local hospital"!
The thing is, the only thing a homeowner is obligated to report/disclose when listing their home is the homeowner disclosure statement which deals directly with issues concerning their home. As far as researching the community, that is on the homebuyer and he/she must be extra discerning.
I hear you, but in this litigious society, just putting the thought out there. One turns on the TV and sees so many ads nowadays for attorneys that are hungry for your case. A hungry new attorney, hanging out a shingle, a case that that attorney can hit you in the gut with, and a sympathetic jury. Just sayin. Food for thought. Bet the tobacco companies never thought they'd lose a case.
This all started for me back around the time when wildfires were burning in Australia and in northern California. I was up in the middle of the night and a very discerning friend had posted something from Debra Tavarez from Stop The Crime about the plan to burn up Northern California. Which led me to really start researching agenda 21/agenda 2030. I kind of became similar to a dog with a bone during that period of time and would meet together with friends who knew what was up. When the 2020 things all started to happen, we would have frequent meetings also. very educated women. One of which did her whole career in the NCIS. Many people do not understand what is going on.
Wow!! Excellent, Jeff! This matter concerns everyone, and therefore, everyone needed to be told the truth a long time ago. OMC has not been compliant with CMS standards? My mind still can't understand why too many people let this go, unless this was the intent of some very unscrupulous high rollers. Gambling with people's health is of no concern when the odds favor their bets. Start naming names if you know them, or else we'll be going through this debacle all over again. Shameful!
Clallam County has way to many over paid woke libtards screwing everything up with their incompetent decisions.Their answer to all problems is just raise taxes & fee's.
I tried the links within the "WittKieffer" website at https://wittkieffer.com/ and the "for candidate" links give this error "Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the browser console for more information)." I am concerned about this company's validity. I am reaching out to the president of the BOC to offer whatever help I can with my abilities. It is a common story for rural and underserved communities to be leveraged at their expense to take what little resources they have and bleed them dry, and remove their ability to care for their people. Thank you, @jefftozzer and @ccwatchdog, for shedding light on all of this!
Monday, September 17, 1787: Benjamin Franklin's response to Elizabeth Willing Powel's question: "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy? A republic, if you can keep it.”
In order to keep a representative government, it takes the involvement "of the people for the people," if that makes sense?
I have a feeling this is like one of those nasty IRS letters that are more scare than bite. Receiving a letter from CMS regarding deficiencies is not uncommon, it is typically an opportunity for the hospital to rectify the issues, and termination from the Medicare program, though possible, is not the typical outcome. It does show poor effort in correcting the problem to get two in a row....thus the CEO resigned. He took over from Eric Lewis about 10 years ago. I say we bring Eric back! Mike Glenn, the current CEO of Jefferson Healthcare preceded Eric as OMC's CEO. Mike is also very good. I once was in a lease negotiation with Daryll and was ready to walk away due to some underhanded moves he tried to make....then Eric stepped in and took over. Kudo's to Jeff from spotlighting this problem. You rarely if ever see this sort of story in the local media as they are bought and paid by big corporations...just like congress, Hollywood and other mass media in this country. We need to awaken the rest of those stuck in the propaganda matrix. X is one of the best places to get national and international news.
Great job, Jeff! We can only hope that the state appoints an outside healthcare organization to run OMC or the commission board chooses a good one to have as a takeover partner. Both OMC and OMP are in desperate need of professional management at every level, from the top down to the individual departments. Can’t wait to see the OMC board meeting on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in Linkletter Hall (basement level of OMC).
I was delighted to see that OMC pulled down the sign for an upcoming pharmacy at the former Wells Fargo Bank building on Front St. My understanding is that they can’t even adequately staff their in-house pharmacy, let alone set up a new one for the public. They need to sell that building and many others; OMC has been stashing cash away in real estate for years (while they cry that they have no money) and it’s time for that practice to end.
too bad OMC can't turn all the various buildings around town that they own to create living spaces (and or tear down and build nice town homes). They own so many buildings....
Our community faces a crisis that could cost us Olympic Medical Center (OMC), Clallam County’s largest employer and our lifeline for healthcare. By August 15, 2025, OMC risks losing 85% of its funding due to Medicare pulling out over serious safety violations—issues like improper patient monitoring and missing medical orders. This follows years of mismanagement, a recent CEO resignation, and a 2024 tax hike that promised to save the hospital but hasn’t delivered.Despite this chaos, I know the dedicated doctors, nurses, and staff at OMC are heartbroken and working hard to serve us. But many are leaving, and we can’t afford to lose more. That’s why I’m reaching out about someone who gives me hope: Dr. Allen Chen, OMC’s Chief Physician Officer.Dr. Chen moved here earlier this year to take on this role, and he’s not part of the old guard. My husband and I recently faced a serious medical issue, and Dr. Chen went above and beyond, checking in with us and showing genuine care. In conversations, he’s shared his deep commitment to fixing OMC and restoring its reputation as a safe, trusted hospital. Unlike the executives named in a recent no-confidence letter, Dr. Chen is one of only two leaders not criticized for the hospital’s failures.I’m convinced Dr. Chen can help save OMC, but he needs our support. I'm sure he feels overwhelmed by resistance. We risk losing him—and possibly our hospital. Here’s how you can help:
Speak up online: Counter negative comments about OMC on the Clallam County Watchdog website, leave a comment on @JeffTozzer on x where he also posts his newsletter, or comment on local social media groups.
Share positive stories about Dr. Chen or the hospital’s staff.
Attend public meetings: Join OMC Board of Commissioners meetings (check omc.org for schedules) to voice support for Dr. Chen’s leadership.
Spread the word: Share this message with others and encourage them to rally behind Dr. Chen.
We have two weeks to show we stand with OMC and Dr. Chen. This is our hospital, and together, we can fight to save it.
Great information. With hospitals being omnipresent throughout our country I'm confident there are expert consultants available that specialize in failing hospitals. I know for a fact these experts exist for failing banks; why not hospitals ? There may be a very simple answer, like we do not have the population base to support the hospital. Regardless what the failures may be with OMC, they must be identified before a fix has any chance. Throwing more money at the problem is definitely not the answer until the fail points are known.
I personally know Allen Chen. He was hired to correct the sinking ship. If the CEO and the Board wouldn’t listen to him how will more money thrown at a Consulting firm do any better. It starts with the Top and needs to be held accountable. I fully support Allen and his knowledge to help our community.
Not so simple to find and hire honest competent people who want to live and work here...Maybe if we give them a corporate jet and a high end helicopter for commuting they would be willing to 'take it on'.
Efficiency experts are good at slashing budgets, downsizing, eliminating things but not necessarily providing honest leadership.
I personally have 0 faith in humanity to correct course at this time...the corruption and decay are ubiquitous and We have very little say in it as evidenced by the disdain our so called CC's show toward Us.
One more distraction while the world burns and floods.😎
As an OMC employee, it’s disheartening to see this happening to our community. I will say that there is one executive at the hospital who consistently leads with honesty and integrity. I hope Dr. Chen gets the opportunity to guide the hospital out of this mess.
Please note: This is NOT Trump, this is the State of WA declaring OMC a wreck.
It's apparent Darryl Wolfe resigned because he is an utter failure and too cowardly to publicly face what he has done. This will begin to happen at every government facility in Clallam County. There are incompetent people making hundreds of thousands of dollars in charge of every government entity in the county; schools, hospitals, parks, roads, refuges, elections, taxes, governing. All of it run by incompetence and greed. This is why the tribe is taking everything over, they are the one entity that has a competent person in charge.
In the real world, when your business fails there is a huge degree of shame that goes along with it. All of these leaders need to be shamed as their incompetency is put on display. There is no tax payer funded executive job that Darryl Wolfe should ever be allowed to have again.
It also appears that the nursing staff is woefully under trained at OMC. Many of the violations have to do with basic nursing. Most of the nurses there have come up through the PC program so this makes me deeply question the program that Peninsula College is running. Another government program exhibiting incompetent results.
It's WOKE, folks! Peninsula College is WOKE.
They can be woke and still graduate skilled people. But apparently they are graduating nurses who do not even know how to take basic notes or check in on patients.
PC should be the next government agency that gets a compliance visit. They are graduating dangerously incompetent nurses.
All the issues you mention are listed as what they train for PC's program.
https://pencol.edu/program/nursing
Hopefully the incompetence witnessed has to do with individual workers' paradigms though. This last year the only nurses I thought weren't doing proper follow-up were for short stay upstairs. That was only 2 people, so maybe it was just a bad day for them, and I get that the patient was delusional. I think the ER does a good job, it's just the prescription of opiates for smaller things that is a bit of a red flag to me.
The ER is atrocious. Most of the ER staff is contract workers and severely understaffed. My wife had to go there once and we were there for 6 hours. She never went to an ER room and was treated totally in the lobby. Even private questions were asked right there in front of and within hearing of others waiting for treatment. It was horrible.
I was there last April in pretty bad shape. Admitted by ambulance so got put in a room right away about 7:30pm. Lots of testing and an IV medication started but then I had to lay there (on their gurney bed) til about 3:00AM before finally being transferred upstairs to a hospital room. The last 4 hours of that 7.5 hours felt like forever! I kept asking WHY it was taking so long but the young guy in charge there couldn’t give me an answer.
Oh wow that is terrible. I have a lot of clients who are 60+, they go to Silverdale for care instead, and I take my girlfriend to Silverdale for her leg. I guess I forgot about that whole side of things... I was only thinking of what I personally witnessed when I commented earlier.
I was also there once, spent 9 hours waiting for different areas of treatment. I asked at the front desk of the ER if it was exceptionally busy because I had been there so long and got a "no not really". I just shrug my shoulders and shake my head at health care in the US!
I went there with 103 fever and a horrible infection. I got to the ER at 7am and was still sitting in the ER at 4pm and they finally took me back at 4:45. Since living in Sequim off & on since the 80s and having been admitted to the OMC hospital probably 5 times in my life for a serious blood clotting issue, I almost died in their care twice, not due to my condition but due to mistakes they made or terrible care.
WHAT? Prescription of Opiates for "smaller things?" I have been to the ER maybe twice in the last handful of years and was post-op screaming in pain once and had 16 blood clots in my thigh another time and felt like my leg was being pinched off my body and they refused any sort of pain medication. I have never had an addiction issue, haven't been on any sort of pain medication or anything for a decade and they treat you as if your a criminal if you are in serious pain. Also, I almost lost my life due to that ER. The ER is the WORST.
They recently prescribed opiates to a family member for a small amount of cellulitis.
In my opinion that's a bit excessive.
What they allowed to happen to you is wrong.
I haven't been there when someone is having what I would consider is a serious scenario.
I dropped 2 people off for serious scenarios, and now I know they should have taken the ambulance for free because of the Medic 1 utility charge.
Saying PC is WOKE is the most ignorant statement I have almost ever read. Instead of believing what you have been indoctrinated to believe by the ultra right - woke means aware of the world and what is happening around you- not what the Trump regime has warped your mind to believe.
We can agree to disagree. No need to name-call or assume things. I am very aware of the world. TYVM.
words change meaning all the time. Nice used to mean stupid or foolish, now it means pleasantly agreeable. Awful used to mean "oh wow, that's amazing" now it means bad or unpleasant. Bully used to be a term of endearment, now it's a term of abuse. Gay used to mean joyful, now it means attracted to same-sex. Myriad used to mean to have exactly 1000 items of something, now it's just a bunch. Naughty used to mean you "had naught" or NOTHING, then it became "evil" now it's just a little misbehaved. Quell used to mean "to kill" now it's just to subdue. Divest used to mean "to undress" now it's just to sell an investment. Meat used to just mean food to eat, now it's animal flesh. Black used to be a color associated with mourning, now it describes an ancestry which includes a lot of the pigment melanin, that protects skin from harmful UV rays.
You have to keep up with words and their meaning.... our language is living and evolving. Woke used to mean being aware, but now it's a pejorative to criticize those who are overly sensitive, and a bit deranged.
Your rundown of language evolution is spot-on; really engaging to read. That said, I think there’s a deeper issue here. The problem isn’t just that woke changed meaning, it’s how it’s being co-opted as a catch-all to dismiss things people don’t agree with or don’t want to understand. Words evolve, yes...but they can also be weaponized. When woke becomes shorthand for ‘anything that challenges my worldview,’ it loses all meaning and shuts down actual discourse. That’s not linguistic evolution, it is intellectual evasion. So while you're totally right about etymology, there's also power in how words get twisted, especially in public dialogue.
That is true. Everyone seems to be butchering the language these days. One side says "nazi, king, despot, tyrant" the other side says "TDS" "Woke" and "whack-a-doodle". We've all forgotten how to have a polite discourse, and listen to the other side.
It really does discourage me. I like debate.
don't forget "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me" ...another person's feelings are THEIR responsibility, not mine, not yours.
Completely! So is Costco, btw, so look for more dysfunction coming our way, soon!🤑
Costco has a policy against making political contributions to any party or government, at any level. Individual employees, may, and these are not attributed to Costco.
Incompetent managers lead to incompetent procedures. People, performing the work, nurses, may be competent in their skills, but if not presented with competent administrative procedures and oversight, may not have the necessary guidance to document properly. There is a hierarchy, newly graduated nurses need to learn and gain experience, become competent through years of practice, become head nurses and lead others, just as in any other industry or profession. It is management’s job to ensure standards of performance are set and monitored. The mismanagement of this hospital is glaringly apparent. Let’s work together to push for immediate fixes.
There are OMP clinic managers and supervisors who have never been more than medical assistants before their promotion. No college degrees and no significant clinical experience — but they’re supposed to manage BSNs and MDs.
You are bang on about the systemic incompetence and corruption...at every level and every institution...the hospital is harming and probably killing people, or at least increasing their chances of mortality. We're better off taking our chances without it...but I'm sure it will be pegged as too big to fail and hundreds of millions will be spent trying to resurrect it...under current 'leadership', this county is doomed!😎
I agree. I’m inclined towards no money or bailouts. This is an amazing opportunity for a large hospital system on the mainland to gain a presence here and promote a different kind of “remote work”. The downside is that scenario has potential to bring a LOT of people to the peninsula.
A complete takeover by a competent organization is in order. I don't know what kind of statutes are involved, but what we have now 'ain't woikin'.
That incompetence at the core of why we have to end local management of OMC. There are plenty of employees whose greatest expertise was having friends and family already employed there — and bring PA or Sequim natives.
Huh, and Peninsula College's Clinical, Outreach and Accreditation Coordinator is a sitting city council person for Port Angeles.
I believe the person you're referring to is the Mayor. The first listed learning outcome of the program she directs is to "holistically assess the biopsychosocial-spiritual-cultural dynamic needs of the client".
What does that even mean and why are they being trained to look at clients instead of patients?
YIKES!?
wow... nice word "biopsychosocial" means to consider biological, psychological and social factors and their complex interactions in understanding health, illness, and health care delivery....
Another case where words mean more than actions. Makes sense now.
Isn't this exactly the opposite of what we, as a "under god" country are supposed to embrace.. "let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and truth"
There ya go.
The disaster Clallam County policies explained accurately. Well done TJ.
Leave PC out of this. Those nurses all have to pass the stringent state boards to be licensed as nurses. They don't pass a test at PC and become nurses at OMC.
Yes, All the nurses have to pass the "stringent" test. Yet here we are, so many basic nursing violations that the hospital may have to shut down. Who's to blame? Management? Nurses? Training? The cause of incompetence lies somewhere and to leave PC out of the blame completely is unserious. The PC program was set up specifically to address the nursing shortage at OMC. The majority of nurses working there have gone through the program. CMS has proven that OMC has a dangerous problem with basic nursing. PC to blame.
MANAGEMENT IS TO BLAME.
or lack thereof.
I looked at the nursing program at PC when it first got going and decided to pass. They provide a decent beginning level educational foundation for sure, but only for a few semesters. Once the students complete the foundational studies they do their last year training at OMC. When Karen Hart broke her hip in winter of 2001, the microbiologist from OMC was hired to take over her classes so the next crop of nursing students could finish the class and get hired on. I was taking microbiology that year as well as all the nursing students. While I opted out of finishing until the next year when Karen returned literally ALL of the nursing students took the last semester with OMC's Penny (forget her last name). None of them were higher than "C" students during our first semester yet many that I spoke with at end of term had miraculously finished with A's and B's and were bragging about how Penny made it so easy on them. I was a 4.0 and super glad I waited for Professor Hart to return because, unlike most of the nursing students I was there to learn, not to get my foot in the door at OMC.
I had learned that OMC was pretty much a "C" student itself. Over the years I lived in PA I had to have treatment there twice. And, twice, I ended up having to go to Seattle to have the damage done from their treatments re-treated. I haven't stepped foot in that hospital since. They are notoriously inept. The doctors and nurses at Swedish and Harborview openly concur. This happened between 2000 and 2002 and from what I gather the dysfunction there is worse than ever. We should sell off all their properties and buy a couple helicopters so our EMT's can transport folks to Seattle for emergencies
It's clear that these over-paid execs were more interested in the prestige, salary, 4-martini lunches, and other perks than doing their jobs. The lot of them should be fired immediately and replaced by competent leadership, with public oversight.
But, I see the writing on the wall: JKT will waltz in and change OMC to Jamestown Family Health. Could this have been what our silent commissioners had planned all along?
If Jamestown Tribe can save and improve OMC, as much as I don't like this solution, we will at least have a local, certified hospital. I doubt any other 'savior' will act quickly enough to make sure our good physicians don't leave us holding a cold stethoscope.
The physicians are already not our physicians. They 'belong' to a Wall Street consortium, Sound Physicians I believe. The only loyalty is to the corporation.😜
At least they would likely run it competently, with the help of the Commissioners....
Don’t forget the previous article about Jamestown Medical, be very careful what you wish for.
office space in the basement for a water steward desk? Quid pro quo?
More along the lines of something bad happening to you as a patient and there being no recourse because the hospital would be on sovereign land.
I am certainly not wishing for that. Just foreseeing the future through my murky crystal ball....
Is a distinction that one is a non-profit and the other is run for profit? Can they be wedded? Looking into the same murky ball.
Public-Private partnerships...the worst of two worlds!😎
Run it the rest of the way into the ground!🤣
Don't accept what you are force fed -including by proxi
Never underestimate the enemy!😎
That’s where my money is!
At least you have some...mine is vapor!🤓
BINGO
Where were you, where are you Ann Henninger?
And we hire someone for $12K a week to slam the door shut in our faces? Sounds like Middle Ages "blood letting", using bloodsuckers to get every nickel out of the dying patient.
Where were you, where are you Ann Henninger? Am I missing something in the narrative? This problem has been present for how long? No airing in the PDN, SG, KMSQ, KONP!? Weren't human beings created with a tongue to speak up with?
"We have met the enemy and it is us!" Pogo
No different than any other council, commission or school board member who is all gung ho at the beginning, promising transparency and a new voice. It never takes long for them to learn that if they’re going to get along on that governing body, they’ll have to play by the insider rules.
Just out of curiosity, what role would Dr. Allison Berry, public health officer for Clallam and Jefferson County (and, as a reminder, the savior to WA State in a 2 year moratorium on local resident's ability to live and work outside the home during the 'pandemic') have in this fiasco? This is a pitiful outcome for those members in the community who have a need for surgeries and immediate care. Obviously, you need to head to Port Townsend.
Dr. Allison Berry, the clueless, incompetent, totalitarian Nurse Ratchett?
Missing in action like many DEI hires and county commissioners whose priorities are culture tax, tribal affairs, and boofing kits.
She won't be MIA if there's another pandemic. She will be out front pushing her Johns Hopkins liberal culture on everyone. She should be held accountable for the despicable things she pushed during Covid.
She is a medical/cultural criminal!😱
Succinctly stated, Eric! Bravo!
Scary Berry! Woke, leftist, DEI hire! Danger to the communities! Socialist 'infiltraitor'!
I don't know how but there needs to be massive firing at many govern-mental (emphasis on the MENTAL) agencies including 'justice' depths!
Without accountability and justice, there is no civilization!😎
Will Jefferson county take Clallam patients? Maybe through their emergency room?
Yes. We make the drive to port Townsend whenever we can for hospital service. Its a better facility with good bedside manner.Unfortunately for my elderly mother, who is paralyzed from 2 strokes and has to rely on an ambulance for transport to and from the emergency room is unable to go to PT.
Perhaps if omc does shut down, they will have no choice but to take her to PT. At least then she will have a chance. It's been very disheartening as a full time caregiver to my mother to watch the incompetence and neglect that my mother has to repeatedly suffer from omc. I say good riddance. I hope that a larger entity with more ethics takes it over. But I wonder where that tax money will go.
Of course. Jeffco takes OMC referrals, etc.
Nice reporting Jeff, thank you. TT.
This feels as if it is just another of many calculated attempts to get people off the land on the peninsula. As you said towards the end of the podcast, if this goes through, people will leave the area. So much seems to be tying together.
Realtors take note. You'd best to be telling potential buyers (let's call it full disclosure) of this issue. Question, If a potential buyer for your home asks you, the seller directly, "Why are you selling?" must you be forthcoming in saying, "We lost our local hospital"!
The thing is, the only thing a homeowner is obligated to report/disclose when listing their home is the homeowner disclosure statement which deals directly with issues concerning their home. As far as researching the community, that is on the homebuyer and he/she must be extra discerning.
I hear you, but in this litigious society, just putting the thought out there. One turns on the TV and sees so many ads nowadays for attorneys that are hungry for your case. A hungry new attorney, hanging out a shingle, a case that that attorney can hit you in the gut with, and a sympathetic jury. Just sayin. Food for thought. Bet the tobacco companies never thought they'd lose a case.
You understand much more than most...appreciate your contribution!😎
This all started for me back around the time when wildfires were burning in Australia and in northern California. I was up in the middle of the night and a very discerning friend had posted something from Debra Tavarez from Stop The Crime about the plan to burn up Northern California. Which led me to really start researching agenda 21/agenda 2030. I kind of became similar to a dog with a bone during that period of time and would meet together with friends who knew what was up. When the 2020 things all started to happen, we would have frequent meetings also. very educated women. One of which did her whole career in the NCIS. Many people do not understand what is going on.
Wow!! Excellent, Jeff! This matter concerns everyone, and therefore, everyone needed to be told the truth a long time ago. OMC has not been compliant with CMS standards? My mind still can't understand why too many people let this go, unless this was the intent of some very unscrupulous high rollers. Gambling with people's health is of no concern when the odds favor their bets. Start naming names if you know them, or else we'll be going through this debacle all over again. Shameful!
Nothing happens by accident...it's ALL planned...even the 'incompetence' is planned.
Using the 'Peter Principle' it is possible to topple any organization and that is what we are witnessing.😬
Clallam County has way to many over paid woke libtards screwing everything up with their incompetent decisions.Their answer to all problems is just raise taxes & fee's.
I tried the links within the "WittKieffer" website at https://wittkieffer.com/ and the "for candidate" links give this error "Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the browser console for more information)." I am concerned about this company's validity. I am reaching out to the president of the BOC to offer whatever help I can with my abilities. It is a common story for rural and underserved communities to be leveraged at their expense to take what little resources they have and bleed them dry, and remove their ability to care for their people. Thank you, @jefftozzer and @ccwatchdog, for shedding light on all of this!
Monday, September 17, 1787: Benjamin Franklin's response to Elizabeth Willing Powel's question: "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy? A republic, if you can keep it.”
In order to keep a representative government, it takes the involvement "of the people for the people," if that makes sense?
I just clicked the link and it works fine.
Google Athens, Tennessee 1946.
I have a feeling this is like one of those nasty IRS letters that are more scare than bite. Receiving a letter from CMS regarding deficiencies is not uncommon, it is typically an opportunity for the hospital to rectify the issues, and termination from the Medicare program, though possible, is not the typical outcome. It does show poor effort in correcting the problem to get two in a row....thus the CEO resigned. He took over from Eric Lewis about 10 years ago. I say we bring Eric back! Mike Glenn, the current CEO of Jefferson Healthcare preceded Eric as OMC's CEO. Mike is also very good. I once was in a lease negotiation with Daryll and was ready to walk away due to some underhanded moves he tried to make....then Eric stepped in and took over. Kudo's to Jeff from spotlighting this problem. You rarely if ever see this sort of story in the local media as they are bought and paid by big corporations...just like congress, Hollywood and other mass media in this country. We need to awaken the rest of those stuck in the propaganda matrix. X is one of the best places to get national and international news.
Great job, Jeff! We can only hope that the state appoints an outside healthcare organization to run OMC or the commission board chooses a good one to have as a takeover partner. Both OMC and OMP are in desperate need of professional management at every level, from the top down to the individual departments. Can’t wait to see the OMC board meeting on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. in Linkletter Hall (basement level of OMC).
I was delighted to see that OMC pulled down the sign for an upcoming pharmacy at the former Wells Fargo Bank building on Front St. My understanding is that they can’t even adequately staff their in-house pharmacy, let alone set up a new one for the public. They need to sell that building and many others; OMC has been stashing cash away in real estate for years (while they cry that they have no money) and it’s time for that practice to end.
too bad OMC can't turn all the various buildings around town that they own to create living spaces (and or tear down and build nice town homes). They own so many buildings....
The small white house/building behind the 8th and Vine St clinic, should be demolished and sold for residential housing.
Quite excellent Reporting @Jeff Tozzer!! Thank you.
Our community faces a crisis that could cost us Olympic Medical Center (OMC), Clallam County’s largest employer and our lifeline for healthcare. By August 15, 2025, OMC risks losing 85% of its funding due to Medicare pulling out over serious safety violations—issues like improper patient monitoring and missing medical orders. This follows years of mismanagement, a recent CEO resignation, and a 2024 tax hike that promised to save the hospital but hasn’t delivered.Despite this chaos, I know the dedicated doctors, nurses, and staff at OMC are heartbroken and working hard to serve us. But many are leaving, and we can’t afford to lose more. That’s why I’m reaching out about someone who gives me hope: Dr. Allen Chen, OMC’s Chief Physician Officer.Dr. Chen moved here earlier this year to take on this role, and he’s not part of the old guard. My husband and I recently faced a serious medical issue, and Dr. Chen went above and beyond, checking in with us and showing genuine care. In conversations, he’s shared his deep commitment to fixing OMC and restoring its reputation as a safe, trusted hospital. Unlike the executives named in a recent no-confidence letter, Dr. Chen is one of only two leaders not criticized for the hospital’s failures.I’m convinced Dr. Chen can help save OMC, but he needs our support. I'm sure he feels overwhelmed by resistance. We risk losing him—and possibly our hospital. Here’s how you can help:
Speak up online: Counter negative comments about OMC on the Clallam County Watchdog website, leave a comment on @JeffTozzer on x where he also posts his newsletter, or comment on local social media groups.
Share positive stories about Dr. Chen or the hospital’s staff.
Attend public meetings: Join OMC Board of Commissioners meetings (check omc.org for schedules) to voice support for Dr. Chen’s leadership.
Spread the word: Share this message with others and encourage them to rally behind Dr. Chen.
We have two weeks to show we stand with OMC and Dr. Chen. This is our hospital, and together, we can fight to save it.
Great information. With hospitals being omnipresent throughout our country I'm confident there are expert consultants available that specialize in failing hospitals. I know for a fact these experts exist for failing banks; why not hospitals ? There may be a very simple answer, like we do not have the population base to support the hospital. Regardless what the failures may be with OMC, they must be identified before a fix has any chance. Throwing more money at the problem is definitely not the answer until the fail points are known.
I personally know Allen Chen. He was hired to correct the sinking ship. If the CEO and the Board wouldn’t listen to him how will more money thrown at a Consulting firm do any better. It starts with the Top and needs to be held accountable. I fully support Allen and his knowledge to help our community.
I support prosecution and jail for white-collar criminals!😎
You can read his story here https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/physician-officer-goes-back-to-roots/. I have met with Dr. Chen and believe him to be a savior for OMC.
I 1000% agree with you. The staff at OMC are behind Dr.Chen. He has a heart of gold.
I hope so...savior is a big burden!🤓
I’ve never seen a consulting firm leave anything but empty coffers when they leave.
and probably some kickbacks to key executives for being hired in the first place.
When your only tool is a hammer, everything is a nail.
Not so simple to find and hire honest competent people who want to live and work here...Maybe if we give them a corporate jet and a high end helicopter for commuting they would be willing to 'take it on'.
Efficiency experts are good at slashing budgets, downsizing, eliminating things but not necessarily providing honest leadership.
I personally have 0 faith in humanity to correct course at this time...the corruption and decay are ubiquitous and We have very little say in it as evidenced by the disdain our so called CC's show toward Us.
One more distraction while the world burns and floods.😎
Most people move to where their jobs are.
As an OMC employee, it’s disheartening to see this happening to our community. I will say that there is one executive at the hospital who consistently leads with honesty and integrity. I hope Dr. Chen gets the opportunity to guide the hospital out of this mess.