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First of all, I'm not comparing anything. The article I cited discusses quality of care (specifically as it relates to readmissions, mortality rates, safety scores and unwarranted hospitalizations) not quantity of care.
Don't shoot the messenger.
Nuh-uh. You're not getting off that easily by deflecting. The post I specifically quoted...explain how that does not directly COMPARE what people are getting in the Triad (12 counties, 11,000 sq. miles, 1.6 Million People) - home to...
- Cone Health (Gboro) 900 Beds (Level 2 Trauma Center)
- Novant Winston-Salem - 900 Beds
- Baptist - 885 Beds (Level 1 Trauma Center)
- A direct bus line at PTI Airport SPECIFICALLY designed to take people to and from Duke and UNC Hospitals
- All of the other small, regional hospitals
...to Eastern North Carolina (1.4 million people, over 30 counties, 57,000 sq miles) - home to:
- Vidant Medical Center 900 beds (Level 1 Trauma Center)
- Wilson Medical Center 200 beds
- Other small Vidant hospitals
Let's not even then take into consideration the poverty levels, number of people on Medicare/Medicaid, and the fact that Vidant Health is responsible and required to care for underprivileged populations to a far more significant degree than the private Novant and Baptist are. Let's not take into consideration either the fact that Baptist Medical Center alone (a medical park with ONE hospital) employs over 12,000 people in comparison to the 9,000 people that Vidant employs at ALL of their locations.
Your argument in it of itself assumes that you're comparing the quantity of care BECAUSE you brought up something like the Triad - an area that has such a significantly higher amount of care per capita.
People, unfortunately, come to Vidant with serious conditions that haven't necessarily been as well attended to AND to die because it's the only place in the area to do it. That's why the statistics about "quality" look like they do. Because the quantity isn't there, and there's no choice in the matter because - as you know - that's Eastern NC in a nutshell.
The folks at Vidant are a thankless bunch, and they deal with an unbelievable load.
Eastern NC isn't the only part of NC with poverty and high levels of medicare/medicaid recipients. The rural counties surrounding Forsyth and Guilford do too.
And the number of employees is completely irrelevant.
So sorry your precious feelings got hurt. Have a lollipop and try to calm down.
Eastern NC isn't the only part of NC with poverty and high levels of medicare/medicaid recipients. The rural counties surrounding Forsyth and Guilford do too.
And the number of employees is completely irrelevant.
So sorry your precious feelings got hurt. Have a lollipop and try to calm down.
You're clueless. Absolutely clueless. My feelings aren't hurt, what's unfortunate is that people like you read articles like that, and your sheer ignorance becomes so much more blissful because you think you have some idea what you're talking about.
Do you want to compare the poverty, opportunity, and care between the two? Eastern North Carolina accounts for 25% of the state's poverty. That mean's 1 in 4 impoverished people in North Carolina live East of 95 and are satisfied by 1 legitimate Medical Center. You really want to compare them?
How can you say that the number of employees caring for patients in 1 hospital being significantly larger than the number of employees caring for patients in 8 hospitals is irrelevant? It directly correlates to the issue - Vidant has to do more with less every single day.
If you don't see that, you're unfortunately clueless. And you should shy away from invoking an opinion in conversations like this until you do some research, my friend.
You're clueless. Absolutely clueless. My feelings aren't hurt, what's unfortunate is that people like you read articles like that, and your sheer ignorance becomes so much more blissful because you think you have some idea what you're talking about.
Do you want to compare the poverty, opportunity, and care between the two? Eastern North Carolina accounts for 25% of the state's poverty. That mean's 1 in 4 impoverished people in North Carolina live East of 95 and are satisfied by 1 legitimate Medical Center. You really want to compare them?
How can you say that the number of employees caring for patients in 1 hospital being significantly larger than the number of employees caring for patients in 8 hospitals is irrelevant? It directly correlates to the issue - Vidant has to do more with less every single day.
If you don't see that, you're unfortunately clueless. And you should shy away from invoking an opinion in conversations like this until you do some research, my friend.
I'm not your friend, and I'm far from clueless. If you think poverty only exists in eastern NC, then YOU are clearly clueless. By your own numbers, 3 in 4 of the state's impoverished population lives west of I-95. Rockingham County, for example, can pretty much match any eastern NC county for poverty and other health factors.
Total number of employees is irrelevant, for obvious reasons. Frontline employees per patient might be a relevant number. Of course, many other factors come into play. Again, you demonstrate your cluelessness.
Last edited by carolinadawg2; 09-25-2015 at 12:55 PM..
Eastern NC isn't the only part of NC with poverty and high levels of medicare/medicaid recipients. The rural counties surrounding Forsyth and Guilford do too.
And the number of employees is completely irrelevant.
So sorry your precious feelings got hurt. Have a lollipop and try to calm down.
I'll throw this old stat out there, so maybe you can understand the difference between rural counties near the Triad and rural counties in ENC. This stat was true at one time, but I don't think its quite this bad now (other places have declined more than ENC).
Eastern NC was once home to 6 of the top 10 poorest counties in the entire USA.
I'll throw this old stat out there, so maybe you can understand the difference between rural counties near the Triad and rural counties in ENC. This stat was true at one time, but I don't think its quite this bad now (other places have declined more than ENC).
Eastern NC was once home to 6 of the top 10 poorest counties in the entire USA.
I get that most eastern NC is a craphole. Consider it stipulated. But other parts of NC have levels of poverty and poor health factors just as bad.
I'm not your friend, and I'm far from clueless. If you think poverty only exists in eastern NC, then YOU are clearly clueless. By your own numbers, 3 in 4 of the state's impoverished population lives west of I-95. They also visit hospitals.
Total number of employees is irrelevant, for obvious reasons. Frontline employees per patient might be a relevant number. Of course, many other factors come into play. Again, you demonstrate your cluelessness.
Oh, darn. I really was hoping we could be friends.
Is it really, in all honesty, a surprise to you that Eastern NC represents the most economically deprived and impoverished population in the state?
Think about the numbers here
1.2 million people in North Carolina are under the poverty line. 320,000 of them live in Eastern North Carolina, home to 2 million people.
320,000/2,000,000 (ENC)
West of 95 is home to 8,000,000 people, as well as the resources that come with an urban center being within a 30-45 minute driving distance at most of all of them. There are 880,000 people impoverished out of that 8,000,000. That 880,000 people, though, get the advantages that come with living in the Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Triad, and Asheville MSAs.
Eastern North Carolina has no legitimate, stable urban center. The adverse effects of that are devastating as you know. The rest of the state is close to at least one of 3-5 urban areas. 2 of which in Charlotte and Raleigh are business hubs to the entire country.
The fact that Vidant's 8 hospitals, urgent care and specialty facilities, etc. being home to a total of 9,000 employees serving 1.4 million people as the only legitimate source of care, and Baptist's 1 hospital and medical park being home to 12,000 employees as one of 3 major hospitals serving about 1.6 million people is staggering. If you find that to be irrelevant, than you don't fully understand just how unfortunate it is that this article was written in the context that it was written in. It's a part of the larger problem, statistics like this help show just how far behind and how much of a fight the East is in.
I get that most eastern NC is a craphole. Consider it stipulated. But other parts of NC have levels of poverty and poor health factors just as bad.
There are others, but there aren't as many. That's the point. That's why ENC is the worst. There is no doubt that there are other bad parts, but that doesn't take away from the fact that ENC is without a shadow of a doubt an larger collection of the worst poverty in the state without any urban, booming corporate barriers.
I just love how you all are throwing our entire area under the bus just to defend a hospital that a lot of people are not happy with.
ENC is not a craphole. It has great people. It has some beautiful parts. It also has things like Kinston, we can't deny that.
But it's not a craphole.
Come on. Do you people work for Vidant or something?
No.
It's called context. Something the ratings don't care to explain. High poverty and poor health doesnt mean the people are bad people. It's just rural.
Here the other cities on the list...
Jonesboro, Ark.; Odessa, Texas; Bowling Green, Ky.; Medera, Calif.; Bloomsburg-Berwick, Pa.; Hot Springs, Ark.; Kingston, N.Y.; Morgantown, W. Va.; and Binghamton, N.Y
What do they all have in common (and with Greenville)? None of them are Urban. None.
What I had an issue with is the "Greenville" issue and the implication that Vidant doesnt do its job. If it said, don't get sick in Winton, or Columbia, or Scotland Neck, or even Rodanthe...people would look at it and say well, duh. Rural places have worse health care than urban places. But saying Greenville is actually just a freaking lie. Greenville has more specialists than most any other city its size. It has a big hospital that does everything. What it doesnt have is a big population...and the people that use the hospital do it from all over...those rural places.
Obviously the data used spit out a certain type of place...and then those places were just listed, without context...and it was assumed that those places did a bad job.
It reminds me of that movie Summer School when the student's average grade went from a 39 to a 64 or something...with a bunch of rejects. You can focus on the 64 and say that is terrible...or you can focus on the increase, which is more applicable. These lists can just spit out numbers reflective of the demographics being served.
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