Feb. 29, 2008 — In the wake of the firing and rehiring of Juan F. Luis Hospital's chief executive officer, senators at an oversight hearing of the Health, Hospitals and Human Services Committee in Frederiksted Friday urged calm and reconciliation between the management and the hospital's governing board.
In the past two weeks, Gregory Calliste, CEO of Juan F. Luis Hospital, was fired and reinstated, and has now filed suit against four hospital governing board members involved in the firing. The meeting at which Calliste was fired was not announced ahead of time and did not have a quorum. For that reason, and because of protests by hospital employees, Calliste was reinstated. Norman Jn Baptiste, the committee chairman, called the hearing as part of normal oversight and to look into this conflict.
"I was illegally terminated from my position as chief executive officer of Juan F. Luis Hospital by four members of the board of directors on Feb. 18, 2008, but was reinstated," Calliste said. "I did file a lawsuit against four members of the governing board, but not the board, nor the hospital nor the government."
Carmelo Rivera, acting chairman of the governing board and one of the members being sued, said the lawsuit constrained what he could say, then gave his perspective on why the board took the actions it did.
"Last year was very challenging," he said. "There were at least four Joint Commission (hospital accreditation) surveys, which forced the board to become more involved. We found there was much internal strife and dysfunctional behaviors."
That Juan Luis was given a provisional rather than full accreditation this year concerned the board, too, as did empty management positions.
"We are a multimillion-dollar operation, yet for nearly a year the hospital operated without a chief financial officer," Rivera said. "After trying several approaches and still not getting results, we felt decisive action was necessary."
By law, the Juan Luis governing board must have nine members. It currently has five. Two recent nominees awaiting confirmation will bring the number to seven. Four of the five members voted to remove Calliste. The fifth, Frances M. Molloy, is diametrically opposed and sees the conflict as personal animosity and an overreaction to some anonymous hate mail.
"Several months ago, anonymous letters were circulated around the Juan F. Luis Hospital with very uncomplimentary remarks about some of the members of the St. Croix District Governing Board," Molloy said. "This might have been the bursting point of animosity and vengeance against Dr Gregory Calliste."
Each senator in turn urged the hospital executives and governing board to strive to get along for the good of the institution, a sentiment echoed in Calliste's testimony.
"Although there is still residual unrest from this incident, we are committed to putting aside our differences and individual agendas for the good of the hospital's agenda and for promoting the vision of becoming a model hospital," Calliste said.
Sen. Usie Richards questioned how that could happen while Calliste is suing the board members.
"Putting aside your differences for the good of the hospital — did you really mean that?" Richards asked. Calliste said yes, he did.
"Is that why you went to court, then," Richards asked. "Do you really expect you could sue and still get along and work together with the board?"
Calliste said he would hope they could; Richards said he thought it unlikely.
"Human beings are one of God's most complex creatures," Richards said. "I don't see that happening."
Dr. Kendall Griffith, medical director of the nascent V.I. Cardiac Center at Juan Luis, tried to stay out of the fray, commenting principally on the status of the ongoing construction of the center. Asked directly to comment, he urged cooperation and healing.
"One thing that is clear is we all want our patient care to be the best," Griffith said. "That can be one common ground to begin the healing process. Another common interest is to come together to prevent the embarrassment of having our business out in the public, in the newspapers and on the radio. I don't ever want to experience this again, and I think we must get together and make sure it never does."
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