Keith to Step Down at OSF

Journal Star shared a link.

11 hours ago

OSF Saint Francis CEO Keith Steffen plans to step down after 17 years in the position.

OSF Saint Francis CEO Keith Steffen plans to step down

www.pjstar.com

PEORIA — The CEO of OSF Saint Francis Medical Center plans to retire at the end of the year, capping a 34-year career with the...

1 ShareLikeLike ·  · Share

• Top Comments

  Eric Rahn and 41 others like this.
• 
• 

  John A Carroll We have to remember that many of Keith’s bad decisions over the past 17 years were forced on him by OSF Corporate. Corporate needed someone to take the heat and they paid Keith handsomely for his services. 
  
  For example, when Keith closed the Psychiat...See More

  Like · Reply · 5 · 10 hours ago
• 

  John A Carroll Keith told me in his office at OSF that "Fear is a good thing among employees." Incredible but true. 
  
  The New York Times reported this several days ago about the VA Medical center debacle in the United States: ...See More

  Like · Reply · 42 minutes ago
• View 3 more comments

Whistleblowers

John A Carroll

18 mins · 

“Intimidation or retaliation against whistle-blowers — or any employee who raises a hand to identify a legitimate problem, make a suggestion, or report what may be a violation of law, policy, or our core values — is absolutely unacceptable,” Mr. Gibson said. Administrators who retaliate against whistle-blowers, he added, would be disciplined.

Top Investigator Has Blistering Criticism for V.A. Response to Whistle-Blowers

The head of an independent agency within the executive branch criticized the...

THE NEW YORK TIMES|BY RICHARD A. OPPEL JR.

LikeLike ·  · Share

• Eric Rahn likes this.
• 

  John A Carroll OSF-SFMC in Peoria needs to read this article. Their employees need protection.

  13 mins · Like

When A Good Hospital Loses Its Way

John A Carroll

10 hrs · Peoria, IL · 

When A Good Hospital Loses Its Way...

This is a blog post I wrote in January, 2007. It explains in detail my last few months at OSF. I am very glad that I took copious paper notes of conversations in 2001 and during the years that followed. Back then I had no idea of the power of a computer or a blog site and could not have defined the term "social media" during those years.

This will be painful reading for many. But I think it is better to have this information "out there" and not hidden like our powerful institutions in Peoria would like it to be. Maybe someone in the future can benefit.

http://johncarrollsposts.blogspot.com/2007/03/when-good-hospital-loses-its-way.html

johncarrollsposts: When a Good Hospital Loses Its Way

JOHNCARROLLSPOSTS.BLOGSPOT.COM

LikeLike ·  · Share

• 1 share
• 

  John A Carroll If this post is read in its entirety and believed by the OSF Board of Directors, there is only one response that they can have.

  5 mins · Like
• 

Why The Peoria Fire Department Should Have Been Transporting Patients During the Last Two Decades

Several of the Peoria Fire Department stations are now Advanced Life Support (ALS). In other words the firefighters at these stations are paramedics and can provide ALS at the scene of a medical emergency.

However, the Peoria Fire Department still cannot transport patients to any emergency department in Peoria. Local politics have not allowed this to happen.

AudioDigest Emergency Medicine (June 21, 2014) contains this paragraph about transport of trauma patients:

Rapid transport: triage critical to determine which patients to transport first; adequate on-scene organization required to distribute patients as widely as possible to avoid overwhelming closest hospital or trauma center; ALS vs basic life support (BLS) — no role for ALS on scene if transport available; BLS can be performed by civilians (except needle thoracostomy); leading causes of preventable combat deaths or terrorist-type bombings include extremity hemorrhage, tension pneumothorax, and airway obstruction (all readily mitigated by simple BLS maneuvers by emergency medical technicians, first responders, or lay people).

What this means is that no matter if the Peoria Fire Department stations are BLS or ALS, triage and rapid transport are what are important to save lives.

I wonder how many lives could have been saved in Peoria over the last two decades if the Peoria Fire Department had been able to transport the patient quickly to one of our area Emergency Departments rather than waiting on Advanced Medical Transport (AMT) to arrive. However, the money is made in transport and this is not something that the leaders of our community who support AMT want to surrender to the Peoria Fire Department.