The people of Gastonia really care about the name of their hospital, y’all.
When CaroMont Health announced Thursday it was changing the name of Gaston Memorial Hospital to the equally bland “CaroMont Regional Medical Center,” all hell broke loose.
Apparently the “Memorial” in the former name was to honor World War II veterans, and county commissioners will not stand for the name change of dishonor! Never mind spending any time/effort actually helping today’s veterans, they will take up the cause of “honoring” those of yesteryear with a nondescript word in a hospital name no one pays attention to.
Unfortunately for them, they don’t have much say in the matter, as the hospital is privately owned. So what to do? Oh, I don’t know, how about have a press conference on the steps of the courthouse on Friday to whine about it to the media?
That wasn’t enough for one Gaston County commissioner, though. Vice Chairman Tracy Philbeck of Dallas decided to cross the line into bullying and intimidation territory by publishing on his Facebook page the home addresses, cell and home phone numbers and personal email addresses of every individual sitting on the hospital board of trustees. He even encouraged his followers to share the information.
He defended this move, saying the what he published is public record. Given the hospital is privately owned, that’s not entirely true. You know what is a matter of public record, though? Philbeck’s home address. Interestingly enough, its not published anywhere. There is only a P.O. Box listed, perhaps because he doesn’t want some crazy showing up at his house because they got all bent out of shape over a minor decision he made.
Furthering the comedy of this situation is the hysterically ill-advised new tagline CaroMont proposed for the hospital – “Cheat Death.” It was to be incorporated into a county-wide wellness campaign. Alas, Gastonians are not fans of edgy marketing, or “wellness,” really, with a health ranking of 81st out of 100 counties in the state, so the tag line was dropped over the weekend to stem the tide of public backlash.
This article appears in Apr 3-9, 2013.
Every hospital regardless of it’s size wants to be call a medical center. Its not what you call it that makes it a medical center it’s how they serve the community. I do know that their was a lot more pride in Cabarrus Memorial Hospital,then there will ever be in NEMC. The community feelsd much more supportive and attached when it maintains it’s community feel. Just be happy that Carolina Healthcare System did not suck it up like all the other community hospitals.
Check your facts. It’s a public hospital, not private. CaroMont leases the county-owned hospital (which also sits on county-owned land) for $1 a year. That allows CaroMont to operate as a nonprofit and pay no property or sales taxes. Yes, the county commissioners have oversight of the hospital. And as a whole, they were upset about the Cheat Death slogan than the name change.
Hi Michael, thanks for your comment. You are correct in saying the hospital leases its building and the land it sits on from Gaston county. When I said the hospital is privately owned, I was referring to the organization and operations (rather than the physical building), both of which are under the ownership of Carmont Health, a private non-profit. For more clarification on this, a good resource is caromontforward.org/the-history
I don’t understand what is so funny about of this. Cheat Death WAS a totally ill-advised slogan and was making us the laughingstock of the nation. Our hospital IS named for the war veterans who gave their lives for us. Their names are memorialized on a plaque off the hospital lobby. Why would we want to change that name or at least keep the “memorial” part of the name? Have any of the citizens been able to make their wishes known? MANY of the people I have spoken to want the name to reflect the veterans who were originally being honored.
But CaroMont Health is NOT a private nonprofit. It’s a public nonprofit. Those are two very different things. The point being, the county commissioners have a stake in the hospital here. I’m not defending some of their actions. I’m just saying you are incorrect if you feel they should sit back and let the hospital do what it wants, without asking questions. To clarify, they were much more upset (as the community was as a whole) about the slogan than about the name change.
First, we have National Geographic authors, Chicago Institute of Art instructors, & world famous pianists in Gastonia. I don’t appreciate the “po-dunk” tone of this article. As someone that has been interviewed by CL, I expect more of your paper. Next, your missing the story of nepotism that went into the hiring of the marketing firm that created the slogan. Lastly, there is a very large plaque at the hospital that has always existed honoring the WWII veterans. The hospital was originally dedicated to them & the new name SHOULD reflect that. As for our county commissioners, the current noise makers are up for re-election this year, so little wonder he’s trying too hard. Many of us are not in support of commissioner Philbeck or his actions. But if your going to report a story w/ such a negative attitude of our county, then write yourself up for tattle-telling w/o all the facts.
Remembers Granny saying: “I used to feel bad for writers that confused insult with satire until I came to realize that a only a good writer knows the difference.” #whatajerk
Funny a Gaston Gazette reporter is fact checking this article. Too bad the same cant be said for their own paper.
For the greatest commentary on the new slogan read this article: http://thenewyorkcrank.blogspot.com/2013/0…
Again, you’re inaccurately using the word “private” to refer to the fact that CaroMont runs its own show internally. Yes, they make their own day-to-day decisions related to health care. But just because that’s the case, it doesn’t make CaroMont “private.” If CaroMont owned its own land and building, it could do what it wanted without government involvement, as true private hospitals do. The simple fact that the county owns the land and the building, and that the commissioners appoint the members on the CaroMont Health board of trustees, gives them a stake in the future of the hospital. You can argue whether or not that’s the healthiest arrangement, but you can’t argue about the reality of the arrangement. It’s a public hospital.