The Juan F. Luis Hospital Is In A Management Crisis

ST. CROIX — The Juan F. Luis Hospital Board of Directors, in an emergency meeting on Monday that came down to a 3-2 vote, moved to remove Dr. Ken Okolo as the hospital’s chief executive officer and place him back in his prior position of chief operating officer, where Dr. Okolo made about $200,000 annually. Meanwhile the hospital’s counsel, attorney Richard Evangelista, was voted as temporary C.E.O., and the board voted to start a national search for a new chief executive.

Voting to terminate Dr. Okolo’s contract were board members Troy de Chabert-Schuster, who also serves as board chairman, Secretary Aracelis de Hendry Walcott and Treasurer Philip Arcidi. Vera Falu and Theresa Frorup-Alie voted against the move. Mr. Schuster said the vote to begin a national search for a new C.E.O. fell along the same lines.

Media and some J.F.L. employees had arrived to the meeting — called for 5:00 p.m. on Monday — before or around 5:00 p.m., however the board meeting itself did not start until 7:51 p.m. and quickly moved into executive session thereafter, and was called back into regular session at approximately 8:30 p.m. Mr. Schuster said a J.F.L. executive committee meeting, where the decision was made to remove Dr. Okolo from the C.E.O. position that had started at 3:00 p.m., went longer than expected.

J.F.L. Board Chairman Troy Schuster.

But the move to rout Dr. Okolo left the hospital in flux, with a disgruntled staff and an upper management crisis that will take, according to Mr. Schuster, “at least six months” to correct. Mr. Schuster, in explaining the board’s decision to terminate Dr. Okolo’s contract, said the resolution to do so came at the territorial board’s request to renegotiate the terms of said contract, discussions of which included salary and other contractual terms. And the board’s move to vote Mr. Evangelista as temporary C.E.O. was for continuity, according to Mr. Schuster, since Mr. Evangelista was given the role of administrator in charge at the last board meeting, while a decision on Dr. Okolo’s fate at J.F.L. was being explored.

The move left the hospital’s management in disarray; as Mr. Evangelista serves as the hospital’s legal counsel and also heads the facility’s Human Resources arm. Gloryvee Christian-Krieger, Senator Kurt Vialet’s chief of staff, asked Mr. Schuster who would serve in the H.R. position now that Mr. Evangelista has been appointed as temporary C.E.O., a question that left Mr. Schuster scrambling to find an appropriate response, stating that he had been pushing for a replacement and would have to heighten the urgency following the new realities.

Tim Lessing Resigns Twice

Meanwhile, the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer, Tim Lessing, resigned twice in less than one month: the first on April 11 and the second time on May 6 — yet he was at both the executive committee meeting and the board meeting that followed. Mr. Schuster said that while he was aware of the resignation, it had not been forwarded to him or the board, and that negotiations were ongoing that would either result in Mr. Lessing staying at the hospital, or leaving anyway.

In his resignation letter obtained by The Consortium, the C.F.O. cites “ethical and professional differences” as his reason for resigning, and requested that the hospital pay him a lump sum amount equal to one year severance of $185,000. Yet, there he sat, Mr. Lessing, with other hospital board members in both the board and executive committee meetings. Asked to give information on why Mr. Lessing chose to resign, Mr. Schuster said, “I’m not at liberty to say that.”

Former J.F.L. Chief Financial Officer Tim Lessing.

Mr. Lessing worked at the hospital for an entire year without signing a contract, and only moved to do so under the tenure of Dr. Okolo as C.E.O., according to people with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity because they were not at liberty to speak to the media. The revelation brings into question Mr. Lessing’s demand of $185,000 severance pay request as part of his resignation, since he’d only recently signed a contract with the hospital.

J.F.L. is now without a chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief nursing officer and chief medical officer. The realization prompted Mrs. Christian-Krieger to inquire of Mr. Schuster the board’s plan to remedy the problem. “We hope to within six months or less get all of it filled,” Mr. Schuster said. ”

“I’m a product of this hospital for 20 years, it is just heart-wrenching to see where this hospital is being taken to,” Mrs. Christian Krieger said.

Outside The Hospital, Disgruntled Employees Express Frustration

While journalists made their way to their respective vehicles following the board meeting, two J.F.L. employees expressed extreme dismay at the board’s decision to remove Dr. Okolo from the C.E.O. position, and accused Mr. Evangelista and Mr. Lessing, who they said called Dr. Okolo “the African man” on multiple occasions, of wanting the C.E.O. position for either themselves or someone of their choosing.

J.F.L. Acting C.E.O. Richard Evangelista.

“Listen, what went on there is nothing but corruption and total racism, okay,” said Annette Joquin, an emergency room employee. Another employee, Jean Murrain, who operates telephone at the hospital, said Mr. Lessing had demanded that Mr. Okolo resign as part of an agreement to stay with the hospital. “But Dr. Okolo is no longer C.E.O. so he’s going back for his position,” Ms. Murrain said. None of the employees’ comments could be confirmed to be true or refuted at time of publishing, but they continued to lament the loss of Dr. Okolo, who they said was working on a vigorous turnaround plan for the hospital and would listen to the employees and investigate matters brought to his attention.

“He did his best,” said Ms. Joquin of Dr. Okolo. “We’re trying to make this hospital a better place. We have a vision for 2020 to make this hospital the best hospital in the Caribbean. We’re in 2016, they keep hiring and firing C.E.O.s, when are we going to see that vision? And now this man comes to try and help us, and this is the outcome?