Investigation by Vanguard Leads to Apparent Threats Against a Local Attorney
Yolo Hospice has long been one the respected pillars of the Davis and Yolo County community. However, recently the organization has been rocked after Jody Norton, former Yolo Hospice Director of Patient Care, who worked for the organization for 19 years and served for two months as acting executive director, was abruptly terminated on January 14.
On January 30, Piper Berge, who worked as Information Technology Manager for Hospice, was abruptly terminated after she went to the Hospice Board to complain about the termination of Ms. Norton. The Vanguard has learned that at least two other employees have quit as the result of both treatment by staff and working conditions at the facilities. These include Gila Libet, and an RN, Helen Pomerleau, an RN. (CORRECTION SEE BOTTOM)***
Several others are in the process of interviewing before they leave.
Jody Norton had worked with Yolo Hospice since 1996. Prior to her employment at Yolo Hospice, Ms. Norton worked as an oncology nurse. During her tenure at Yolo Hospice, Ms. Norton, who is extremely well-regarded by everyone the Vanguard spoke to about this matter, served in multiple capacities and has been recognized for helping maintain excellent clinical care services – all while striving to preserve and emphasize the importance of the patient relationship to successful care.
The organization grew great during her tenure and, on multiple occasions, Ms. Norton would serve as Interim Executive Director during multiple transition periods between Executive Directors. The board had also asked Jody to assume the Executive Director position, which she declined in favor of her love of patient care – just before they hired Craig Dresang.
Yolo Hospice now has an annual operating budget of over $5 million and is a round-the-clock, not-for-profit, hospice care public entity that serves Yolo, Solano, Sacramento, Colusa and Sutter counties.
New Leadership at Yolo Hospice
The Yolo Hospice Board, in the last three or four months, hired Craig Dresang out of Chicago. According to his bio, Mr. Dresang, who declined an interview, has more than 25 years of nonprofit management experience, including 15 years as a senior leader in healthcare. Prior to his current position Mr. Dresang was the vice president for community development and programs for Midwest Palliative and Hospice Care Center in Chicago, a $30 million healthcare organization that ranked in the top 20 nationwide for quality inpatient care, and was recognized as one of Chicago’s top 100 workplaces.
While Mr. Dresang declined an interview, in an op-ed published over the weekend he referenced challenges and changes over four decades, and then “recent changes” which he said “have sparked a lot of healthy dialogue about the ‘heart of Yolo Hospice.’”
He writes, “The best description I’ve heard regarding our organizational heart came from Janene Ramos, executive administrator.” She said, “Every time I see one of our nurses, social workers, chaplains, home health aides or volunteers walk through the doors of our building, I think … there walks the heart of Yolo Hospice.”
He then, without reference to the turmoil in the organization, introduced a new leadership team.
January 14, 2015, Termination of Jody Norton
On January 14, 2015, Jody Norton was, in the words of some, “abruptly and unceremoniously fired” from Yolo Hospice by Director Craig Dresang, and was immediately escorted from the Yolo Hospice premises. The reason given in Jody’s termination letter was “I no longer have confidence in your abilities as Director of Patient Care Services.”
She was shocked and distressed by this termination, but when she asked for an explanation, none was forthcoming.
When Jody Norton later appealed to Board President Tom Frankel for intervention, Mr. Frankel informed her that the board does not involve itself in any personnel matters or issues, and that such actions are left solely to the discretion of the Executive Director. Mr. Frankel also informed her at that time that there is no appeal or review process for her termination of employment.
The Vanguard was told that on January 26, 2015, Bryan Norton, husband of Jody Norton, attempted to attend the monthly Yolo Hospice Board of Directors meeting with several other staff and volunteers, to ask the board for action/explanation in support of Jody Norton’s termination and review of the process.
Mr. Norton was blocked from entry, and was told no one from the public was allowed in the board meeting – one source told the Vanguard this was in violation of their Employee Handbook. Bryan Norton was then told he must exit the premises; he was not allowed to even wait outside the meeting room to speak with staff members and volunteers after the meeting.
Piper Berge, the Information Technology Manager for Yolo Hospice for almost five years, was the spokesperson for the staff and volunteers in representing Jody Norton. With prior approval from Board President Tom Frankel, she was given five minutes at the beginning of the board meeting to speak.
Four days later, she was fired by Executive Director Craig Dresang. The letter sent via email contained no discussions, no performance issues, no warning. The reason given was similar to that in Ms. Norton’s termination letter – “I no longer have confidence in your abilities as Information Technology Manager.”
A month earlier, Ms. Berge had received an “above expectations” evaluation.
Hospice Response
After several unsuccessful attempts by the Vanguard to reach Executive Director Craig Dresang, Mr. Dresang on Wednesday morning sent a short statement to the Vanguard via email.
He indicated, “I’ve been squarely focused on Yolo Hospice’s core issues which are the outstanding care of our terminally ill patients and the compassionate support of their families.”
“Contrary to your statement, Yolo Hospice has not laid off staff. In fact, we are in an era of hiring credentialed clinicians and other professionals,” he stated. “Our 36-year history has always been marked by a culture of respect, dignity and integrity.”
He said, “We appreciate your inquiry about recent employment actions, however, because of well-established privacy rights we cannot publicly respond to confidential personnel issues.”
The Vanguard would later speak with Hospice Board President Tom Frankel. Mr. Frankel, a retired attorney in Yolo County, has served on the board for six years, three as president.
He reiterated to the Vanguard that what happened “has not been a board action.” However, the board backs the executive director 100 percent.
He told that the Vanguard that the board’s preference is not to have private personnel matters debated in the press. Several times he indicated that he could not comment on the specifics of these matters. He added, “I think that Yolo Hospice is a phenomenal organization.”
More Details Emerge
The Vanguard spoke with Helen Pomerleau and Gila Libet, both nurses who ended up leaving following the termination of Jody Norton.
Ms. Pomerleau said she got an email from Mr. Dresang, which stated that Jody Norton was “leaving.” She became concerned for Ms. Norton’s health, believing that if she were leaving it was must be health-related.
Ms. Pomerleau said that when she arrived at work the atmosphere had drastically changed. “It was as though everyone was in mourning,” she described, with people silent and sad in the office.
She inquired of the supervisor, who informed her that Ms. Norton was terminated. “I said this is a hostile work environment because everyone is afraid to talk about what happened.”
Her use of the term “hostile work environment” would quickly be turned against her.
Ms. Pomerleau told the Vanguard, “I had also sent him (Dresang) an email saying that he ‘took the heart out of Yolo Hospice,” and Jody had been a big part of Yolo Hospice.” She added, “If you are going to fire the most competent nurse there, the one we went to for resource when we had a problem… who kept the place running when the executive office has been vacant, what’s going to happen to other people?”
She said the firing “all of sudden changed the whole dynamics of the place. You have a guy who comes in and has been there for 14 weeks, who fires someone who has been there for almost 20 years.”
The next weekend, when she was at work, she said she had a brief encounter with Mr. Dresang in the lunchroom, after which he ended up sending her an email reprimanding her for being rude to him and referencing some confrontation in the parking lot.
She said that later, she was walking in the hallway and exchanging pleasantries, when Mr. Dresang turned and yelled at her saying, “That will be enough of that attitude.” At this point she said, “I could see the handwriting on the wall. I could tell I was his next victim because I had used the word it was a hostile work environment.”
Helen Pomerleau then went to the January 26 board meeting. She was confronted by the HR Director, who told her that she needed to talk to her now. Ms. Pomerleau said she attended the meeting, spoke briefly about her concerns and left.
She said, after trying to follow up with the HR Director, “I’m done with this place. It’s changed. It isn’t what Yolo Hospice was when I started working there.” She said that, once the trust factor was gone, “you don’t have a working relationship anymore so I chose to leave.”
Gila Libet, also a nurse, spoke at length to the Vanguard, as well. She also told the Vanguard that, when Jody Norton was fired, they were told she was leaving and found out later it was untrue. There was an eerie silence at Yolo Hospice and no one seemed to know the reason Ms. Norton was terminated.
In a letter she wrote on behalf of Ms. Norton, Ms. Libet wrote, “What kind of message are we sending to the greater community, when after 19 years of hard work, dedication, building a great organization with the highest morals and ethics, we terminate this very same person who made us proud of who we are. After all she sacrificed, all her righteous fights and all the many problems she solved single handedly, we fired her.”
“I am ashamed to let it happen. I am ashamed it happened in my family of YH. Why, I asked? They tell me, I do not know everything. I am the first one to admit it. But what I know sends chills down my spine,” she said. She added, “If it happened to Jody it can happen to anyone of you.”
Threats Issued?
At this point, this was a typical personnel story. We have the claims by the employees who are free to air their grievances and the inability for management to respond until there is a formal action. That changed on Wednesday.
The Vanguard learned of this termination just after the January 26 meeting and began investigating. Last week, a call was placed to Executive Director Craig Dresang for comment, with no response.
This week, another call was placed on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings – no response. An email was sent on Tuesday – again no response.
Finally, after a more aggressive call on Wednesday morning at around 9:30 am, the Vanguard received the emailed statement from Craig Dresang, declining further comment. The email was received at 11:52 am and a follow up call from the receptionist at 12:30 pm confirmed receipt.
Then the story takes a bizarre turn because, just before 1:30 pm, the Vanguard received a call from Mary-Alice Coleman, who is representing both Jody Norton and Piper Berge in potential litigation.
(Full disclosure: Mary-Alice Coleman is an advertiser on the Vanguard. A prominent employment law attorney, a number of her cases have been covered by the Vanguard, including most recently the Janet Keyzer case that went to trial against UC Davis).
Ms. Coleman informed the Vanguard that her office had received two phone calls, one of which was threatening. The calls came in around 11:56 am and at 11:58 am.
In a statement, she indicated that, when the first call came in and made a threat against her, her receptionist hung up on the caller, but the caller called back. The office manager then picked up the second call, but the caller hung up.
She said, “We contacted the Davis Police Department and reported the incident and the phone number of the caller. The police followed up, and have now informed me that the caller was the significant other of someone at Yolo Hospice.”
“When I asked questions of the officer, he confirmed that he spoke with the caller and that the caller is related to the Director of Yolo Hospice. The officer confirmed that he then called Craig Dresang and talked to him about the threatening phone call. Dresang claimed that he knew nothing about the call or the caller,” she added.
She told the Vanguard she intends “to file a restraining order against both Joseph Drozd and Craig Dresang as a result of this threat being made against me.”
The Vanguard confirmed with Assistant Police Chief Darren Pytel that Officer Michael Yu had been called out to investigate.
However, the story does not end there.
At 11:32 am, the Vanguard had received the first of three posts from a new user, mm658, who wrote, “You are not truly journalists. You operate at the whim of your advertisers… especially attorneys. You are both a fraud and a disgrace to the art of journalism.” The user, as of 7:30 pm last night, deleted his or her profile.
It was only later that we were able to put the two together. The timeline is uncanny. At 9:30 am, Yolo Hospice was called again for comment. At 11:32 am, mm658 posted the comment, clearly referencing our investigation and Ms. Coleman. At 11:52 am, we received the email from Mr. Dresang. And at 11:56 am, the Law Offices of Mary-Alice Coleman received the telephone threat.
The Vanguard spoke with Board President Tom Frankel regarding the messages. He acknowledged speaking with the office about what had transpired, and indicated that the police were downplaying the incident.
He said, “I don’t believe that anyone at Yolo Hospice is involved in this.” He indicated that Yolo Hospice has been getting harassing calls, as well, and has turned them over to the police.
Mr. Frankel told the Vanguard that Mr. Drozd, the significant other of the Executive Director, was not in the office and was never alone today.
The Vanguard was told by other sources that, when Craig Dresang arrived at Yolo Hospice, he installed his significant other, Joseph Drozd, as a “volunteer” receptionist and grant writer at the Davis offices.
Mr. Frankel, while downplaying the incident and denying Yolo Hospice’s involvement, also acknowledged that very few people should have been aware of the Vanguard’s investigation. Ms. Coleman told the Vanguard that very few would have been aware of her involvement in the case.
Assistant Chief Pytel told the Vanguard that, at this time, the police do not consider the matter criminal. He said that for threats to be considered criminal they have to be ongoing, and this appears to be a one-time threat.
He did say that all involved have been contacted by police and put on notice should further developments occur.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
***Correction: The Vanguard list of leaving employees originally included: Cynthia Wolff, the Director of Outreach and Education whose last day will be March 2 and Donnalee Gates, whose last day was Wednesday, February 18, 2015. However, Cynthia Wolff called the Vanguard to correct this information. She sent an email stating: “I am leaving Yolo Hospice due to an opportunity I was offered in Sacramento. Many factors were weighed before making my decision. Work and life balance, my commute and other family obligations. It was a difficult decision as working with the Yolo Hospice team has been one of the highlights of my career and I wish them continued success and they have expressed the same wishes for me. Yolo Hospice is a unique and valuable community resource. It has been a blessing to work with the staff that bring their special talents to the care and comfort of our patients each day. I suggest if you have an opportunity to visit the office you will immediately feel how this organization radiates love for one another and our community.”
Originally published February 19, 2015
