Novant Heath responds after recent backlash from partnership with NHRMC
Wilmington, NC (WWAY)– Novant Health is facing pressure from unsatisfied patients, along with New Hanover County administration, which led to a statement from Novant Health’s Vice President Friday afternoon via zoom to address the concerns that have been raised with a media roundtable.
The main topic of discussion being, hypothetically, where our hospital would be without partnering with Novant Health.
“I firmly believe NHRMC would be in much worse shape today without our partnership with Novant Health. As the former CEO of NHRMC, I can’t imagine trying to face this turbulent industry on our own.”
This comes one week after county manager Chris Coudriet received an email from a resident urging him to put quote “aggressive pressure” and perhaps bring “legal action” against Novant health for failing to meet their commitment to maintain NHRMC’s medical care.
The lengthy email ends with “I know that you did not set out to ruin our hospital but rather to improve it, and it must come as a terrible frustration to see what is happening as a result of the sale.”
Coudriet forwarded that email to Novant Executive VP John Gidzic, who was the CEO of NHRMC before the sale.
Coudriet said until the problems were addressed by Novant, the community concerns will remain.
“These challenges are also not because of the merger with Novant Health. I worry that we are missing the bigger picture. Novant Health is our partner, and Novant Health is delivering on commitments to the community, just as they said they would, when we were seeking a partner just few years ago.”
Gizdic acknowledged staffing was an issue, and says NHRMC has more nurses, specifically traveling nurses, now they’ve had in the past few years.
They are also focused on expanding facilities with Novant to provide the community with better care specific to their needs.
“They are bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to the table to continue moving forward with expansion of our services. Scottsdale hospital and many others that we are growing to meet the needs of our community.”
Overall, Novant does say they are working to better their healthcare services and are aware of the issues that have been voiced. But, without the finances Novant provides, improvements would not be possible.
We reached out to County Manager Chris Coudriet, as well as County Commissioner Rob Zapple who have both been vocal on the subject, but only received a response from commissioner Zapple, who said he was pleased that Novant has come forward to address these issues.
