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In the wake of a blistering Reporter expose concerning fat salaries and obscene bonuses top officials of cash-strapped Kaleida Health have been paying themselves, four of the worst offenders ended up looking for work last week.
Kaleida Vice President of Operations Carolyn Frank was the first to go. On March 5, the Reporter revealed she had collected a whopping $363,380 salary and $78,076 in bonus money during 2000, just one year before the non-profit corporation posted a $52 million operating loss.
On Friday, Dr. Mark Shields, Kaleida's executive vice president and chief medical officer; Richard Braun, chief financial officer; and Dr. Michael Noe, vice president of medical affairs, also bit the dust, employment-wise.
Records show that in 2000, Shields pocketed a total of $411,012 in salary and bonuses, while Braun received $332,033 and Noe got $305,304. More than $3.7 million in bonuses and "corporate incentives" were paid out in 2000, records show. Those figures don't cover lavish expense accounts, company cars and other perks enjoyed by the fat-cat executives.
"The bonuses were what upset people," a Kaleida source told the Reporter. "These were the very people who were saying they had to cut costs by closing Buffalo Children's Hospital and, in the meantime, they're paying themselves millions of dollars."
The announced closing of Children's Hospital resulted in 20,000 people taking to the streets of downtown Buffalo to protest and a series of public statements and interviews by the four cashiered executives defending the move. Ultimately, Kaleida reversed its decision.
While Frank, Shields, Braun and Noe's departures were characterized as "resignations" by Kaleida, it was clear that the media scrutiny and subsequent community outrage made their positions untenable, the source added.
"Some members of the board (of directors) were absolutely livid," the source said. "They couldn't even pick up their telephones."
Things went a bit further when both New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Sen. Hillary Clinton publicly commented on the seeming inappropriateness of the bonuses.
"That's the kind of attention no one wants," the source said.
Kaleida President William McGuire said the company is looking at a number of options in connection with Children's Hospital, including one possible scenario in which it would break away from the struggling health care giant and operate independently. At the time Children's was taken over by Kaleida in 1998, it was operating profitably, a situation that has deteriorated since.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 26 2002 |