Disgruntled, unpaid Pike hospital employees take to the street with protest signs

Unpaid wages and the current state of Pike County Hospital prompted a handful of protesters to take to the street Friday morning in Murfreesboro.

The protestors, which included unpaid former and currently laid-off employees as well as family and friends, held up signs along the roadway that read 'Pay Us,' 'PCH Unfair' and 'X-Mas is Not Cancelled.'

Protestors said the rally had been mounting for months but was pushed into action last week following a remark from one of the hospital's administrators, Arthur Benson, that 'Christmas has been cancelled.'

Laid-off employee Barbara Sweeden said up to 50 employees were due paychecks when the hospital was forced into a temporary suspension of operations in November and that numerous attempts to get paid had been rebuffed. She said when she recently asked Benson if the employees could 'please get paid by Christmas,' Benson responded 'Did you not get my memo? Christmas has been cancelled.'

'It wasn't funny then, and it isn't funny now,' Sweeden said in a released statement signed by the current and former employees working the roadway in front of the hospital.

Pike County Hospital voluntarily closed it doors on Nov. 20 with plans to re-open on Jan. 8. The closure came after years of financial troubles and happened a week after surprise inspections by the Arkansas Department of Health and the arrest of Benson and business partner, Robert Hicks, on felony hot checks charges. The two men, who began leasing the hospital from the county in July through the company Southwest Arkansas Healthcare, are accused of writing bad checks totaling more than $8,000 to a former doctor.

Sweeden said she hoped the rally would result in the employees being paid but she also wanted 'to let people know that some of the stuff that's been in the papers where they're saying they have attempt to pay us is not true.'

Murfreesboro Mayor Jim O'Neal, who has worked at the hospital for more than 30 years as an X-ray technician, was at the hospital Friday morning as the protestors began to arrive. He had been in the hospital gathering up his belongings.

'I'm official laid off,' the mayor said. 'I'm owed five week of pay plus vacation time I never got to use. They have not made an effort to pay me one penny of what they owe me no more than they have for these people out here who have worked and given their lives and time to this hospital.'

O'Neal did not participate in the protest, opting to go to Hope that morning to start the process of receiving his unemployment benefits.

Melissa Molnaird joined the protest after being stuck with an unpaid insurance claim after the administration withheld insurance money out of employee's checks for two months but did not pay the premiums.

'Now I'm stuck with no coverage and more than a $15,000 claim,' said Molnaird.

Molnaird said she felt 'betrayed' by the hospital's current administration and the betrayal reached another level when she learned the hospital's past-due cable bill in the amount of $800 had been paid but no compensation was offered to the employees.

During Friday's protest, a SWEPCO truck arrived to turn off the hospital's electricity due to an unpaid bill. Protestors stated that the past due amount was an estimated $8,000.

'You can't watch TV in the dark,' said one protester as the truck pulled away.

When the power was cut, an emergency generator kicked on, but the generator was shut down Saturday evening, leaving several pieces of county-owned equipment at risk. The generator was reportedly shut down because the company that services the generator had not been paid and a vital component of the machine was removed.

Also during the protest, Crystal Rhoden, who was unaware of the protest, arrived at the hospital's clinic attempting to obtain her family's medical records. She said her new doctor will not see her family until they have the appropriate medical records. Rhoden said she had tried twice to obtain the records and was prepared to pay the $5 per record and 75 cents per page she was told she would have to pay, but no one has been at the hospital to provide the records.

Sweeden said that past attempts to obtain medical records from Nurse Practitioner Tom Lowman had been denied. 'They were told no records would be released until after January because they could not afford the paper or toner.'

'It's like they are holding the dadgum records hostage and they're trying to make money off of the community,' Rhoden said. 'What can I do? I don't know what I can do.'

Sweeden said that the issue of unpaid wages was turned over to the federal labor board two weeks ago and that a case has been opened to investigate the matter.

'Since it is such a large number of employees it could take a while before we see any results,' Sweeden said.

Also on hand for Friday's protest was former hospital administrator Rosemary Fritts. Her sign read 'Hicks is 'Previous Administration.'' Fritts, who worked at the hospital for 25 years before being let go in May when Hicks took over as interim administrator in 2008, said she was there to show support for her former employees.

'The previous administration has been blamed for just about everything, but (Hicks) is the previous administration. He came on board in August of 2008 and you can see what has happened since then,' Fritts said.

Friday's protest spilled into Monday night and grew in size when the hospital employees got on the agenda of the Pike County Quorum Court.

Pike County Judge Don Baker said he preferred waiting until Jan. 8 when the hospital is scheduled to re-open before any action is taken by county. 'We're not going to do anything until then,' he said.

Baker also said he had talked with Hicks this week and that he stated the power would be turned back on at the hospital sometime this week.

Quorum Court members discussed the potential damage that could happen to the county-owned equipment due to the power being shut off and the possibility of the freezing water pipes causing more damage. The Justices of the Peace indicated that they would be prepared to hold a special meeting to address the issues and possibly pay to have the power turned back on in the county's name to save the equipment.