To the Editor:
I was very happy that Bayonne Medical Center and the (HPAE) Health Professionals Union have come to an agreement on their employment contracts. I want the hospital to make a profit, but not at the expense of their employees. These men and women have sacrificed their salaries and raises in the past. The employees of Bayonne Medical Center make up a very large part of the community of Bayonne.
It was I who Dan Kane spoke to when the hospital needed help. I am the only current councilman who attended most of the bankruptcy hearings in 2007. In fact, I am the only current councilman who attended any of the bankruptcy hearings. I was told by Judge Stern that he was prepared to close the hospital the day I spoke in court. I confirmed that the City Council would agree to bond for $6 million to keep the hospital from closing while the sale went from the old to the new owners. Judge Stern agreed not to close the hospital because of the council’s quick action.
There is much litigation from many secured and unsecured creditors towards the old Bayonne Medical Center. How much money could come back to the City of Bayonne is something I cannot tell you. What I can tell you is if you divide the cost by the 60,000 residents of Bayonne, it would roughly cost each citizen $100 to keep Bayonne Medical Center open as an acute care facility. The only other alternative was an ambulatory care facility, which is not acceptable for our great city. The City Council was unanimous in its approval.
In 2008, I became the municipal council representative to the Bayonne Medical Center Board of Directors.
While preparing for the June meeting, I was informed by Dan Kane, the CEO, that the board would not discuss the contract at the meeting. This disturbed me. When some of the contract specifics were told to me by the CEO over the phone, I felt they were unfair to the employees. Even though there has not been transparency on financial records and contracts, I stayed on the board in the hope that I could lobby for these changes. These changes never came, and, in fact, were repudiated during state mandated hospital board training. It was there that I was to learn that the state’s view is that all “for-profit” hospital board members have a fiduciary responsibility only to the owners to make money. I did not agree. I was told that if any of my council colleagues wanted to know any hospital information, that I was not allowed to speak to them and should direct them to the president or CEO of the hospital.
The reason I was on the Board of Directors of the hospital was to keep my council colleagues up to date on hospital information. This was part of the CHAPA agreement.
My obligation as a councilman is to the people of Bayonne. This includes the 800 plus employees of the hospital.
I resigned from the board only after the hospital workers were locked out. It was at that time that I felt I had to make a stand so that the hospital employees would not lose what they have worked so hard for over the many years. I felt I could not sit on a board that would not let me (and all board members except the owners) take part in the important issues facing the hospital.
Since my resignation, I have spoken with Mr. Kane, the CEO, several times and will continue to keep in touch with him about hospital matters. The hospital did not have a councilman on the board before the new owners took over, and I would gladly serve on the board again if more transparency were instituted for board members. There is currently legislation for more transparency being introduced in the New Jersey Assembly and the New Jersey Senate, even though the hospital association will most likely fight against it.
If I had to do it all over again, I would, because the citizens of Bayonne deserve to have an acute care facility with quality health care, and with excellent, topnotch employees who are treated fairly by their employer – Bayonne Medical Center.
COUNCILMAN GARY LA PELUSA SR.