Before the April meeting of the Sunshine Community Health Center board of directors, an online petition began circulating criticizing Chief Executive Officer Melody West and calling for the board to, “Make Sunshine Clinic healthy again.” As of now, that petition has over 300 signatures.
Sunshine’s last board meeting included multiple former employees describing concerns over patient care, logistical problems opening a new facility, and a negative work environment.
While the petition and testimony before the board of directors focused on CEO West, the description of many day-to-day concerns centered on Medical Director Dr. George Hightower. Multiple former employees describe bullying and belittling behavior and language from Dr. Hightower, including former medical support supervisor Shyloh Snowberger.
“He’s a bully for sure. I’ve heard him yell at the top of his lungs at an employee and slam a door, stomp down the hall, and then come back again and yell again because he thought of something new and mean to say. I’ve heard him call medical assistants ‘stupid’ and ‘ignorant.’”
Snowberger is not alone in accusing Dr. Hightower of bullying. Multiple former employees tell similar stories, including former lab coordinator Melissa Quintenilla, who testified before the board of directors.
“I’ve been confronted by Dr. Hightower many times. He’s yelled at me. He’s told me that I’m incompetent.”
Dr. Hightower denies the allegations of creating a hostile work environment.
“That has never occurred, Phil. I have never seen that happen.”
Recent employees also describe significant concerns about patient follow-up. Caitlin Quinn worked for a few months as a medical assistant at Sunshine’s newest facility in Wasilla. She says during her time there, a lack of follow-up on lab work led to multiple angry patients awaiting the results, and may have put one person in the hospital.
“It came out after the fact that, if we had called him with his results on time, and known to call him, he wouldn’t have had to go to the hospital and have a Pacemaker put in.”
Quinn says medical assistants could not make that phone call without follow-up and instruction from the patient’s physician. Dr. Hightower says he is not aware of an incident like the one Quinn describes.
Quinn believes the Wasilla location was not ready to open when it did earlier this year, and says critical supplies, including personal protective equipment were missing or unusable.
Snowberger, Quinn, and Quintenilla all left their positions voluntarily and relatively recently, and all of them say they reported concerns to supervisors.
One of those supervisors was Lane Baker, who served as Sunshine’s Medical Administrative Manager for a little over six months until this March. He believes reporting employee concerns led to his firing by CEO Melody West. He specifically recalls an incident after he says a lack of follow-up on test results led to a significant missed diagnosis.
“It was very concerning. Not a week later, after that incident happened, Melody called me in to her office, telling me that I should have never allowed that meeting to happen, that I never should have allowed anyone beneath me to complain about Dr. Hightower. I was just taken aback by that. I was confused by it. Then a week after that I was fired with no warning.”
Lane Baker oversaw a number of areas at Sunshine, including the administration of the clinic’s vaccination program. He believes the Wasilla expansion that is also a focal point of staff criticism could have been a great opportunity, but he also says there have been significant issues getting it off the ground.
“There was little to no planning. There was little to no communication, little to no execution.”
Dr. Hightower acknowledges that Sunshine has taken on a large task, but he cites an overall growth in staff positions as evidence they can manage it.
“To say that we’re going through growing pains is an understatement, but it’s a task that we’re up to and we will provide the services the community needs, regardless of what’s being said to the contrary.”
These concerns have been aired publicly relatively recently, but former employees say the problems have been ongoing. Paula Strong, who worked at Sunshine for fifteen years, testified before the board of directors in April that concerns about leadership have led to many staff departures over the last two years.
“Besides nurses, [Medical Assistants], lab techs, [and] dispensary personnel, the clinic has lost five providers.”
Dr. Hightower denies an unusual recent turnover rate, though most former employees we spoke to for this story have left fairly recently. Hightower says overall staffing numbers are up, and that the Wasilla clinic is providing care where there has been a need.
“Fortunately for Sunshine, our community has grown significantly. We’re not just a little clinic in the Upper [Mat-Su] Valley, now. We’re taking on the Lower Valley. Overnight, we’ve become so grown. That just means that we can now serve more people.”
When asked to comment for this story, Sunshine CEO Melody West referred questions to the board of directors. She then relayed a message from board chair Kathy Watkins that states that the board is meeting with a consultant. It is not known whether the results of any consultation will be made public.
The board of directors next regularly scheduled meeting is on Tuesday.
