An Akron council member is weighing in on the emergency room staffing changes at Summa Health System and subsequent fallout.
Tara Mosley-Samples, whose city ward houses Summa Akron City Hospital, met with a dozen of the health system’s current and former employees behind closed doors Thursday morning at City Hall.
The employees, who remain anonymous out of fear for their jobs, asked the councilwoman to call the meeting.
Mayor Dan Horrigan’s office said it knew nothing of the meeting until the last minute — when Terry Albanese, the mayor’s assistant for Education, Health and Families, was asked to sit in as an observer. Albanese was not available to comment on the meeting Thursday evening.
Akron’s elected leaders have not taken sides since Summa swapped emergency room physician staffing companies on New Year’s Day, replacing Summa Emergency Associates (SEA) with Canton-based US Acute Care Solutions (USACS) after failed contract negotiations.
After the meeting, Mosley-Samples said she was convinced that bringing SEA back is the right move.
“I’m concerned, and I think that we as a city and council can come in to help them maneuver through some of these issues that they are having at Summa,” she said. “I think we owe them that. They are the No. 1 employer in the city and I would hate to see layoffs as patients go to other hospitals and networks. This is bigger than just their jobs — they care about this community and they care about their patients. They want to see the hospital restored to the stellar reputation it had. And I agree with that.”
She said she intends to urge her colleagues on the council to adopt a possible resolution that would support SEA’s return.
But it’s not that easy.
Summa has a new contract with USACS. And neither USACS or Summa would discuss whether the three-year contract could be terminated early by either party.
A month after the staffing changes, Mosley-Samples said she took her mother to City Hospital’s ER for breathing issues from the flu.
She dropped her mother off then went home to read the mail and tend to chores. When she returned three hours later, she said her mother hadn’t moved.
“There were people laying on the floor with pillows and sheets,” said Mosley-Samples, who complained to nurses that her mother has had triple-bypass surgery and should not wait. “My mom was admitted, but you have all these elderly people waiting. I get that it’s flu season and the numbers are up, but nobody should wait that long to see a doctor.”
The Beacon Journal contacted USACS to inquire about wait times and the number of patients processed each day before and after the staffing switch. USACS, which referred comment on this story to Summa, said Mosley-Samples has not reached out.
In an email to the Beacon Journal on Thursday night, Summa spokesman Michael Bernstein criticized Mosley-Samples’ action but declined to respond to questions about emergency room wait times.
“No person from Summa Heath who is authorized to represent the organization in a formal manner was made aware of a meeting with any member of City Council,” he said. “We have, however, been made aware of the misinformation shared during the meeting. The claims made are false and without merit. Finally, on behalf of the Summa Health board of directors, our emergency medicine services contract with USACS is final.”
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.