Mountain View Hospital has proved to be a potentially dangerous place to get treated or work lately. The privately owned hospital is viewed as an alternative to the local Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center (EIRMC) for many medical services, however that alternative could prove costly.
The holiday season can see an increase in theft, especially during a depressed economy, and Mountain View seems to be a favorite target for some thieves. Several at the hospital have been the victim of smashed car windows and had their valuables stolen while parked in the parking lot.
Mountain View’s management seems to have a standard of taking care of some, but not others. Peter Fabric, Vice President of Clinical Operations, is said to have told employees that while the hospital would be compensating patients for their losses, the would not be extending the same support to employees. That would mean if you’re an employee working at Mountain View Hospital, you’re on your own.
That can be a hard pill to swallow if you work at Mountain View, especially when employees who are required to drive to work daily are more exposed than the half-day patient.. One source indicated at least one employee has already had their car’s windows smashed and hundreds of dollars in goods stolen from the vehicle twice in the same week. It is not known whether insurance covered any of the loss, if at all.
And while new patients will not likely be aware of the danger they are in, some employees are scared to go to work.
Other businesses in the area, such as EIRMC, have security cameras in the parking lots to help protect patients and employees from theft. Mountain View appears to not have any such security. This can be frustrating to patients or staff, as Mountain View has reportedly continued to drag their feet in implementing additional security measures such as new cameras to keep people safe.
It is uncertain just how many automobiles have been damaged, and how many thousands of dollars in damage has been incurred so far, but the most recent break in was just a few days ago, and if the trend continues, the costs will continue to escalate.
For me, for now, if I have to go to get medical treatment and I have a choice, I’m choosing a place that takes the safely of their guests more seriously.
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Gato got runned over by Marcus many moons ago. Be ye daft, 2486? 
Let's have a new poll, alright, Joe?
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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
You know, we don’t live in a safe world, and we certainly aren’t contained in a private bubble. You can’t prevent / stop everything.
As for Mountain View compensating guests and not employees for losses, I think they’re being generous compensating the guests. It’s their parking lot, sure, but they didn’t call in the guys that stole the goods.
What kind of car did this lady that got hit twice drive? Why did she have so much expensive junk sitting in it? If you’re driving to work, why are you driving your expensive car that is likely to be targeted…and why are you leaving your stuff in it?
Guaranteed this isn’t a Mountain View parking lot issue, thieves aren’t that picky. EIRMC, Teton Spectrum, Grand Teton Mall, they’re all targets. Crime happens, fact of life, and a business isn’t the responsible party just because you park your car on their lot.
Marcus is exactly right. This isn’t a Mt View Hospital “thing”. This has been happening all over East Idaho for the past couple of months. If you’re stupid enough to leave valuables in plain sight…….
I’m just saying, use some common sense people!
It’s not Mt View’s responsibility to “compensate” ANYONE. This is a random act of violence that can and HAS BEEN happening all over town. I personally don’t think it’s fair that you have singled out this particular business.
Wake up people! Put your valuables in your trunk or under your seat so their not in plain view!
Duh!
just my 2 cents.
Whoever decided they should stiff their employees when it came to helping those vandalized should be canned.
If you’ve already had valuables stolen from your car once and your dumb enough to leave them in plain sight a 2nd time then you deserve what you get and no one should compensate you for anything.
It does seem like common sense may be playing a role in some cases, and I agree that it really is generous that the business is compensating *anyone* but I also agree that their policy of not compensating employees for the same thing does seem…unethical.
As to whether or not the decision maker should be canned…it’s not hard to see the decision as being based on the business aspects, not the human aspects. Employees are replaceable; getting a bad reputation around town that if you go there, you may lose more than you bargained for in money? That’s just bad business. Especially since so much of their clientele has insurance…Don’t want to lose that!
I think this blog entry should be removed in its entirety.
Mountain View Hospital: Potentially Dangerous!, as well as the introductory paragraph, are totally unrepresentative of the issue that the blogger is really pushing, and really can negatively effect their business for no good reason.
All the skimmers and Google searchers out there that read headlines and lead-ins can get a really wrong idea about Mountain View. I can’t vouch for or against them, but I don’t think they need negative spotlight like this over parking lot vandalism and vehicle theft, which is entirely outside of their control.
I could agree with Marcus on this…at the very least, the headline should be changed (since that’s what most people are going to read, without further looking into the story attached).
When I saw the headline, I thought the hospital itself was doing something to put people in danger, or that the writer had experienced some bad medical care or something…I was not expecting vandals.
The headline is very misleading and should be changed. When I saw the headline I thought the article was going to allege some sort of medical malpractice.
This headline and the subject relating to parking lot thefts is very slimy and the writer must have some sort of grudge.
I completely agree with you guys
Joe….would you mind “re-wording” the title?
I do think as long as we all post our opinions on this subject, people will realize it’s not as bad as this poster made it out to be. (and that’s the important thing here)
The hospital or rather the hospital PARKING LOT is not more or less “dangerous” than any other part of the city.
This Sandj person at least needs a “BOP Alert” attached to this thread because they did completely blow this out of proportion.
IMO
I too thought it was something medical when I read the headline.
Truth is that EIRMC is much more dangerous than Mountain View because the great staff, er staph, that EIRMC is famous for.
Not to mention that EIRMC has a employee with MRSA who is still allowed to work despite her outbreaks. MRSA is highly contagious and rather than remove this potential threat to every patient they just make her wear gloves.
What Sandj, and anyone else considering receiving care at ‘Mountain View Hospital’ might want to consider is that they are not a full service hospital.
They aren’t “manned” 24º/7days a week/12 months of every year by emergency doctors, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and security guards. Ooooh yeah. There’s a lot of people, science and cost that goes into being leading, major, medical/surgical and trauma center.
You’ll receive a lower price for care at ‘Mountain View Hospital’ because they offer less. Doesn’t make them bad, just makes them… cost effective.
You get what you pay for.
Mountain View’s actions here show that they really do respect and take care of their customers. They understand that customers are golden.
It also shows at the same time they treat their employees like crap.
So much for employees being your most valuable asset.
As with any company, if you don’t like your job find a new one!! But that would be too easy, you’d rather whine and complain about it instead.
No, it’s not that easy, and not just because of our present day poor economy. Our very small area limits where medical professionals can find employment. If they leave one employer, their next potential employer will want to know why they left before considering hiring them.
Should they have left over something as petty as a theft claim then, their potential employer will probably consider them a high risk for dissent among the work place. That makes them an undesirable potential employee, and unhirable.
Mountain View knew exactly what kind of position it was putting it’s employees in when telling them they were rescuing patients and visitors auto thefts but not employee auto thefts.
I have to disagree with you when it comes to the medical profession. There is a nationwide shortage for medical professionals (including E.Idaho) and there are jobs everywhere in the medical field.
I agree with comment 14: if you’re not happy with your current job, find another one. (it really is that simple, I’ve done it a number of times over the years) And there really is no problem when it comes to quitting your current job because you’re not happy. As long as you give 2 weeks notice your current employer is prohibited from saying anything personal about you to a prospective employer. As long as you have a good work ethic and decent employment history, you’ll never have a problem getting a new job in the medical profession.
Whoa, I agree with Marcus. This is potential slander. When you make allegations, particularly in comparison to a competitor, you’re looking down the barrel of some legal action.
I don’t think there is any slander here. It says potentially dangerous. Based on the breakins, it looks it could be dangerous to park your car there. One question would be how many breakins there vs. other locations. The title could be more clear for which part of Mountain View is potentially dangrous (which would have been nice), but headlines seldom explain the details.
I was told in a 2 day period there were about 35 car break ins in Idaho Falls. Of those, 8 were at Mountain View. That’s about 20%. If these numbers are wrong and someone knows more, please correct me.
Good point Andy. However, I don’t feel it was right for the poster to list a particular place of business to get their point across, when this type of crime can (& does) happen anywhere. To suggest that it happens more often at Mt. View Hospital and to insinuate that it’s a “dangerous” place to work and/or frequent, is just wrong in my book.
Unfortunately this is the world we live in and this is a part of life. I feel sorry for anyone who relies solely on their place of employment, law enforcement or anyone other than themselves, to protect their property, themselves or their family. So what if this hospital doesnt have security cameras in their parking lot! A security camera isn’t going to save you from being mugged, robbed or attacked. A security camera isn’t going to keep your vehicle from being broken into.
People need to take more responsibilty for themselves and take a more active role in their community/neighborhood watch programs. They need to be more aware of their surroundings, and overall use more common sense. Look out for yourself instead of expecting everyone else to look out for you.
Every single car that was broken into, at this hospital and at the other businesses around the city, the owners left valuables in plain site. Again, common sense.
That’s my nickels worth on the topic.
Disgusting. In reading this Blog title I foresaw reports of inept medical practitioners, infectious ooze, or maybe even an underground euthanasia sect. A quick read tells me it’s about auto break ins?
You have got to be kidding me. This title’s been up since Jan 2, basically slandering Mountainview because of the misinformation carried within it. A number of posts here have requested a title change, and unless I’m mistaken, blog management hasn’t seen fit to have the title changed.
I could care less about Mountainview, What I care about is appropriate titling and responsible blog management. Don’t get me juiced up to read about dead people with green slime oozing from their ears while nurses play rummy and nibble percodan, when all you want to do is snivel about someone getting their car burgled.
Seems like sandj may have a bit more of a vested interest in EIRMC than Mountainview, ‘eh? We wouldn’t want that nasty little privately owned hospital to get away with setting any of the same policies regarding theft that most of the other businesses in this city adopted years ago.
Be responsible, change the title.
Due to numerous complaints, the title has edited to help better portray what post is actually about.
You had better add the other parking lots to the list….Apple Athletic, EIRMC, Grand Teton Mall, and almost ever other business that has a large parking lot. They’ve all been burglarized, at one time or another. Let’s not pick on Mountain View!
I wish you could reply to specific comments ( hint: webmaster
)
Anyway, @ comments #10 & 11:
EIRMC is a hospital, and with hospitals come an increased risk of infection, especially with extended stays. However, very few people around here seem to recognize that EIRMC has one of the lowest transmission rates of staph/MRSA of any major hospital in the United States. That’s something that’s not easy to accomplish and can’t be said of very many healthcare facilities.
Also, the comment about an employee with MRSA….I will bet you that half the population of Idaho Falls has MRSA in some form another, whether it’s ever manifested an active infection or not. In fact in some states it’s not even considered an “isolation” condition. You can’t fire an employee for having MRSA any more than you can fire someone for having HIV or Hepatitis.
Sorry, just had to comment. I don’t understand all the flaming on EIRMC, or even Mt View. I can fire off a dozen complaints at least about every business and medical office in Idaho Falls….but the fact of the matter is both hospitals are very good hospitals in their respected fields.
Gee Moderator, you sure are johnny on the spot, do you come here often?
Glad the title changed.