Nashville General Hospital considers controversial contract while struggling to pay bills on time
Nashville General Hospital is behind on bills and is considering $900,000 public relations contract involving a former Metro Councilman.
Posted at 1:50 PM, Mar 05, 2021
and last updated 2021-03-05 19:56:47-05
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) â Nashville General Hospital has fallen behind on some basic bills.
The safety net hospital paid more than $500,000 to cover its utility bills this week, after
NewsChannel 5 Investigates obtained emails showing it was six months behind paying its landlord, Meharry Medical College.
Despite paying the utility bill, the hospital is still five months behind on its parking bill and owes Meharry more than $326,000.
The Greater Nashville Technology Council has welcomed seven newly elected board members and one new ex-officio member.
According to Chris Bayham, COO at XSOLIS and Tech Council board chair, the new members include the following:
• Brice Brewer, Director of Software Engineering, Amazon
• Brice Perez, Specialist Customer Engineer of Data Analytics, Google Cloud
• Chase Williams, Vice President of Professional Services, 3-D Technology Group
• Eric Stephens, Chief Analytics Officer at Nashville General Hospital
• Jessica Burns, AVP of HCA Client Relations, CereCore
• Karen Brake, North America Chief Technology Officer, Nissan
• Tara Jones, interim Chief Information Officer, Brookdale
• Jeff Hite, Chief Economic Development Officer, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce
At 90-years-old, couple struggles to make COVID-19 vaccine appointment
Thousands of people across the state have already received the COVID-19, but some are still trying to make appointments. David Terrell at age 90 says he and his wife have been trying for weeks to get an appointment with the Metro Government.
and last updated 2021-01-13 00:24:49-05
NASHVILLE, Tenn (WTVF) â Thousands of people across Tennessee have already gotten their COVID vaccine and in Davidson County you can only get one by appointment.
Scheduling that appointment though is becoming a daily struggle, especially for those who should be at the top of the list.
1. “An Evolving Situation”
There are three moments in the yearlong catastrophe of the
COVID-19 pandemic when events might have turned out differently. The first occurred on January 3, 2020, when Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spoke with George Fu Gao, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which was modelled on the American institution. Redfield had just received a report about an unexplained respiratory virus emerging in the city of Wuhan.
The field of public health had long been haunted by the prospect of a widespread respiratory-illness outbreak like the 1918 influenza pandemic, so Redfield was concerned. Gao, when pressed, assured him that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission. At the time, the theory was that each case had arisen from animals in a “wet” market where exotic game was sold. When Redfield learned that, among twenty-seven reported cases, there were several family clusters, he observed that it was unlikely that each person had been infected, simultaneously, by a caged civet cat or a raccoon dog. He offered to send a C.D.C. team to Wuhan to investigate, but Gao said that he wasn’t authorized to accept such assistance. Redfield made a formal request to the Chinese government and assembled two dozen specialists, but no invitation arrived. A few days later, in another conversation with Redfield, Gao started to cry and said, “I think we’re too late.”
By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan
The Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year, has passed, but the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic are likely still to come. COVID-19 has killed more than 320,000 people in the U.S., with almost 18 million cases. Deaths and hospitalizations shatter records on a daily basis. While two vaccines have been approved for use in the United States, initial shipments are falling short of the expected doses. African American, Latinx and Native American communities have been hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic, suffering a convergence of systemic racism, lack of access to adequate health care, and, all too often, proximity to pollution sources that heighten the risks posed by COVID-19.
Nashville General Hospital at Meharry receives first round of COVID-19 vaccines
Select frontline workers at Nashville General Hospital at Meharry receive their first round of vaccines Monday.
and last updated 2020-12-21 20:01:19-05
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) â Monday was a historic day for Nashville General Hospital at Meharry. After initially being left off the list, Nashville General at Meharry received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines.
The Pfizer vaccine was given to six front-line workers Monday.
"During this holiday season I got to share hope with my children," said emergency doctor Ben Heavrin, "I told them when daddy goes to work even though its dangerous there's hope and I am very hopeful day after a year filled with hardships."
AMY GOODMAN: This is
Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
The number of nations banning travel from the United Kingdom continues to grow in response to the new, highly infectious variant of the coronavirus British health officials announced over the weekend, throwing much of Britain into strict lockdown. South Africa has detected a similar variant. More than 40 countries have temporarily suspended some or all travel from the U.K., including Canada, Chile, France, Ireland and Hong Kong. The United States has not announced a travel ban with either England or South Africa. On Monday, Washington state Governor Jay Inslee announced his state would require those arriving from either country to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
Tennessee will receive around 40,000 âunexpectedâ additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech novel coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine later this week, Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said Monday.
âProbably the best news of the weekend was that we are getting an unexpected shipment of an additional 40,000 doses of Pfizer,â Piercey said during a conference call with reporters. âThat order had to be in today, and so we placed that. That should arrive either tomorrow or Wednesday.â
The state received 56,550 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week, with those shipped directly to hospitals across the state. A total of 16,500 doses have been administered thus far. Tennessee also began receiving the first of 115,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine on Monday, with shipments continuing over the next week. In Northeast Tennessee, Carter County health officials received their first shipment of the vaccine on Monday and inoculated several first responders.
Kimberlee Kruesi
Associated Press
As states rush to inoculate health care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, only Tennessee has prioritized building its own emergency reserve of the coveted vaccine.
An Associated Press review of each state's COVID-19 vaccine distribution plans shows that Tennessee alone has specified it will hold back a small portion in "case of spoilage of vaccine shipped to facilities." The state's initial shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that arrived Dec. 14 was not distributed for inoculation, so health care workers had to wait until the second shipment arrived days later.
The move has baffled health care leaders, who say medical workers should take priority, especially as the state hits record case numbers.
Davidson County inmate now back in custody after escaping from Nashville General Hospital
Davidson County Sheriff's Office
Stephanie Raymer was seen on video leaving her hospital room at 4 a.m. Wednesday. DCSO officials said due to her medical condition, their policy did not allow use of restraints.
and last updated 2020-12-16 16:26:41-05
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) â The Davidson County Sheriff's Office said an inmate who walked away from her room at Nashville General Hospital is now back in custody.
Officials said 38-year-old Stephanie Raymer, of Brick Church Pike, was booked into the Downtown Detention Center on Sunday and was admitted into Nashville General Hospital at Meharry on the following day.