Newsletter for the Allentown and Sacred Heart Hospital Center

Vol. 5 No.2 February 8, 1982

On December 30, an article appeared in the local newspapers stating that the existing hospital governancesituation may change soon. Adrnmistrator Ellwyn D. Spiker discusses that report, as well as some possibilitiesfor the future of A&SHHC and health care in Allentown.

Update: More specifically, what arethe detailed parts of the agreement?

Spiker: Well, as stated in thenewspaper, the number of beds is 115,which encompasses both medical andsurgical and critical care beds. SacredHeart Hospital proposes to construct alIS-bed facility of which 96 beds wouldbe for general medicine and surgery, andthe remaining 19 beds would be criticalcare beds to support those medical andsurgical beds. The money was quotedcorrectly in the paper as a $7,000,000contribution over a 3ljz year period oftime, of which $2,000,000 would bepaid by The Allentown Hospital, and$5,000,000 by A&SHHC.

Update: In the agreement, right nowour Board is made up of both SacredHeart directors and Allentown directors.If Sacred Heart pulls out, will this hospitalbe owned or run by The AllentownHospital? Would A&SHHC become apart of Allentown? Or is a different struc-ture being discussed?

''There should be very little impact uponthe employees policies and practices ofeach institution and the overall objec-tives would be continued as they are."

Governance Agreement change possible

Update: Mr. Spiker, we've read in thenewspapers that talks between The Allen-town Hospital and Sacred Heart Hospitalhave reached a point where a final agree-ment regarding the future governance ofthis hospital is almost certain. Is thistrue, and if so, what kind of an agree-ment has been reached?

Spiker: We have no final agreementat this point in time. The agreement thatis being cKscussed has several parts.There's a portion of the agreement thatincludes support by The AllentownHospital and A&SHHC for certificate ofneed (CON) application by Sacred Heartfor more beds; there's a portion of theagreement, which as you read in thenewspaper, relates to a payment of fundsto Sacred Heart Hospital; and the thirdpart includes the termination of the 1972Settlement Agreement, court approval, areorganization of A&SHHC and TheAllentown Hospital, and plans for the in-terim management of A&SHHC whilethe details of the final agreement areworked out.

Spiker: Well, that kind of detail hasnot really been worked out, but thediscussions to date have suggested thatthere would be a consolidation of theAllentown and Sacred Heart HospitalCenter and The Allentown Hospital intoa new corporate entity, which would bereferred to as the parent company. Thenthere would be two subsidiary operatingcorporations established: one to manageA&SHHC, and one to manageAllentown.(Continued on page 4)

~~ -, The Centep~ WelcomesTo Administration

Ruth Phillips

To AdmittingRobin BartholJanet Luby

To HousekeepingJohn Cebrosky

To Medical Records/TranscriptionMaryellen HorodenskiRose KapishDeborah Miller

To Nursing ServicesBetsy AdamLeslie BuckLanette BurkepileLinda CharltonSharon DalleryDeborah FabianLois FegelyCarole FinkKristin KimmelMary KinnemanAnn KovacsSharon KnopfRobert NewhardKaren NorwilloEileen RinehimerGerarda Savin skiKathy 'k'rpakAlta TravisMary Vogi

To Physical TherapyMichael Confer

Welcome BackMichael Gee - SPDCatherine Glenn - Nursing ServicesKevin Turek - Radiology

Gale Schmidt Hodavance - EditorJim Higgins - Associate EditorJanet Laudenslager - Staff AssistantJack Dittbrenner - PhotographyDaria Molnar - Photography

Say "cheese!"You are cordially invited to have your family's photograph taken-for free!A professional photographer will be visiting the Hospital Center February 26-March 9.

Rather than allow him to be charged with loitering, please take advantage of his ser-vices. A letter will be sent to all employees, volunteers, auxilians and medical staffthis week with information on signing up for an appointment and scheduled times.Once your photo is taken, he will present you with one free 8" x 10" full color por-trait of your family. What's the hitch? He wants you to buy more, but you are underno obligation.

This is a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity because your family will never look thesame again. So capture the moment-for free!

Appearing on "On Call: A Valley Health Series" on WLVT-TV, Channel 39 will be:February 8, 7:30 P.M., February 13, 2:30 P.M. - Insomnia - Each year, the

U.S. public spends million of dollars on remedies to try and avoid recurrent sleeplessnights. Insomnia can occur from a variety of physical and psychological disturbances.Guests Peter Barbour, M.D., and John Bulette, M.D., discuss the causes and

treatments for insomnia.February 15, 7:30 P.M., February 20, 2:30 P.M. - Lupus - Each year, at least

50,000 Americans are victimized by a mysterious disease known as systemic lupuserythematosus, which can be fatal. Guests Richard Allman, M.D., and Judy Derasse,M.D., discuss the causes, symptoms, and new treatments of this serious disease.

Blood Bank accredited

Busy in the blood bank are Mary Meihofer, M. T., (left), Ann Eckenrode, M. T., and Debbie Nestor, M. T.

Tucked away in a little room in the maze that is the Clinical laboratories, is theHospital Center's Blood Bank.

Recently awarded a two year accreditation by the American Association of BloodBanks (AABB), this busy department performs a number of highly specialized pro-cedures; including blood crossmatching and typing, cell washing, antibody identifica-tion, thawing of frozen plasma, and storage of all blood components (platelets, etc.):

According to Kathy Mundt, supervisor for the Blood Bank, the recent accreditationfollowed an on-site inspection by representatives of the AABB, and it established thatthe level of medical, technical, and administrative performance of the Blood Bankmeets or exceeds rigorous standards set by the AABB.

The busy Blood Bank staff of 14 technicians and a clerk, transfused over 12,000packed red cells to patients last year.

Carol Bury, R.N., has been appointedEmergency Department Supervisor, incharge of staffing, scheduling, and day-to-day operations of the department.

Prior to her appointment, Carol wasClinical Coordinator for the EmergencyDepartment, and has extensive ex-perience as an emergency departmentnurse at the Hospital Center sinceSeptember, 1974, and at St. Luke'sHospital, Bethlehem. Carol was also aMed/Surg staff nurse at Sacred HeartHospital.

c Carol Bury, R.N.

Gary Steinberg, Associate Ad-ministrator, was recently appointed to theHospital Association of Pennsylvania'sCommittee on Professional Practice.

This newly formed committee will studythe relationship between the medicalstaff, nursing, and technical staff ofhospitals, as well as accredit issues, statelicensing boards, and educationprograms.

Joseph J. Prorok, M.D., staffsurgeon, was recently appointed ClinicalAssistant Professor at Jefferson MedicalCollege, Philadelphia.

Dr. Prorok will be instructing on a part-time basis and will continue in hismedical practice.

He is a graduate of Jefferson, wherehe also did a surgical residency and waschief resident. He is a member of theAmerican College of Surgeons, AmericanSociety of Parenteral and Enteral Nutri-tion, American Society of ClinicalOncology, and is Chairman of theA&SHHC Nutrition Committee and amember of the Lehigh County CancerSociety Executive Committee.

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Donald H. Gaylor, M.D.

Donald H. Gaylor, M.D., Chief ofSurgery at the Hospital Center and TheAllentown Hospital, was recently electedPresident of the Pennsylvania Division ofthe American Trauma Society andPresident-elect of the PennsylvaniaAssociation for Medical Education.

The American Trauma Society is head-quartered in Chicago, and has 5,000members. Their goals include educatingand organizing at the community level forbetter emergency and trauma care pro-gram, and to train doctors, nurses,emergency medical technicians, andother allied health personnel in thedeveloping field of emergency medicalservices.

Among its many concerns, the Penn-sylvania Association for Medical Educa-tion promotes development of soundeducational programs, improves existingones, arid provides guidelines for main-taining and improving standards for theadministration of medical affairs by physi-cians serving community hospitals inPennsylvania.

Gale Schmidt Hodavance, Director ofPublic Relations and Development, hasbeen appointed to the Public RelationsCommittee for the Burn Foundation ofGreater Delaware Valley. The committewill work towards increasing mutualawareness of opportunities to promoteand participate in hospital or Burn Foun-dation events, as well as a cooperativesharing of Burn Foundation resourcesamong member hospitals.

Pat Skrovanek has recently been ap-pointed Assistant to Systems Analyst,Computer Services, helping in the overalldevelopment and implementation of theHospital Information System (H.I.S.)

Pat has been at the Hospital Centersince March, 1976, working in theBusiness Office as an EmergencyRoom/Outpatient clerk and then as dataentry clerk in September, 1976.

Pat Skrovanek

Lawrence P. Levitt, M.D., Chief ofNeurology at the Hospital Center, wasrecently appointed an examiner of theAmerican Board of Neurology andelected to Fellowship of the AmericanAcademy of Neurology.

Dr. Levitt is a graduate of the CornellUniversity Medical College, NY, a~d iscertified in Neurology by the AmericanBoard of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Diane M. Carpenter, B.S.N., CriticalCare Instructor, was selected to the Con-tinuing Education Review Board for theAmerican Association of NeurosurgicalNurses. Diane will review the associa-tion's continuing education programs forcontent and continuing educational unitapproval.

Douglas R. Trostle, M.D., surgicalresident, recently won first prize for anoriginal surgical paper presented to theEastern Pennsylvania Chapter of theAmerican College of Surgeons. Hispaper was selected by the local Collegeof Surgeons chapter, and the title of thepaper was "Excisional Breast Biopsy andSpecimen Radiography for Microcalcifica-tions detected by Mammography.

Governance issue (Continued from page 1)

Update: As you see it, is there anypossibility that A&SHHC and Allentownwould be totally separate when the finalagreement is reached?

Spiker: No, as I see it, A&SHHC andAllentown will be operated within a multi-hospital system approach. Neither Allen-town nor A&SHHC will operateindependently.

Update: How would the new pro-posed structure affect employees here atA&SHHC as you see it?

Spiker: There should be very little im-pact upon the employees; in fact, thereshould be no impact on the employees.The policies and practices of each institu-tion, the mission of the institution, andthe overall objectives would becontinued as they are. Obviously, from aplanning and a management standpoint,if there are variations in personnelpolicies and practices, it is conceivablethat the institution with the least pro-gressive policy, would change 'thosepolicies to be more consistent, but there'sbeen no discussion about this kind ofoperating detail.

Initially, I would assume, that eachhospital would operate as it is currentlyoperating until the parent and subsidiarycorporations have been fully developed.They would initially start working onoverall policies or look towards the mis-sion of the multi-hospital system, andbased upon a long range plan or effort ofthat nature, they would attempt to definemore specifically the mission of each in-stitution and develop guidelines for themto operate. This kind of detail is what weare going to be doing in the next sixmonths, working out specifically what theoperation should be.

Update: How long do you think it willtake for the final structure or organizationto emerge?

Spiker: Well, on a very optimistictime schedule, the earliest would be lateJune or early July of this year.

Update: When you talked about theagreement and were talking about astructure emerging in the future, youtalked about interim operating agree-ment. In the meantime, how willA&SHHC be operated?

Spiker: The agreement calls for amodification of the current bylaws of theHospital Center to permit the ExecutiveCommittee of the Hospital Center tofunction in the absence of meetings ofthe Board of Directors and.to carry outthe full responsibilities of that Board inthis interim perrod of time.

" as I see it, A&SHHC andAllentown will be operatedwithin a multi -hospital systemapproach."

Update: We've been operatingwithout a Board of Directors since lastJanuary. Since that time, there havebeen a lot of programs, like the day carecenter, that have been approved. Willthey be affected by this final agreement?

Spiker: Part of the agreement is thatthese programs and projects that havebeen started or that were moved forwardduring this period, would be ap-proved at the first meeting of thisExecutive Committee.

Update: How much say have peoplefrom A&SHHC had in what's beendeveloped and what's going to be pro-posed as far as our future and our role inthe larger organization? How much inputhave people from this organization had?

Spiker: There is an ad hoc committeethat is planning the organization that willemerge. That committee's membershipwas recommend by Darryl Lippman,Chief Executive Officer of The AllentownHospital, and myself. It is composed ofthe presidents of both medical staffs,Stanley Zeeman, M.D., from the HospitalCenter and Stanley Snyder, M.D., fromAllentown; Richard Fleming, the Presi-dent of this institution, and Morton I.Silverman, M.D., the Chairman of theBoard at Allentown; directors fromA&SHHC and Allentwon includingWilliam Roberts, Valeria Boyer, HenryDent, Abram Samuels, Wilber Slocumand Michael Zarella; and Mr. Lippmanand myself.

Update: As part of the agreement,you talked about a payout of$7,000,000, $5,000,000 of which wouldcome specifically from this hospital. I'dlike to ask you how you think giving thatmoney from this hospital's assets willaffect the hospital. To be more specific,will it have an affect on future salaries ornew equipment and services?

Spiker: It will not have an affect onfuture salaries or benefits. We also in-tend to continue to be able to supportthose services and programs which willmaintain our progressive approach tohealth care. It will mean that we willhave to clearly understand our needs, andset our priorities to insure that our capitalis wisely spent and only on the most im-portant of programs. I do not believethat any of our current or approved pro-grams will be affected.

We will also be able to provide replace-ment equipment when the maintenancecosts on the equipment are not costeffective. I think we will probably find,for all practical purposes, that we willoperate with a tighter belt than we havebeen used to operating in the past.

Update: Will the agreement affect ourability to meet our space needs which arecurrently being identified as part of ourfunctional planning process?

Spiker: I see no reason to be con-cerned about our need to continue theplanning efforts, the identification of ourfacility requirements, and the implemen-tation of those programs. The sourcesand use of funds statement which wehave developed suggests that we canmake the payments as agreed upon toSacred Heart. We can meet our an-ticipated obligations for equipment, newservices and programs and we will stillhave sufficient resources in our fixedasset account to make the appropriatecontribution towards the building programthat should result from our current facilityplanning efforts. The bottom line is Ibelieve we can do all of those things, andat the present moment, we are project-ing, a contribution of $3,000,000 inequity to that building program whichshould begin in 1983 and come tocompletion in 1984-1985.

Update: How will the people at thedepartment head and supervisory levelbe affected? Will department heads re-main the same or will there be onedepartment head for both hospitals?

Spiker: I think I would be remiss if Igave anybody the suggestion that therewould not be some areas within the in-stitution where it is desirable to merge orhave some consolidation take place. Butthe point is right now there is no planand no perception of that occurring. Ifyou went to the larger multi-hospitalsystems that exist today, the more tradi-tional things that appear in the corporateoffices are such things as the public rela-ions, development, planning, riskmanagement, and legal services.

Something similar will most likely occurhere. As I see it today, it's unlikely thatthere will be any merging of operatingdepartments. To merge the operatingdepartments would require the employ-ment of a chief department head. Eachhospital would require an operatingdepartment head, and as I see it, itwould just create a super structure in thehome office which I don't believeanybody wants to s~e happen. Let megive you some history on this point. Inthe middle 60's and early 70's, it was .fashionable and very much in vogue forhospitals to merge and in many casesthey were true mergers. One corporationtook over another corporation. Thelarger one or the more influential one'sname, mission, and policies were givento the residual of the merged corpora-tion. Then there were some consolida-tions which took place with two or threehospitals consolidating into a new cor-poration. In those days, there was atremendous desire from a cost factor and

Izconomy s~andpoint to consolidate and-' perate these hospitals from a central of-fice. I think we've learned over a periodof time that bigness does not meaneconomy or efficiency and thatsometimes you end up with a lot ofoverhead in corporate offices when youhave to duplicate personnel in theoperating institutions. I think the trendtoday is to decentralize as much authorityand responsibility as you can into theoperating entity. The parent company isthen responsible for policies and settingobjectives and performance standardsthat the institutions operate under. Theinstitution that has some autonomy andauthority and responsibility is a happierinstitution-the morale is higher and theproductivity is better. When people can'tidentify with the home office, I thinkproblems are created, and as a result, Iwouldn't see that happening. As youknow, they're splitting up the big cor-porations into smaller ones; we're movingback to manageable -size entities.

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Update: Sacred Heart is, as part ofthe agreement, proposing to put in orhas submitted a certificate of need ap-plication for 115 beds. We still have 64beds here that we are approved to opensometime in the future. We've talkedabout opening one 32-bed nursing unithere sometime in late summer or earlyfall. Will the Sacred Heart application for115 beds affect our ability to open any ofthose 64 beds?

Spiker: The Health Systems plan, atthe present moment, includes the 64unopened beds at A&SHHC as part ofthe current approved bed complement inLehigh County. In addition to our 64unopened beds, the Health Systems plancalls for the addition of still more medicaland surgical beds in this county, thatfigure is 78-80 medical and surgical beds.However, the plan is now being updatedto reflect the increase in population forthe area and the related bed needs. Inaddition, a utilization study is beingundertaken to determine current utiliza-tion by various age categories and it isexpected that that process will increasethe number of needed beds. The bottomline is that I see no impact uponA&SHHC's opening of our beds. Theagreement provides for the opening ofthe first 32- bed unit this summer. Inaddition, Sacred Heart will seek theapproval of their certificate of need foradditional beds and will plan for theopening of those beds according to thecommunity plan.

"What it will do for patient careis ... give both hospitals com-bined resources to accomplishthings that we could not havedone individually."

Update: After this new corporation isformed, will employees keep their yearsof service used to calculate benefits suchas vacation?

Spiker: We don't have that kind ofdetail yet, but my expectation would bethat there would be no change in thosebenefit programs, except to improveupon them in the future as indicated.One idea I want to get across here isthat the agreement does call for a parentand two subsidiary corporations. Beyondthat, there are no further details. The adhoc restructuring committee, which wetalked about, is responsible for studyingand developing the appropriate corporateform and working out the details of thecorporate reorganization. We have noteven begun to discuss those beyond theparent subsidiary concept which has beenaccepted. So, all of the operationalquestions haven't even been discussed.My answer to these questions areassumptions based only on my expecta-tion of what's going to happen.

Update: What do you think is goingto happen to our name if Sacred Heartpulls out? Will our name change?

Spiker: It would be purely speculationon my part to indicate what it would be.There has been no discussion aboutnames at all.

Update: Is there anything you wouldlike to add beyond the questions we'vediscussed?

Spiker: Yes, I would like to add thatwe are very concerned about how thereorganization affects people here atA&SHHC, people's benefits, andpeople's reporting relationships. We arecommitted to maintaining and continuingthis organization along the thrust it hasbeen operating on. We expect to still beon the cutting edge of medicine; we stillexpect to be there with new programsand new services. The advantages weacquire through this corporate reorganiza-tion are the ability to develop a function-ing board early and to jointly withAllentown really plan for our future withsome certainty that we can carry it out.The important thing, from an employeestandpoint, is that this consolidation intoa new parent and subsidiary corporationswill not negatively affect the individualhospitals. What it will do for patient careis that it will give both hospitals combinedresources to accomplish things that wecould not have done individually.

Now that the holidays have gone andleft sweet memories, empty savings ac-counts, wallets, and a well worn creditcard or two, could it be time to startplanning for next year?

At the credit union, we think so. Whynot consider a Christmas Savings (orvacation, or college or whatever) shareaccount?

It's easy; you can have your specifiedamount deducted from your payrollcheck and it can earn 6% interest for youat the same time.

Quick, no mess, no fuss. And justthink how good you'll feel next Christmas.

Credit Union account statements arealso ready and can be picked up at theCredit Union office on 7C, Wednesdayand Friday, 12:00-4:30 P.M.

New Assistant Head nurses named-for the Department of Medical/Surgical Nursingare, standing, left to right: Cheryl Washburn, R.N., 5C, Kim Kern, R.N., 4C andCarolyn Eberhart, R.N., 6A. Sitting are: Mary Ann Bennett, R.N., 4A, MaryLenahan, R.N., 6C, {2nd Carla Wolbach, R.N., 4B. Missing from photo is PamDubbs, R.N., 6B.

Allentown and Sacred Heart Hospital Center1200 S. Cedar Crest Blvd.Allentown, PA 18105

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Richard FlemingPresident

James E. McCambridge, Jr.Vice President

James C. Lanshe, Esq.Secretary

J. Walton St. Clair, Jr.Treasurer

Frank B. AndrewsValeria S. BoyerW. Richard Covert, D.D.SHenry H. DentMichael J. Egan, Esq.Peter E. Farrell, M.D.Walter J. Okunski, M.D.Orlando R. PozzuoliAbram SamuelsAlan H. Schragger, M.D.Morton I. Silverman, M.D.Morton Schneider

Chairman EmeritusEllwyn D. Spiker

Administrator

Non ProfitU.S. Postage PaidPermit No. 1922Allentown, Pa.

18105