State health officials investigate coronavirus complaint at a Tri-Cities hospital

State health officials visited Trios Southridge Hospital last week to investigate a complaint amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The focus of the investigation, and whether the complaint was made by a patient or an employee, was not disclosed.

However, medical professionals at Trios told the Tri-City Herald the investigators asked staff specific questions about safety and the use of personal protective equipment, or PPE, including how they store N95 respirator masks.

The visit came just days before a grim weekend at the Kennewick facility, with the reported deaths of eight COVID-19 patients and a ninth patient who was suspected positive.

Of those deaths, six happened in a 24-hour period, the front-line workers told the Herald.

Those deaths are not yet reflected in the official data released by local and state agencies, which can take several days to verify.

The Benton Franklin Health District reported 50 deaths to date in the Tri-Cities, while state health officials say 55 have died of the virus and its complications.

Local medical professionals say there may have been a slight lull in patient counts a couple of weeks ago, but the viral infection that has swept across the globe doesn’t look to be going away any time soon in Benton and Franklin counties.

Trios had nearly two dozen patients this past weekend who were either positive or awaiting test results, said the medical professionals, who spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity.

Department of Health investigation

Thursday’s on-site visit at Trios was confirmed by a Department of Health spokeswoman.

“As this is an open investigation, I am not able to provide additional details at this time,” Annie Johnson, a public information officer on the department’s COVID-19 Response team, told the Herald in an email. “DOH is not visiting other hospitals in the area.”

The investigators reportedly watched nurses take care of COVID patients in their rooms and made sure staff were following procedures correctly.

At least one investigator commented multiple times that the way health care workers put on and took off their PPE — including gowns, masks and shields — did not match hospital protocol, the medical professionals told the Herald.

Two weeks ago, the Herald reported on internal complaints at Trios, including what the workers described as poor planning by hospital administrators to implement COVID precautions before the coronavirus crisis reached the Tri-Cities and a lack of transparency.

Staff also said their supervisors failed to provide proper safety equipment in the first few weeks of the pandemic — having front-line workers wear basic surgical masks, instead of N95 masks, when dealing with patients in respiratory distress — or train them on use and storage to prevent further spread.

Eventually, they said, they were allocated one N95 mask a day along with a paper bag to hold it when not in use.

Doctor not returning this month

One doctor who went on the record with criticism of the hospital’s handling of the outbreak says he was told his services were no longer needed for the month of May in the intensive care unit.

Dr. Ramon Añel, a traveling critical care and kidney specialist, had previous orders to work in the Kennewick hospital.

But within one hour of his comments going public on the Herald website, Añel said he was contacted by Trios Health officials, who put his May contract on hold. He said he was called the following day by his agency representative and told his contract was canceled for May.

Trios spokeswoman Lisa Larson refuted Añel’s claim, saying the administration did not initiate any changes to his contract.

Añel is an independent contractor on a per diem basis. He works with Delta Locum Tenens, which provides physicians for short- and long-term placement at facilities around the country.

A representative with the Texas-based company said Añel is the one who canceled his days for May, for personal reasons, adding that he is eligible to return at-will to Trios.

But Añel said Monday that is inaccurate and maintains that he was contacted the weekend of April 17 by both Trios and his agency about his May contract being rescinded.

The Tacoma doctor was quoted in the original Herald story about reports of a lack of leadership or transparency inside the health system’s facility.

While he was not at Trios when the coronavirus hit, he said colleagues and friends at the hospital shared what was happening and called him asking for advice because he had seen first-hand the state’s outbreak in Western Washington.

Other Trios medical professionals quoted in that story and for this report have feared retribution and asked that their identities remain anonymous. They have talked with the Herald in a series of interviews over 1 1/2 months.

Añel still has medical privileges to practice medicine at Trios, and currently has orders to oversee the care of kidney patients at the hospital in July and August. He currently is on a 16-day shift working with COVID patients at a hospital in Brooklyn, New York, then will travel to Michigan for a week.

He called it a calculated risk in talking publicly with the Herald about Trios, and said he was not surprised when his May orders were rescinded so quick.

“The way I view it, I was a whistleblower, and for whatever it was worth, it may have brought something up,” Añel said. He earlier told the Herald he believed one department head would use the story as an excuse to get rid of him.

Trios email to employees

In response to the Herald’s story last month, Trios Health’s Chief Executive Officer John Solheim sent all employees an email saying he was disappointed that nurses and physicians did not bring their questions and concerns to him or their direct supervisors.

“While the article spotlighted a number of challenges we’re facing in light of this pandemic — along with all hospitals across the nation — there were several points I was particularly disappointed about, and I want to address those with you,” he wrote.

Solheim has led Trios since August 2018. He sent the email to staff exactly 24 hours after the Herald story published and referred to the coronavirus outbreak as “a significant distraction.”

A copy of the email was provided to the Herald.

Solheim said he believed the team had made a significant effort to communicate about and share the hospital’s COVID-19 preparedness plans and processes with employees.

“I can tell you that we strive to maintain a culture of transparency and respect at Trios, so I was disappointed to learn that several team members felt like they could not speak up and share their concerns in a manner that could be addressed,” Solheim wrote.

“We have worked diligently to promote a culture of safety and engagement, and my expectation is that we have an environment where our team members and patients feel empowered to speak up with questions and voice concerns.”

“I know that these are stressful and uncertain times, and I appreciate everyone working so hard and staying focused on our mission of Making Communities Healthier in the midst of a significant distraction,” he wrote.

But other emails previously provided to the Herald show that Trios health care workers tried to raise issues with Solheim and the leadership team in late March.

In the emails, both nurses and physicians talk about “a lot of disconnect” and the need for clarity and consistency from hospital leaders. They also say workers were experiencing stress, anxiety, fear and frustration in all departments while facing the pandemic.

Staff say that email thread was ignored by the administration and ultimately was deleted from the computer network.

When questioned about Solheim’s email to staff and the earlier email thread started by a doctor, the hospital’s spokeswoman said they “strive to create a culture of transparency and engagement at Trios, so we were disappointed to see that several members of our team felt like their feedback was not being heard.”

Larson told the Herald that the hospital’s COVID-19 task force is sending daily email updates and holding daily safety huddles to share potential and existing issues facing employees and patients.

“We know these are incredibly challenging and uncertain times for our employees, medical staff, patients and community,” Larson said. “However, we truly believe we have the right teams, the right clinicians and the right leaders in place to get us through this pandemic.”

This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 4:44 PM.