The original article can be found in: Virgin Islands Daily News
ST. CROIX – The chairwoman of the territorial hospital board will meet this week with Luis Hospital Interim Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kendall Griffith to assess the situation at the troubled hospital.
A brief statement Government House issued Wednesday night said that Gov. John deJongh Jr. has asked Property and Procurement Commissioner Lynn Millin-Maduro, the chairwoman of the territorial hospital board, to meet with Griffith for a “frank assessment of the most critical challenges confronting the hospital’s day to day operations.”
Controversy and drama have marked the past week at Luis, since Griffith submitted his resignation July 9.
He has since been reinstated to the interim chief executive post, while two Luis Hospital board members have submitted their resignations.
Luis Hospital board chairwoman Kye Walker and board member Imelda Dizon resigned Tuesday. Walker’s resignation is effective Friday; Dizon’s resignation letter gives an effective date of Aug. 31.
Dr. Anthony Ricketts, the vice chairman of the Luis Hospital board, is the acting chairman.
The nine-member Luis Hospital board already had four empty seats. Walker and Dizon’s resignations, once they become effective, will leave the Luis board with only three members – and unable to muster a quorum to conduct business.
Lawmakers had intervened after Griffith resigned, calling a special session for Wednesday.
However, after the Luis Hospital board reinstated Griffith on Monday, and Walker and Dizon resigned Tuesday, senators called off the session. They had planned to consider legislation to temporarily abolish the Luis Hospital board, reinstate Griffith and provide more money to the cash-strapped hospital.
The territory’s hospitals are semi-autonomous agencies which are, by law, overseen by boards. There are two district boards, one to oversee Luis Hospital and another to oversee Schneider Regional Medical Center, along with an overarching territorial hospital board.
The district boards each have nine seats. The territorial board has 15 seats, comprising six members from each district board and three members of the governor’s Cabinet: the V.I. Finance commissioner, the director of the Office of Management and Budget and a third member of the Cabinet. On the current territorial board, that third commissioner is Millin-Maduro.
Even though V.I. Code requires the territorial board to meet quarterly, it has not met since January. Before that, it had not met for more than a year.Under V.I. Code, the territorial board is charged with formulating and determining hospital policy, planning for health care delivery at the territorial level and coordinating policy and planning between the districts. The district boards are charged with formulating and determining hospital policy and planning for their individual districts.
In his statement, the governor indicated that the territorial board will have more oversight of Luis Hospital at this point.
“It is important for our community to realize that the recent decisions made by board members and the hospital leadership will not impact the quality of care provided by the Luis Hospital or in fact, leave the hospital without a clear direction going forward,” deJongh said.
The statement quoted deJongh saying that during a meeting he had with at least 12 senators this week, “we established a path forward that included increased oversight by the territorial hospital board, a planned meeting with the acting chair of the district board and the interim chief executive officer as we assess the immediate financial needs of the hospital. At the same time, my administration’s efforts will continue to identify new board members so as to fully outfit the district board.”
The territorial board at this point is dominated by members from the St. Thomas-St. John District, including the three Cabinet members. It was not clear how the lack of a quorum on the Luis Hospital board might affect routine board activities, such as issuing and renewing credentials that give doctors the right to practice at the hospital. Physician credentials are routinely issued every month by the district boards.
Government House spokesman Jean Greaux Jr. said that a territorial hospital board meeting likely will be scheduled at some point after Millin-Maduro meets with Griffith.
DeJongh said in the release that the biggest obstacle to filling vacancies on the Luis Hospital board – and other critical government boards – “is convincing persons to commit the time and effort required to fulfill the requirements.”
