HeartSafe - Saving Lives or Life Support for the Sequoia Healthcare District Other Topics, posted by Jack Hickey, a resident of the Woodside: Emerald Hills neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Initiated by Stephani Scott, then CEO of the Sequoia Healthcare District in 2005, the HeartSafe Program has provided anecdotal stories for the District which fill it's website and annual Report to the Community. The program began with distribution of Automated Electronic Defibrillators (AED's).
Ms. Scott failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest when she introduced the program to the board. Her Form 700 at the time showed that her spouse received income as a Senior Product Manager for Guidant Corp., a Medical Device Manufacturer who's products included defibrillators.
The program provided an opportunity for former Atherton police chief, Glenn Nielsen, to land a comfortable part-time job as Manager of the program. It seems that gathering anecdotal stories to promote the District was one of his responsibilities. This excerpt from an e-mail exchange between Glenn and Fire Chief Emil Picchi is enlightening.
Hi Emil,
You are attending the meeting next week, right? Starts at 9 AM and the coffee starts at 8 AM at Bolongerie.
Please please please call Don Shoecraft, our PR guy, at 650-594-0556 as soon as you can. He is working on a press release and needs some interesting anecdotes. He is also Cc'd on this email.
Thanks Buddy!
Glenn Nielsen
Glenn:
Sorry I am not able to get some cold hard facts and stats. Here is what I have received in response to uses from the guys. See you in the morning.
Emil
Visit the District website www.sequoiahealthcaredistrict.com to view anecdotal stories.
Posted by Jack Hickey, a resident of the Woodside: Emerald Hills neighborhood, on Nov 2, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Just for the record, I would like to make it perfectly clear that I do not question the value of placing AED's and automated CPR devices into the hands of first responders nor the placement of AED's in publicly accessible locations. They are a morale booster to those first responders. Nor do I question the value of Nurses Education. I do question the motive of my colleagues on the board, who constitute a 4/1 majority, in promoting these programs. In the case of Heartsafe, San Mateo County Emergency Medical Services, who are mandated by law to maintain a database of publically accessible AED's are the logical agency for distribution of those devices. Other counties are pursuing that. And, with the proliferation of GPS enabled Smart Phones, Apps have evolved to instantly connect CPR trained individuals with victims, precise AED device locations and first responders. When the Sequoia Healthcare District is dissolved, the county will receive a share of it's assets and tax allocation. Supervisors will have an obligation to pursue that course of action
Placing a $20,000 Code Blue AED Tower adjacent to the Woodside Firehouse was a waste of tax dollars. More than 20 individual AED devices could have been prochured with that money. That was strictly a promotional ploy to endear the Sequoia Healthcare District with a select segment of our population. One look at the space given to that project in the Report to the Community illustrates my point. More than twice as much space was given to Heartsafe content promoting the District than was given to financial content.
Posted by Jack Hickey, a resident of the Woodside: Emerald Hills neighborhood, on Jan 11, 2013 at 12:18 pm
I have created many topics on the Almanac Town Square Forum to inform the public of taxpayer funded activities and expenditures of the Sequoia Healthcare District. Links to some of those topics are included below. These activities were unintended by voters when they established the Sequoia Hospital District in 1946. The original purpose of the District was to build, operate and maintain Sequoia Hospital. Property taxes were assessed for that purpose with the full intention that the hospital would eventually become self- supporting. On the verge of bankruptcy, the District relinquished ownership of Sequoia Hospital with voter approval in a 1996 election. Following that, the District ignored civil grand jury recommendations and continued collection of property taxes originally assessed for hospital related expenses. They now operate as a pseudo-philanthropic organization.
Sequoia Healthcare District gets Corporate Grant-Making award. Web Link
District listed as "Foundation donor" in Mission Hospice and Home Care 2011 annual report Web Link
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