Republican senators introduced a resolution calling for the governor of Guam to declare a state of emergency at Guam Memorial Hospital. And if she refuses, they wrote in their resolution, they will push for a federal takeover of GMH.
“At no point should GMH lack critical medication and supplies because funding or support is not provided by the Administration,” Resolution No. 215, introduced by all six republican senators today, states.
Senators and the public last Thursday learned about the deplorable conditions affecting patients’ health and safety from a pair of nurses, who risked their jobs by testifying against the rosy picture their administrators were trying to paint at a hospital oversight hearing.
“Honestly, senator, we can shut that hospital down now,” Lillian Perez Posadas, the hospital administrator, replied to Telo Taitague, who had asked how bad the situation at GMH is.
“Six of the seven republicans in today’s legislature are veteran politicians who have served in that role years before—some going back to the ’90s and early 2000s, yet not once did they call for a state of emergency when the Calvo administration lost GMH accreditation or the Camacho administration couldn’t afford epidurals,” governor’s spokeswoman Krystal Paco-San Agustin said.
“GMH has been operating unaccredited since 2018, compromising the delivery of quality, compassionate life-saving medical care for the island’s sick and dying, and threatening the hospital’s ability to meet the minimum health and safety standards by the Social Security Act that is required of providers and suppliers participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs,” the republican resolution states.
And though more than $1 billion in federal pandemic aid flooded Lou Leon Guerrero’s government, the republicans wrote, one of the nurses told senators at the oversight hearing, “We regularly lack essential materials like linens and pillows, diabetic tube feeding formula, underpads for patients to poo and pee on, inner tracheostomy cannulas, wipes to clean patients, pre-filled epinephrine syringes for medical emergencies, and so many other things to add to this list.” The nurse went on to state, “We didn’t have wipes for months. As an alternative, we were told to use paper towels to clean and bathe our patients. To our embarrassment, patients’ families witnessed this and have donated wipes because of the pitiful situation the hospital is in. It is sad and embarrassing and it is disgraceful that you have allowed this to be the standard of care for our people.”
“The past two years, most especially during the 2022 election cycle, saw this administration dole out pay raises and bring on countless political hires,” the republicans provided in a statement from their caucus. “We were told by administration officials under oath that those millions in pay raises were something that we could afford. Now we know exactly who is paying for those raises: The sick, the dying, and the medical professionals who must find a way to care for them with dignity despite a clear lack of support and adequate resources.”
“Everyone knows GMH needs urgent help,” Ms. Paco-San Agustin said. “But, this resolution is just like the Republican approach to providing that help—it says a lot but does absolutely nothing.”
At least 60 of the hospital’s vendors have placed GMH on credit hold because of its administration’s inability to pay the vendors for months at a time. This has meant several critical medications and other necessary supplies are not being supplied to GMH.
If the governor does not declare a state of emergency and use emergency powers to begin to correct the crisis at GMH, the republicans wrote, they will have no choice but to push for federal receivership of the island’s only public hospital.
“We can’t fix GMH overnight and we will not be able to restore it in its entirety- but we can at least start right now by making the facility a safe place for our patients, their families, and the dedicated health care professionals who choose to care for them,” the republican caucus stated. “We want this resolution to jumpstart action – to send a message to the administration that we need to come together now and fix what we have to at GMH. We don’t have five or ten years to wait for the completion of a comprehensive medical campus. Our people need us to get to work now.”
“We need a new GMH,” Ms. Paco-San Agustin said. “And the Republican senators who have introduced this resolution also blocked the construction of a new hospital at the Eagles Field on property that the Department of Defense was going to lease to GovGuam at no cost.
“Now, DOD is going to use that property for something else and there is still no site for the construction of a new hospital. We call upon the Republican majority to work with this administration and the Democrat majority to find a new piece of land and help fund the construction of a new hospital. The United States Army Corps of Engineers has already evaluated the current hospital and determined that it would be more cost-effective to build a new one than to repair the existing one.”
