Former workers who were recently fired from White Rock Medical Center say the hospital’s serious money problems should make people wonder if it can take care of patients.
Earlier this month, The Dallas Express reported reported that the center stopped taking patients brought by emergency medical services. This announcement came about a week after the hospital let go of almost 160 staff members, which was more than a third of its previous 460-person team.
Nichelle Runnels, a former telemetry tech at White Rock, told told WFAA that the center’s money issues got so bad that she couldn’t even order simple things like pens and paper. She also said she got her pay late a few times, but the hospital denies this.
“My problem is, how can they do surgeries when we don’t have supplies?” said Runnels, according to WFAA. questioned Runnels, per WFAA.
“I don’t feel bad about saying it. I would not be a patient at that hospital at all… I have had some people that I know who were patients there and I just reached out and said ‘Hey, maybe you need to go somewhere else,'” she said.
Runnels found out she was fired after coming home from a 12-hour shift. She then called her boss to ask about her next shift, which was supposed to start a few hours later, and her boss told her she was also fired.
The hospital’s chief restructuring officer and general counsel, Terry Fokas, said there were never any problems with supplies at White Rock. He said they moved supplies between departments to make things more efficient and reduce waste. Fokas said there haven’t been any problems providing what they need to run the hospital.
Another former employee, Laura Cooper, told WFAA she wouldn’t trust the hospital anymore.
“In the past, I would have recommended it, but not now,” said Cooper.
The layoffs at White Rock Medical Center are happening at a time when Texas is struggling with a big shortage of healthcare workers, but the state has been trying to deal with this, as reported by The Dallas Express.
