September 18, 2024
A letter to the residents of our community, and to the patients, employees, and leadership team of South County Hospital.
I am the Chief of Emergency Medicine at South County Hospital. I have been in Emergency Department leadership for nearly 15 years in the state of Rhode Island, have been a practicing Emergency Medicine physician for the last 25 years, and have been a Rhode Island resident for the entirety of that time. Before accepting a job here, I was well aware of the excellent reputation of South County Hospital, and that is one of the reasons I chose to come here.
I have now enjoyed working at South County Hospital and caring for the patients of our community for nearly 5 years. Having worked at several other hospitals in the state, I can verify what we all know to be true – South County Hospital is a special place. We are fortunate to live and work in a lovely community in a very beautiful corner of our state. South County Hospital has always been perceived as an essential and unique asset of our community, and one which provides exceptional care across the spectrum of medical specialties that can be supported by a small, community hospital - the last hospital in Rhode Island that remains independent of a larger health care system.
Health care is a challenging business anywhere. In Rhode Island, where insurance reimbursement rates remain significantly lower than in neighboring states, generating sufficient revenue to provide that exceptional care can be especially difficult. We have all felt this – overcrowded Emergency Departments, longer wait times to see a medical provider in general, loss of primary care physicians in the community, and lack of subspecialty providers in the state are all examples. This problem will likely worsen without administrative action at the state level, and is not caused by the performance of any one hospital or hospital leader, yet understandably causes a great deal of concern for all affected parties.
Proportionally, South County Hospital has been doing well in comparison to most other hospitals in the state. This is no easy task for the leadership team here, and sometimes involves making difficult decisions that will not please everyone and can potentially damage relationships and influence perceptions about the quality and quantity of care delivered to our patients.
I was surprised and saddened to see the recent efforts of a small group of individuals who sought to criticize the hospital and its leadership team. Their comments also raised unfounded concerns about the quality of care delivered here. While I understand that some members of this group likely justify their efforts out of concerns for the patients of our community, or based on their past experiences, the motives of others are less clear to me.
The health care landscape and certainly the nuances of running South County Hospital have changed over the years. We need to strive to continually improve the hospital and the services provided to our patients moving forward, and to focus less on grievances from the past. Ultimately, I believe the activities of this group have had what I suspect is an unintended side effect - the potential erosion of the reputation of the hospital as a whole, and the community’s faith in us as providers of exceptional medical care.
I am writing this letter to express what I know is true, and not based on hyperbole or opinion - that this exceptional, high-quality care is being delivered now at the hospital and will be for the foreseeable future. While no human being or hospital is perfect, I know that collectively we do an excellent job every day at South County Hospital providing care to the patients of our community, and I am proud to work here.
Chief of Emergency Medicine
South County Hospital
