Entries Tagged 'Sanford Hospital' ↓

An article you WON’T see in the Argus Leader

May 5th, 2013 — Sanford Hospital

Graphic: www.startribune.com (click to enlarge)

While we sit around in Sux Falls and have fairy plum dreams about Sanford, REAL journalists, at REAL newspapers, write REAL stories about Sanford;

Swanson, whose office regulates charitable hospitals and other nonprofits, called the naming rights deals and sports investments a concern.

“The extraneous spending by Sanford Health seems inconsistent with a charitable hospital’s mission of delivering high-quality patient care at the lowest cost,” she said.

LOL.

52 Comments

Sanford shot down

April 15th, 2013 — Sanford Hospital

Okay, this story is a few days old, but interesting.

T. Denny Sanford amassed his fortune by selling last-ditch credit cards to consumers with bad credit.

The philanthropist who has poured millions into Sanford Health is known in banking circles for the billions he made with his South Dakota companies First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, one of the largest subprime credit card operations in the country.

Now, as Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson looks into merger talks between Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services, some are asking whether Sanford’s background should be part of the debate.

“When I saw that Lori Swanson wanted to open this up, I knew this would come up right away,” said Doug Cummings, director of East River Legal Services in Sioux Falls.

When contacted about Sanford’s business career, Swanson declined to comment.

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Here’s an idea . . .

March 3rd, 2013 — Sanford Hospital, Sioux Falls, snow removal, Snowgates

Sell advertising on snowgates!

7 Comments

Is Sanford building a sports complex or a machine shed?

September 24th, 2012 — Sanford Hospital, Sioux Falls

(Photo, Guest Poster)

I will commend Sanford for one thing, constructing a sports facility without spending millions of taxpayer dollars.

21 Comments

IMPORTANT City Meetings

August 5th, 2012 — Event Center, Sanford Hospital, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

Sanford Rezoning and Elementary School Closures, are on the agenda for the upcoming Board of Historic Preservation meeting.

The meeting is Wednesday, August 8th at 4:00, First Floor Commission Room, City Hall.

I watched the Sanford rezoning issue being addressed at the last Planning Commission meeting. Many residents voiced concerns, one of the main concerns was building flat parking instead of a parking ramp. It is blatantly obvious why Sanford builds flat parking lots, they are easy to tear up when they are expanding. While I agree the residents have a good gripe about it, this is just a good business decision by Sanford. But what amazes me is how PC member Jessie (Pins) Schmidt told the one resident suggesting parking ramps that it wasn’t their job to give Sanford an opinion on how they use the land just if they were using the land properly. Huh? The resident told her that it was THEIR job to suggest to Sanford that they submit other plans, or deny the request. We all know this comes down to money. Sanford has it, these homeowners do not. Planning Commission recommends approval. Go figure.

There is also a plan to record and televise the council’s working session on Wednesday in which they will discuss the Events Center. This is unusual because they have never televised these meetings.

Mayor’s Event Center Staff Presentation by Darrin Smith, Director of Community Development/Public Parking

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What kind of ‘Deal’ are we getting on the new Events Center naming rights?

August 2nd, 2012 — Event Center, Sanford Hospital, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

You can almost smell how greasy this deal is . . .

Nobody really knows, heck, we might not even know even with this ‘exclusive’ interview that is vague;

When it came time to establish primary sponsorship for the new Sioux Falls Events Center, several of the city’s business heavyweights emerged.

No, THREE, heavyweights emerged. We have NO idea if there was any other companies involved.

The end result was a building named the T. Denny Sanford Premier Center.

What!? Why not just call it the Sanford Premier Center? Why is T. Denny’s name on this?

First Premier Bank, Premier Bankcard and Sanford Health have formed a 25-year partnership as corporate sponsors of the $115 million sports and entertainment facility, pending approval by the City Council.

The sponsors will set up an endowment to make an annual payment to the city to help defray operational expenses. Last year, a firm hired by the city to study naming rights valued the title sponsorship in the range of $350,000 to $500,000 a year.

And that annual payment is what?

The city will host a news conference today at noon at the Sioux Falls Convention Center to disclose financial details, but company executives shed light on the deal in an exclusive interview with the Argus Leader on Wednesday.

What light? I have read this article twice, and haven’t read anything new.

Sanford Health chief executive officer Kelby Krabbenhoft said that he did not pursue naming rights and did not get involved in a bidding war for sponsorship at the events center, which is scheduled to open in fall 2014.

“This is about making an investment, not chasing naming rights,” said Krabbenhoft, who discussed the arrangement along with First Premier Bank CEO Dana Dykhouse, Premier Bankcard CEO Miles Beacom and Sanford Health vice president Dave Knudson.

So who approached who? And what other companies were ‘chasing naming rights’?

“We were looking for a portal to make sure we could make a difference in how successful this thing was. I don’t remember one meeting where we sat around and thought about naming rights, because I don’t think we need much more of that. This was the portal that made our involvement possible.”

First Premier is the majority investor, and it didn’t take long to consider using the name of noted Sioux Falls philanthropist and First Premier founder T. Denny Sanford, who also is title donor to Sanford Health.

These two paragraphs are contradictory. You didn’t think about naming rights but it didn’t take you long to come up with a name? Kinda sounds like you thought about it pretty hard . . . and fast.

And what about the councilors being let in on this ‘deal’?

“We don’t have transparency on this at all,” Councilor Kermit Staggers said. “The mayor used to work for First Premier, and people in the community are closely associated with Sanford. We should have had openness … Maybe we really got a good deal, maybe we will. But we’ll never know because we never had any bidding going on out in the open.”

One councilor told me yesterday he didn’t hear about the announcement until after the press release was out. Talk about keeping our elected officials in the loop.

The contract between the city, First Premier Bank, Premier Bankcard and Sanford Health has been signed but hinges on City Council approval. Chairwoman Michelle Erpenbach said an executive session is scheduled for Tuesday with city attorneys to further discuss contract negotiations and ask questions. The full council will vote during a public hearing and regularly scheduled meeting Aug. 21.

So now that the cat is out of the bag, we still have to go into a secret meeting to discuss the contract? This should be an open meeting to the public, not behind closed doors.

“We believe strongly that the agreement presented and details shared will go a long way toward ensuring financial viability of the facility, giving every chance to operate in the black and be successful,” Smith said.

Who is ‘WE’ Darrin? You, Huether and Sanford? When you use the word ‘we’ in relationship to government, it should be ALL of our elected officials, not just the ones that agree with you and Huether.

Councilor Greg Jamison thought the council would have been briefed on contract details in executive session before the public announcement.

“That’s what’s funny about this process, it’s all out there … we don’t even know what the dollar amount or agreement is, we learn that (today),” he said. “When it’s the public’s money, there’s a higher threshold to do it in such an open way, so open there could never be any (question) of behind-the-scenes, under-the-table deals. This wasn’t done that way.”

But, Greg, you are not a part the elite ‘We’ group at city hall, just trust them.

But let’s go a little deeper and talk about Kelby’s involvement in this ‘Deal’. He pretends his hands were not on it, but he sure seems to know a lot of details about the naming rights deal;

As Sioux Falls goes, so goes its most prosperous companies. So a little bit of propping up can go an awful long way over time.

“That’s why we do these things, like donating 40 acres to the city for football fields,” said Krabbenhoft. “The more we have these kinds of things, the more I can recruit better physicians and lure more talent, because they see a full community. I’ve gotten my heads kicked in a lot of times for doing this stuff, but we’ve stuck with it, and now the virtue of it is right there for everyone to see.”

Yup, Kelby went there.

Donating 40 acres and in exchange you got millions in a TIF deal that set precedent in the city. Thanks for the donation, but you really should be thanking the city for all the perks you have received over the years.

But let’s look at the timing of this ‘deal’;

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Sanford Health is starting construction on a $541 million medical center in North Dakota’s largest city.

Groundbreaking for the Fargo campus was Tuesday. Sanford President and CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft called it a historic day. The facility is to open in 2016, serving more than 4,200 patients daily.

The 10-story medical center will include 460 hospital beds, 32 operating rooms and 51 emergency department bays. By 2018 it is to be staffed by more than 260 physicians working in 48 different specialties.

Sanford already employs more than 7,500 people in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minn. The new medical center will create an additional 2,000 full-time positions.

Sanford is based in Fargo and in Sioux Falls, S.D. It has a presence in more than 100 communities in seven states.

Guest Poster contributed to this;

This article is kind of like our city government, spend without care because the spenders won’t be in office when the bill comes due.

Think about this, just as in Sioux Falls, Fargo had a fine medical system before Sanford Health got involved. Now the king of the edifice movement is building more shrines to their ego. I have had to deal with a great deal of medical community in recent years, at many in-state and outstate medical facilities. Something I have noticed and has been confirmed by employees of the systems, is the constant overspending on something not needed. We’re not talking about one or two disgruntled employees but by career employees of several levels.

Instead of paying the employees a living wage, SH is spending borrowed money on another building. The nursing staff, building maintenance and clerical continue to do more work for less.

The priorities of the Board of Directors of Sioux Valley Hospital (Sanford) and Avera McKennan are now geared only toward self-aggrandizement and not patient care. How can the limited staff keep up with the additional workload for less pay.

I love the staff and doctors, they are humans doing a job without appreciation. Oh sure, the hospitals spend a lot of money on ads telling us how much they care but really, but really…. We want to be able to check in when it is needed and checkout without catching something. The staff is the way we can make sure we leave on time and safely. The care they have given to my many family and friends I assist, under the less than optimal conditions, is amazing. SH’s desire to keep wasting the trust of the community and the trust funds of the medical system are disgusting.

We used to have a medical system based on patient care first. The two primary hospitals bought equipment together and shared. Doctors were able to easily move between the three hospitals with ease to perform the best patient care possible. The patient is not the most important part of the system. The billing system is geared so SH can pay for more spending spree items like buildings.

OMG, now Sanford is going to claim ownership of the Events Center by placing a phony billboard on its side. Another endowment / slush fund boondoggle for SH’s edifice satisfaction. Here’s an idea for SH, let’s just change the name of Sioux Falls to Denny’s! I can see it now, get everyone to eat Denny’s Belly buster breakfast so we need cardiac care and you will finish owning all of us.

Sorry SH, Denny won’t be around forever, who is your next $ prey…

50 Comments

A TIF for a private restaurant that serves alcohol? Hmm . . .

July 4th, 2012 — Sanford Hospital, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

So I stumbled upon item #42 at the city council meeting Tuesday night. They were amending the Sanford Sports Complex Development to include a full service restaurant (Document: snford). I was told this was coming, but am curious why this wasn’t included in the original plans. And of course, councilor Entenman excused himself from the vote without explaining why (as usual). He sits on the Sanford board of directors. Kenny Anderson asked if Sanford was going to sell the property to a private company for the restaurant. Director Cooper did not have an answer but the Sanford rep came up to answer the question. His response (paraphrasing), “Not sure, this area is still developing.”

So let me get this straight, you are asking for an amendment to have a full-service restaurant in the development, BUT you are not sure what that restaurant will be . . . yeah, sure, you betcha.

PROPOSED REGULATIONS/STANDARDS:

C. SUBAREA A.

It is the intent of Subarea A to be a planned medical/sports complex area including

the support services for the complex.

1. USES PERMITTED. A building or premises shall be permitted to be used for the

following purposes:

Recreational Complex

Office

Medical Office

Medical School

Medical Research

Medical Manufacturing

Day Care Center

Hotel/Motel

Full-Service Restaurant

Commercial Parking Lot or Parking Ramp

Communications Equipment

Warehouse

Retail

Retail Warehouse

Heliport

On-Sale Alcohol Establishment

Off-Sale

12 Comments

Watch this video, what’s missing?

June 29th, 2012 — Sanford Hospital

(Image: KELO-TV)

After watching this Stormland TV story, I couldn’t help noticing that something was missing. Can you guess what it was? NO MENTION OF PUBLIC MONEY potentially being funneled into these projects. Not even a peep or an inkling.

No mention of the money the city already gave Jr. Football (they have yet to contribute all of what they promised). No mention of the millions in TIF money Sanford is getting for this complex. No mention of the money the mayor is promising Ice Hockey and the Tennis association.

Notta. Nuthin. Zilch.

Sanford will walk away with all the credit while the taxpayers get left holding the bag of burning dog poo.

And people say our local media isn’t puppets for the city. LMAO!

11 Comments

The Precedent of the Sanford Sports Complex TIF

May 22nd, 2012 — Sanford Hospital, SF City Council, Sioux Falls

COMPLETE DOCUMENT: sanford-TIF

Pay close attention to this map that shows where the improvements will occur.

Historically the city has not utilized a TIF to pay for infrastructure costs associated solely with private development (i.e. it doesn’t clearly meet the definition of being public). With this TIF however that isn’t the case. The very southwest corner of the development is very private in nature and will include retail and commercial development. What is the true need for the TIF to cover the costs of this infrastructure and how is this retail / commercial development any different than those elsewhere throughout the City?

By allowing this the City has truly set a precedent for developer requests in the future.

Utilizing this incentive when it is clearly needed is a good thing for the city and the parties involved. By utilizing it for a project that does not need it – it then becomes an entitlement. That is a slippery slope to go down and jeopardizes the relationship the City has built in the past with the County and School District (other taxing entities that are impacted by the TIF being established).

What is missing is the development agreement between the City and Sanford for the reimbursement of the increment identified in the plan. The Economic Development department may not have the document completed yet. It may not be completed yet because of the several negotiations that have to be held yet.

This document will outline who is paid for what and when.

Let’s estimate there is $9M in increment with approximately $500K coming in annually.

• Should Sanford be paid for what they have done first or should the City be paid for the project they have completed?

• Can that be split so that both get something without one having to wait 5 years before seeing anything?

• Given the fact that the NEED was not justified, one would think that the City could be reimbursed first for the work that will be completed to the Sports Complex.

This has been a point of contention with the project, maybe that is why the document hasn’t been completed yet. It will be a public document so we will wait and see.

11 Comments

Does Sanford want to become the largest health care system in the Nation?

May 15th, 2012 — Sanford Hospital

Maybe not, but it looks like they are trying;

Since Sanford Health of Sioux Falls, S.D., merged with Fargo’s MeritCare in 2009, the organization has built itself into the largest nonprofit rural health care system in the country, with facilities spread across North Dakota, South Dakota, parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, and a market population of 2 million people.

10 Comments