Audience ‘wowed’ by Martha’s Vineyard Hospital CEO

Forum focuses on services and future of Island healthcare.

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A wide-ranging forum held by Martha’s Vineyard Hospital CEO Denise Schepici covered the increasing number of primary-care positions, the slow death of Windemere nursing home, and even the hot-button issue of abortion.

Schepici, in her second year as the hospital’s chief executive, was engaging and informative during the hour-and-a-half forum at Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center. (She got some chuckles when she talked about the 125 babies born at the hospital: “That’s less than a baby a day, but we’re there to catch and deliver those little munchkins.”)

The session comes a year after her first forum. Schepici was highly praised by the audience of more than 60 people.

“Wow, you have done so much in the last year,” said Peter Brown, who moderated the event. “You all deserve a ton of credit.”

That turned into subsequent speakers talking about Schepici’s “wow” factor. Although it was 90-year-old Sam Feldman who really wowed the crowd. Looking more like a fit 60-year-old, Feldman said, “There are three stages of life — youth, middle age, and you look amazing.”

Schepici took over at the hospital after months of tumult, following up after former CEO Joe Woodin was abruptly fired. After Woodin’s firing, the community largely lost faith in the hospital’s board of directors.

Schepici started Tuesday’s forum giving a detailed presentation on the hospital. The hospital had just 965 admitted patients from Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2018. During that same time period, 16,079 patients required outpatient care, which Schepici emphasized shows a need for more space to see patients. Construction is underway on a project that will use part of Windemere not being used. That could open by the end of the year, and then the hospital will look at more physician space, parking, and other needs. “It’s not sexy like building a new hospital, but when you can’t get the supplies in the loading dock, it’s a problem,” she said.

The hospital turned a modest profit of $156,000 during its fiscal year, but subsidized the $1.2 million loss at Windemere. Still, Schepici tried to allay fears that the nursing home would close any time soon and joked that her husband says she sounds like a politician making that promise. She said she has the support of the board in the decision to keep Windemere open.

“It would be easy for them to say, Shut it down, and deal with the consequences,” she said.

She called her relationship with the board a positive one, and also praised the hospital’s relationship with Massachusetts General and Partners. “They bring resources we couldn’t afford to buy ourselves,” she said.

Schepici praised the hospital’s 633 employees, introduced two of the newest (Kimberlee Labonte, the new director of development and community engagement, and Dr. Ruth Barron, a staff psychiatrist). She touched on some of the partnerships with Martha’s Vineyard Community Services and Gosnold off-Island. “Bit by bit we’re trying to tackle this problem that’s so prevalent on the Island,” she said of addiction.

She also talked about the struggle to keep employees because of the housing situation on the Island. The hospital spends $2.2 million per year to buy, lease, and subsidize housing — she mentioned the recent collaboration with Island Housing Trust to create housing for 14 hospital employees. A new incentive offers loan forgiveness for nurses who agree to stay at the hospital for five years.

“One of them came to me in tears and basically said, ‘I can’t afford to live here,’” she said. Schepici met with her staff to see what they could do, and came up with the loan forgiveness proposal. “We can’t lose these people. We have nurses who are retiring soon, and these new grads are the ones who are going to be caring for you, and you, and you, and me. We need them to stay.”

As it always is, Windemere was a topic of discussion. The nursing home, which is licensed for 104 beds, is down to 51 patients.

Schepici is working with Navigator to consider a different model to provide skilled nursing care, using the Green House model with the hopes of using land the hospital owns in Tisbury.

Fred Thornburgh of West Tisbury, who works at Windemere, said he understands the decision to eventually move away from that model. He also said the new health insurance provided by the hospital is the best he’s ever had, because it provides alternative medicines.

Thornburgh asked if the hospital intends to get into things like holistic or chiropractic care.

“We don’t want to compete with the wellness community,” Schepici said.

She also assured the audience that the $4.1 million raised through donations and investments remains on the Island. “That’s money that stays here, with us, for our care,” she said.

However, in answering a question, Schepici said no abortions will be performed on-Island any time soon. There is not enough demand, and it would be difficult to provide quality care and privacy, she said. “They don’t ask where to get [an abortion] here,” Schepici said.

But Dr. Terry Kriedman, an Island gynecologist, disagreed, saying women don’t want to have to travel off-Island for an abortion.

Len Morris of Tisbury pressed Schepici on the need for long-term care, and Paddy Moore of Healthy Aging Martha’s Vineyard said she’s looking forward to how the hospital addresses the state-mandated dementia care requirement.

Linda Wilson talked about a problem she had with her knee replacement surgery, saying a hospital employee was aggressive in having her sign up for physical therapy even before the surgery was completed.

Schepici promised to look into it. It was reminiscent of a year earlier when a woman told Schepici she was not offered an alternative to opiates for anesthesia. During Tuesday’s forum, Schepici told the crowd that alternatives are now in place as a result of that question.

In closing, Schepici urged the community to continue reaching out to her with their comments and concerns. She answers emails, and many people have her cell phone number, but she asked people to connect with the hospital through the website so they could be directed to the person who could best answer their questions.

When all the public’s questions had been exhausted, Brown asked Schepici what the public could do for her and the hospital. “Keep doing what you’re doing,” she said. Don’t get angry or allow issues to become pent up, but instead work collaboratively, Schepici said.

“The more we work together and stop fighting with one another, the better public health will be on this Island,” she said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again tonight, we are stronger together than apart … let’s keep it civil.”