A petition has been launched to remove Kimber Wraalstad as Administrator of North Shore Health. As of this writing, the petition has received 388 signatures in less than 3 days.
It reads, in part:
“Our local hospital, North Shore Health, once a beacon of excellent healthcare and high employee retention in Cook County, MN, has been suffering.
A devastating loss of valuable employees has occurred across all departments under the administration of Kimber Wraalstad. This significant drop in employee retention rates has led to our hospital being regularly and severely understaffed in many departments.”
Scores of both current and former NSH staff, have been deeply critical of Ms. Wraalstad’s personnel-management practices. These accusations have now been documented in various outlets, including the most recent NSH Board meeting, the NewsHerald, the Cook County Conversations FB page, the Northshore Journal, and most recently, the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. According to these accounts, Ms. Wraalstad’s leadership style fosters fear and intimidation, which greatly discourages supportive and collaborative communication between employees and management.
The petition continues: “Current and former NSH staff have described her disrespect toward them and toward their stated concerns over untenable working conditions which affect the ability of NSH to provide quality care and services. This has negatively impacted the morale within our hospital, and many former staff claim this to be the chief reason why they are no longer employed at North Shore Health.”
In this vast county, it is our one, single Emergency Department to which patients are transported by ambulance in emergency situations. 5,600 citizens and over one million tourists who yearly visit our area depend on North Shore Health to provide excellent, often life-saving, medical services and care. According to the petition: “Our community has lost faith in Kimber Wraalstad’s ability to fulfill her role as administrator to that end. We cannot continue to sustain these ongoing losses of valuable, dedicated NSH employees under the current administrator.”
The petition demands that the Board of Directors of NSH take immediate action by removing Kimber Wraalstad from her position as Administrator. It states, “…this is an essential step towards restoring a functional work environment at NSH… this action is vital and necessary to ensure that excellent healthcare can once again thrive at North Shore Health, Cook County, Minnesota.”Â
You can find this petition at Change.org, under “Kimber Wraalstad.” Please sign and share with all concerned.
Michele Miller, Hovland
