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May 20, 2013 By Robert Wilder Comments 3
News
01.13.2012
9 Comments
Rep. Varela Questions Health Secretary Torres
At a hearing, Varela cited the 'Open Letter' to Catherine Torres.
By Joey Peters
After staff from the Department of Health presented a budget proposal to the House Appropriations Committee yesterday, Rep. Lucky Varela, D-Santa Fe, questioned DOH Secretary Catherine Torres about an email message sent to 60 legislators and a dozen press members last week.
The email, sent by "Johnathan Publix," detailed a "toxic" and "hostile" work environment under Torres. It also published an "Open Letter" to Torres from "DOH employees."
"We'll have to get a response from the Department of Health on these allegations," Rep. Ray Begaye, D-San Juan, who sits on the Appropriations Committee, tells SFR. "That was the word that was put out. The secretary said, 'We'll look into it.'"
At the end of the hearing, Varela, deputy chair of the Appropriations Committee, says he raised the issue because of the email from "Publix," which was passed out to members of the committee.
"We indicated to [Torres] that these were concerns we had about functions of the department," Varela tells SFR. "That they needed to make sure they were treating employees fairly."
Both Begaye and Varela say the governor's office is aware of the letter. From a public records request, SFR recovered another letter of concern sent to Gov. Susana Martinez' constituent services on Dec. 16. The governor's office didn't return SFR's phone calls from earlier today.
At a Senate Finance Committee hearing this afternoon, Torres avoided questions after being approached by SFR.
For now, Varela says he'll give DOH time to work the problem out.
"We'll see whether the employees settle down," he says. "If this doesn't continue, we have to assume they worked things out with the employees."
Begaye concurs. He says he invites any employees to share their concerns with him "so we can really look into the allegations and really make that determination that there's something wrong in the system."
"A lot of the allegations right now to me don't have merits," Begaye says. "However, if there's substantial evidence that some of the occurrences are actually true, then that should be critically addressed to the governor and legislators."
Publix, for his or her part, recently created a "Bullying, Abuse, Retaliation and Fraud (BARF)" hotline for current and past employees to share anonymous tips. Its number is (505) 819-3501.
"We will keep everyone's anonymity and get the info to where it will do the most good," Publix writes in an SFR comment thread.
Photo courtesy Mark Wilson.
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I think Repesentative Varela worded it wrong, he should have said if management "settles down" we'll assume things are better. Secretary Torres will now even be more vengful in her quest to find out who Johnathan Publix is. Good job Johnathan keep up the good work.
I am long time reader and first time poster.
It is payday Friday so that means I get to eat out and today it is the Santa Fe Baking Company which has free wifi and a 2-for-1 coupon. Can't beat it! It is nice break from the Runnels building.
Welcome back Health Worker. I always have enjoyed your comments.
I recommend calling the hotline number even if you don't leave a message. It's funny and definately worth the price of admission. A
Thank you Johnathan for sticking up for us DOH employees. It gives many of us new hope and feels like someone out there is looking out for us.
I haven't felt optimism in a long time when it comes to working and that's not the anticipation of a 3 day weekend.
Keep up the work. Now to look up Varela's contact info...
Torres survey comments from Las Cruces patients' parents:
"The worst Dr. in Las Cruces! Rude, rude, and then some more rude."
"horrible"
There isn't an employee from DOH that hasn't been there and experienced the same. She was not hired for her bedside manner (or manners)
The overall scores from the two survey organization s are D- and F. That would average to D- or F . As a human being and a manager she rates an F- (using the Skandera scale).
Mrs. Torres’ DOH Report Card (cc Permanent Record):
Humanity: I (incomplete)
Leadership: W (withdrew)
Plays well with others: Unsatisfactory
Bullying: A
Retaliation: A
Ethics: F
Integrity: F
Public Health: F-
Addendum to Catherine Torres' 2011 DOH report card;
It is important to note the reason for the grade of W for Leadership. Catherine Torres lacked the prerequisites and we recommend she not attempt another leadership role:
1. Honesty
2. Competency
3. Ability to be Foward-looking
4. Ability to be Fair-minded
5. Ability to be Broad-minded
6. Courageous (bullies are cowards)
7. Ability to be Straightforward
8. Empathy/compassion
Thank you everyone for the encouragement.
Health Worker, I'm not too worried about Torres finding me. I'm not worth the trouble. She should focus on finding some civility, compassion and professionalism instead. Right now I would take two out of three aforementioned traits but right now she is batting a goose egg.
I have been doing a bit of digging on the internets and was looking at patient ratings of Dr. Torres, who is not board certified. She recieved 1 and 2 star ratings when most Las Cruces pediatricians were 4 or 5 stars. One of the comments really hit home as I read it. I went ahead and took screen shots of the reviews and highlighted them in a nice PDF file.
I would have a look.
http://bit.ly/zFtWkp
I wouldn't even take my dog to recieve care from Dr. Torres based on these ratings. But then again sometimes she does treat us like dogs so perhaps she is in the wrong field.
Check out the PDF file.
http://bit.ly/zFtWkp
Check out the tip hotline which is available 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. The outbound message is worth a listen.
-JP
@johnathanpublix
dohcrisis@gmail.com