Page 36 of Ellie 1

The next day was when Tommy came back from suspension and that was a lot of why I’d been so busy… And what tipped me over to not start something with Dr. Clark. Not because of Tommy.

No, because of what I was pushing with the board.

“You always say it’s only Ms. Reed, but clearly it’snotif all of the department heads are here saying the same thing and the hospital was reprimanded by the president,” Ms. Boyd said firmly, cutting into Joel Warren’s ranting this was all overkill. “It’s needed, and we fell behind—”

“Don’t act like you care about more than your niece,” Warren snapped. “You were right there agreeing when we—”

“No, Ineveragreed,” she snapped. “I nodded my head knowing it was done. I was tootiredto argue with you on something else when you were being so damn belligerent.” She gave him a look of hate. “Honestly, I’m tired of you being our supposed leader because you are the main reason so much of this hospital is toxic starting with how you treat Ms. Reed.”

I could have been pushed over with a feather to hear that… And then others agreed.

Dr. Carpenter used that lead-in to go off on how the board wasn’t of any help to the hospital, and if this didn’t change, there was going to be a major upset—all of the department heads agreed.

I’d never seen Warren speechless before. I expected the look of hate he gave me, but even Gordon told him to sit down and not make things worse.

“This is too much of an overcorrection,” Warren grumbled once we finally outlined the new guidelines and HR rules.

“Maybe,” I accepted. “Probably.” I swallowed a chuckle when people looked at me in shock. “But it’sneededbecause we let this go on too long. The kids need to be spanked, and we as the parents have to be harsh and correct this out-of-control behavior. Let’s see where it takes us and maybe we can tone it back next year.”

That seemed to appease those who were vehemently against all of this.

“But things cannot go back to what they were,” Dr. Carpenter said firmly. “I’mtiredof wasting my valuable time training people—we put so many limited resources into people only to lose them over this bullshit. And it ties Ell—Ms. Reed’s hands from expanding. We can’t expand and push medicine with the revolving door and joke we’ve become.”

Dr. James snorted. “I’m actually shocked we got Dr. Clark here with the reputation we’ve started having. If it wasn’t always his dream to work here and Ms. Reed promised him that things would change, he would have walked. He made that clear. That he didn’t want to be used for money by another board of directors and work in a toxic place.”

I didn’t think he was fibbing, but that was surprising. I was glad that the board seemed to believe him and took it in step.

“How do we roll this out?” Ms. Boyd asked me when there was a lull in the conversation.

“First of all, from this moment, everyone is on the same page with this and agrees,” I said firmly. “Publicly. There is no more talking trash about policies oruswhen we reprimand people while golfing with your buddies or any of that crap.”

“Or people will be removed from the board,” Dr. Carpenter said firmly. He sighed when even I gave him a surprised look. “Thepresidentreprimanded us. Our trauma response was flawless. Our doctors excellent and—we saved so many, and we should have been glowing from all of the praise, but instead I’m embarrassed.

“I’ve never been so embarrassed in my long career, and it’s because of the board who doesn’t do anythingusefuland just eats resources and gives us headaches. Get rid of them all and let the department heads become the new board like other hospitals are doing. That’s my vote, and unless someone changes my mind, that’s where I’m at.”

And he was taking the heat off of me. The other department heads immediately agreed, several of the board going visibly pale and looking to me… Except I played up my surprise. This hadn’t been the plan. They were pulling out this ace early to help me.

Alan was tired of seeing me struggle so much and handle it all alone. I really did love that dumb man.

I shook myself out of my surprise. “We publicly agree to this and no more badmouthing it. We are the team to implement this and right the ship.” I let out a slow breath. “We will let all of the attendings know in the morning and then in meetings from there. Each department will have meetings with HR to make it clear this is real and not rumor.

“We will have training first about how this will go, and then everyone will sign the new addendum to their contracts. Notsigning it puts them on unpaid leave. No exceptions. I don’t care who it is, and they will not run to any of you for help. This has to happen. I’m interviewing two additional staff for HR who specialize in these kinds of situations.”

“Putting their nose where it doesn’t belong?” someone snarked.

“Righting the ship when it’s long overdue,” I answered coldly. “And how to do it the best way without smearing the hospital that it took so long. They will make it clear that the past is the past and this is all going forward so we don’t get slapped with tons of lawsuits and issueslike we deserve. They will protect us and the good people we have going forward.”

“And you plan to reach out to the staff we’ve lost and see if we can’t get them back?” Ms. Boyd asked. “How will that work?”

“It depends on if things turn around and how well this works,” I answered honestly. “That’s a later goal because I wouldn’t come back on the promise. I would want to see it had worked for at least a month or so.”

“Good point,” she sighed. “And there has to be some sort of incentive.”

“Why bother with them then?” someone else on the board asked, seeming annoyed that we weren’t focused where we should be.

I stared the idiot down, making it clear that I thought he was an idiot. “Who do you think has been telling everyone the HR mess our hospital has become? How do you think all of these other hospitals and doctors know it’s so damn toxic here?” I nodded when he flinched. “Yes, the people who experienced all of this andleft.”

“So get back as many as we can while making it clear we’ve fixed things, and that sends a loud message it wasn’t as bad or—good, good,” one of the other department heads muttered. “My vote would be moving costs. That’s always the big one that hitsmost the hardest. The deposit on a new place to live and moving costs. Take it partially from the board and the reason they—”

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