Crossroads Doctor Resigns – Community Services in Question

At 6 p.m. on April 26, 2016, members of the Crossroads Community Services Board of Directors gathered for another tense meeting fraught with outbursts from members of the public and Board members.

After a brief dinner for the assembled Board members, the meeting got underway with presentations made to several employees for their years of service to Crossroads. Cyntina Hines and Debbie Reynolds were recognized for five years of service and Kevin Richard was recognized for 10 years of service.

Following the service awards, Diana Messer gave a report to the Board about the Supported Employment programs at Crossroads. Crossroads’ website states that Supported Employment “offer[s] a wide variety of services which include situational assessment, work adjustment training, individual placement, and mobile work crew to any individual with a disability.” According to her report, Crossroads has more than 60 people working in a variety of positions including lawn crews (servicing more than 15 churches, the YMCA, half of Longwood’s campus, and more than 120 residential properties in the area), janitorial crews (servicing churches, fire departments, and apartments in the area), a mobile car wash crew, and a variety of other seasonal jobs. The program is CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) certified, indicating compliance with “a rigorous set of internationally recognized organization and program standards during an on-site survey,” the next survey to start in August of this year.

Board Chair Sid Smyth (representing Lunenburg County) and board member Jim Wiley (representing Nottoway) shared their enthusiasm for the program and its successes in the community.

Following the presentation and a warm reception from the assembled board and members of the public, the Board unanimously approved the Board minutes from the previous meeting as well as the financial report with no questions raised on either issue.

The Board then turned to a public comment period with Chairman Smyth addressing the assembled public, “Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say one thing. Whoever is up here is the one that has the attention of the group, the Board, and I expect the same courtesy from you. Let them speak, we don’t need to hear mumbling. If you want to sign up and speak, feel free to, we want you to speak. But other than that, please show them respect.” Smyth then advised the speakers that they’d have three minutes each.

First to the podium was Brandi Eggleston, a licensed practical nurse and case manager who has been at Crossroads for more than seven years. Eggleston began, “I am here to voice concerns, I’m not here to point the blame at anybody. Individual care began to deteriorate after the ‘work-force reduction’ in January and is continuing to do so rapidly.” “Our child psychiatrist, Dr. Heather Henig, has submitted her resignation.” “…Her resignation directly impacts the agency’s ability to meet the medication needs of our current and future seriously emotionally disturbed children. Thus far, the only solution staff has been offered is to link our individuals with their primary care physicians…”

“Given my current position as a Licensed Practical Nurse and a Qualified Mental Health Professional, I have first-hand experience in coordinating care with the primary care physicians in our area. I am aware of the apprehensiveness and resignation that general practitioners share in regards to prescribing psychotropic medications for adults and children. In short, they just do not feel comfortable doing this.”

“Due to our inability to meet the treatment needs of our individuals, we have created an atmosphere of uncertainty and distrust amongst staff, our individuals and our community. It is difficult to assure our individuals that the agency is vested in their treatment and recovery when over and over, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

In closing, Eggleston emotionally addressed the Board: “I implore the Board to support Crossroads staff in fulfilling our ethical and professional duties to our individuals and this community by restoring leadership that does not create obstacles but instead empowers its employees and strengthens our ability to provide exceptional care.”

Next up was Cheri Kindler. “I also have some concerns. I have sat on this for a long time, but at this point, I am concerned enough that I need to speak…” “Please do not let anybody tell you that the problems we’re currently experiencing started many years ago. Every worksite has problems, but the ones we’re having now are very different from the ones in the past. We had solid and consistent leadership, everybody had boundaries and knew exactly who to go to for questions about policy or help with cases. Since the removal of our infrastructure, and that is what I call it when the four senior managers were removed, I knew the cookie was going to crumble because we cannot function without those four positions. These are folks who are seasoned, they have been here a long time, they wore many hats, and were very dedicated to helping staff with clients. Since that has been removed, I have watched our organization shift into the dynamics one would see in a dysfunctional family.” “When a family has a problem within it,” “…what normally happens is some of the family members will create a script that everybody is supposed to be following.” “Organizations can also be dysfunctional in that same type of way.” “So staff get the message that there will be consequences if they speak out. Many staff are now silent and they’re following the script out of fear.” “Now with the resignation of Dr. Henig, and we’re not taking new patients, I have spoken to the three medical providers in Lunenburg and they are not going to take the patients. They will not do the medicine.”

Susan Arms, a therapist for 15 years at Crossroads, presented the Board with an organizational chart that she’d created, “to help you understand how my coworkers’ opinions can vary so much.” The chart shows the Board of Directors under the seven counties served by Crossroads. Under the Board, the Executive Director is above the four branches of Crossroads: Administrative Services, Human Resources, Support Services, and Clinical Services. After a brief explanation of the first three branches, she stated, “The Clinical Services are the people you’re hearing from. We have the psychiatric and nursing, we’ve got Town House, we’ve got prevention, we also have emergency services, all the clinics… our substance abuse services, they are all in our Clinical Services Department.” “All of the personnel changes that have occurred since August 2015 have been in the clinical division. The four managers who were laid off worked in the clinical division. These managers provided oversight and needed support and direction to employees in the clinical division. I feel the loss of these four people has created this communication block. No one knows who to go to, what the system is, where we go. And I think people are scared. They are scared they might lose their job if they speak up.” “I enjoy working with my clients at Crossroads. However, I do not feel secure in my position due to all these changes. I fear I will be downsized, reorganized out or forced to take a pay cut. I am speaking for myself but believe that others in the Clinical Division have the same concerns.”

Dr. Heather Henig, a doctor at Crossroads for two years, approached the podium to discuss her resignation. Henig explained that she had tendered her resignation on April 15, effective May 10. “I have enjoyed working here, I have learned a lot, I feel that I am burnt out with the system, the dysfunction of the system, and I am resigning… because of that.” Citing “gross violation of professional boundaries,” Henig explained that, upon being informed that an incoming nurse practitioner would be working under Henig’s personal medical license, she “had asked that I at least meet them, because there has to be some trust involved. It took me over sixteen years to be where I am today and I don’t take my medical license lightly. I take very seriously my work with my patients so I asked that I meet them first before they’re under my license.” “That wasn’t done.” “Then I was told that ‘yes, she would need to be under my license, temporarily’ and there was no mention of giving any administrative time for any supervision. I was concerned that there was no training in psychiatric.” Additionally, she relayed a situation involving the recent departure of a part-time doctor, “It was not communicated that I was going assume responsibility of all the patients.” “In one week, I was to assume all responsibility of all these people.” “I had no idea who these people were, I had never met them before, and I was expected to write medication without seeing them when the previous doctor, it was his plan to have them seen in a month.” “It was communicated in a staff meeting that Dr. Henig had agreed to assume all these patients. It was news to me. This was Thursday, going on Monday when this was to start.” “I have no problem with helping out, that’s not the issue. The issue is that if I’m going to help out, I need to be involved in the plan.” “I don’t mind working overtime. But I can’t work on a Saturday without input from the staff because its not just me alone that’s doing it. I don’t even mind working without getting paid on Saturday to get our patients getting taken care of. I have no problem with that.” “I do appreciate you listening to me and I do appreciate my experience here, and I wish everybody luck.”

Mary Jackson, another employee of 17 years, addressed the Board, concluding, “She [Baker] says she has the Board’s support. If you support her, you need to help her. Because you’ve heard from all these people that the structure is falling down.” “What can we do to help you help us? What do you need from us? Do we need to work on Saturdays?”  “What exactly is it that we need to do to get this moving because it’s not going well the way it is. We can all sit and blame Dr. Baker all day, all night, for the rest of the year. She came into this as a new agency, some people were already in place when she got here. They should have been directing and helping her the right way.”

Valerie Morris, an employee of 18 years, addressed the Board on a decidedly positive note: “The staff that are here are continuing to work very hard to take care of our folks and it hurts me personally to hear constant negativity but there are three or four hundred other employees with Crossroads that may have a different opinion that what you hear.”

Daphne Weaver, stood to speak, “I can comfortably that I am speaking for all of I.D. Services tonight, which is over half the employees of the agency and brings in a very big portion of the revenue. Our employees have been given the opportunity to share concerns… and I can safely say that those are not the opinions.” “Although not to minimize their complaints, it’s very small when you look at the whole agency. It doesn’t mean its not important.” “I just want it to be known that a lot of the things that are expressed are not ours.” In closing, Weaver shared some good news with positive results from four reviews conducted by various state and federal agencies. “No matter what anyone may have heard from the podium in here, read on Facebook, read in the newspaper, that says that our leadership does not support our mission and that no one works together as a team anymore, I’ll leave you with this example: These four reviews, conducted by …major outside entities that let you know that without what we have, we would not have done so well.” She concluded, “Over half this agency is running smoothly.”

Her three minutes gone, Jonathan Crawford, one of the four individuals let go in the reduction in force earlier in the year, interjected, “On the I.D. side, nobody said anything about the I.D. side not running. The things expressed tonight were about the…” Crawford was interrupted by Chairman Smyth, “Excuse me, are you signed up, Jonathan?” Crawford responded, “I’m not.” Smyth responded, “Then you don’t speak.”

“Wait a minute,” Jim Wiley (Nottoway) said, standing and taking several steps towards Crawford. He continued, “When he spoke to you, he spoke to you very nicely. Don’t come back.”

Chairman Smyth continued the meeting without interruption, asking for a motion to enter closed session. The motion was read and reflected three separate exemptions listed in Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act: the provisions for real estate transactions, personnel issues, and legal issues. The motion was seconded and the Board entered closed session.

More than an hour later, Chairman Smyth asked for a motion to re-enter open session. The Board held a roll-call vote, with each member certifying that only matters properly exempted in the previous motion were discussed in closed session. The motion passed unanimously.

Executive Director Dr. Susan Baker presented her report to the Board, indicating that Developmental Disabilities services will be added to the array of services offered by Crossroads, starting on July 1, 2016. Additionally, the employee health care program expenses have gone down this year, allowing Crossroads to reduce the cost to the employees while increasing the match paid by Crossroads.

Chairman Smyth then asked for a motion “to accept the recommendation for proposed board committee and meeting design that is in the board packet. Adding the personnel committee, the program service committee, changing the time and location for the meeting… beginning in June.” The motion was made and seconded and passed unanimously. Dr. Baker explained Wednesday via email that, “the motion was to restructure the Board meeting to have Committee Meetings at 6 and the Public meeting at 7. The Committees include Executive, Finance, Personnel, and Program. Each will meet when there is a purpose.”

The May Board meeting will be held at Charley’s Waterfront Café in Farmville at 6:30 p.m.

A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting.