COLORADO SPRINGS — A mother of three is left to find a new pediatrician after hers was allegedly fired without cause. Federal labor charges have been filed against Peak Vista Community Health Centers. It has left healthcare workers without jobs and patients scrambling to find new doctors.
"She has been a great doctor, a great doctor and I would follow her anywhere," Diana Whyman said.
Diana Whyman has been taking her three kids to the same pediatrician at Peak Vista for the past 14 years.
"For her to be gone now is just devastating for our family," Whyman said.
Whyman said earlier this month she scheduled an appointment for her children to get their annual physicals before going back to school. It would be with the pediatrician her children knew and had been going to most of their lives. Whyman said a few days before their appointment she received a call from Peak Vista saying they needed to reschedule. The options she received were all with a different doctor. According to Whyman, Peak Vista told her they were unsure when her pediatrician would be back in the clinic.
"That does not sound like that's the truth, they probably did know at the time they just did not want to tell me,” Whyman said.
In August, a union representing licensed doctors called the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, filed a Federal labor charge with the National Labor Relation Board, claiming Peak Vista discharged or retaliated against at least six employees. Whyman said this includes her pediatrician, leaving the mother of three with a lot of unanswered questions.
"That's my great doctor, that's the one I trusted all these years, and now you have taken her away from me, no that's not good,” Whyman said.
On Wednesday, News5 spoke with one of the Peak Vista employees who was fired. They said back in January, Peak Vista shared new expectations for providers. According to the former employee, they were forced to increase the number of patients they saw each day from 22 to 28 and had to limit time with each patient to 15 minutes.
"It does not make sense to me, like if you need more doctors visiting patients and needing more hours then why are you getting rid of very good doctors,” Whyman said.
In June, an email was sent to Peak Vista providers. It said in part:
"if a provider is unable to reach their new encounter goal consistently then that provider will be asked/expected to come in on a regular day off to stay on track."
The former employee said working these days meant employees went unpaid, so they began to push back against the changes.
According to the union, earlier this summer, providers began organizing with the intent to unionize.
At the end of July, that former employee said they were pulled aside at work, fired, and told quote, "you are no longer a fit for Peak Vista," leaving them and other employees without a job, and patients like Whyman without a doctor they are familiar with.
"What do I do now and I do not trust Peak Vista because of what just happened,” Whyman said.
Peak Vista provided News5 with this statement from their President & CEO, Dr. Emily Ptaszek.
“Peak Vista Community Health Centers is in receipt of an unfair labor practice filing from the National Labor Relations Board. We are currently investigating the filing. We take these accusations very seriously and are confident they are unfounded. At Peak Vista, we strive for organizational excellence and adhere to the shared values of respect, stewardship, and teamwork among nearly 800 team members serving 74,000 patients, many of whom have barriers to quality health care. We are committed to a healthy workplace where performance goals and timely health care service delivery is a top priority.”
The former employee we talked to said this is what they want their patients to know:
“We did not abandon them, and we did not choose to abandon them, and we were really just fighting for better care for them, and in the process, we were let go.”
They said they believe in the mission of Peak Vista providing quality care to the patients and want nothing more than for Peak Vista to succeed.
“It's time to find leadership who has the same values and cares about the patients and the population of Colorado Springs, the way that these providers and the rest of the employees at Peak Vista feel.”
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