Updates and Poll Results: Do You Have Confidence in Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres' Ability to Lead the New Mexico Department of Health?

It appears DOH Nation has spoken. Dr. Catherine Torres has received a vote of no confidence.  A total of 1087 votes were cast.  Below is the break down of how you voted.

An Allegation Has Been Made on the BARF Hotline and We NEED Your Help

This week one caller made an allegation on the BARF Tip Hotline and we need your help.  With additional information we can corroborate what was told.  So DOH Nation, who is Chief Deputy Secretary Jim Green's sister and what does she do?  You can go ahead and leave the information in the comments, call the BARF Tip Hotline or email it.  No questions asked. 

Thanks!

-JP

NMDOH in Crisis Reaches Out to NM Legislators

Today, during the lunch hour, a letter went out to all New Mexico state legislators and several news outlets. The purpose of the letter was to let everyone know about our website and  we are going no where until things improve at DOH.



Below is the letter:

Update: Dr. Catherine Torres and Her Circle of Trash (Trust)

Reader Submission of a Sticker Found Around Town

Thank you everyone for your support.  Our website is seeing some great traffic.  Yesterday we saw over 2000 visitors.  It looks like DOH employees and others are getting our message loud and clear.   We have a mobile version of our site so people can use their mobile phones to check out the site and even comment from work.  So if something pops into your head grab your phone and share it.

We have had some excellent comments and would like highlight a few of them:

Health Worker                                                                                    Jan 25, 2012 09:40 AM

It's sad to see thet "The Circle of Trash, I mean Trust" is still alive and well and still telling Torres who to like and dislike. We got an HR manager/nanny picking up the kids, a Purchasing/Accounting Manager going to the movies and dinner with her, and an ASD/purchasing agent still being a follower and not questioning whether things that are being done are right or wrong, oops, you have to have morals first. When the Martinez administration started we thought things would change, obviously they didn't. Still Here said it right, these fools have survival skills. Johnathan Publix, I wish I knew who you were so I could give you a big high five. I'm sure we pass each others all the time. Keep up the good fight my Brother or sista!!

New Poll Question and New Name

Hi everyone. Fun day at work. Quick info to get out that I may not have shared. First we have a new poll question out. It is in the right-hand column. Mobile users can go to the bottom of the mobile page and go to "view web version" to participate.

Secondly, you can access New Mexico Department of Health in Crisis from NMDOH.com.  Have a smile on your face? Thought so.

UPDATE: New Mexico Department of Health in Crisis is Growing and Gaining Momentum

Poster at the corner of St. Francis and Cordova

Beginning Monday January 23rd posters like the one on the left have begun to show up on street corners, bus stops, bulletin  boards and sign posts all over Santa Fe.  I have even helped distribute some around the Runnels building outside during my 15 minute break.

Many have emailed in asking how they can help even offering monetary donations because they understand a project on this scale does take some resources. We DO NOT need any donations and DO NOT anticipate needing any donations.

All we ask of you is to let your voice be heard.  Contact state legislators or even click the link above. Another way to help is to print out the PDF poster below and post as many places as you can.  Post them at grocery stores and coffee shops.  Get the word out!

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres' Redesigned New Mexico Department of Health Logo Dissected

New DOH Logo

When Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres first arrived on the job at DOH her first urgent order of business was to redesign the department's easily recognizable logo.  The former logo was used on everything from letterhead to interstate billboards.  The logo was simple and easily read at any distance.  Re-branding DOH is expensive and unnecessary task to undertake.  Re-branding thus far has been a massive failure.  No one can recognize the new logo.  The new logo features a caduceus  placed on a heart inside a Zia symbol which is inside the outline of a turquoise state of New Mexico.  Let's break down the new logo to understand its ridiculousness. 

Old DOH Logo

One of the Articles that Started it all (with old comments)

Bottom of Form

Hey everyone!  Here one of the most commented DOH blog posts from the SFReporter.  All the comments were lost when SFR converted over to new posting software for their site.   All said, 145 comments were lost but now they are found. Many thanks go to an anonymous tipster and our webmaster for cleaning it up for publication.  Enjoy

 

Feet to the Fire

By Alexa Schirtzinger on December 4th, 2009

State Senator Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Bernalillo

Senator Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Bernalillo, is on the fiscal warpath, and she wants the New Mexico Department of Health to own up to nepotist practices in hiring—during a hiring freeze.

The Department of Health, Beffort says, hired approximately 91 new employees after Gov. Richardson declared a hiring freeze. It’s not the first time—at least 62 people were hired during the 2008 hiring freeze—but this time, Beffort’s righteously mad.

“I have been called by people in the Health Department that are demoralized by the nepotism that has been going on in hiring non-emergency people,” Beffort says. “After the hiring freeze, the Health Department hired, I think, 91 people. They said they were all critical people, so I backed down.”

She’s done backing down.

“It is a misuse of their definitions when they are bringing in people [who are] put in receptionist jobs and then trained into financial positions,” Beffort says. “As it turns out, they are people who are friends and relatives of people in that budget division.”

A Letter from Joey Peters of The Santa Fe Reporter

This letter was sent to us by the SFReporter's Joey Peters for distribution. Joey is reminding us that whether we talk to a journalist or a legislator about the atrocities suffered at Camp Torres it is illegal for anyone to retaliate against us. It is important that as many of us come forward with our own names and be heard because without a face nothing to be done to stop management's wrongs. Joey is a great person to talk to because he will only use what you are comfortable with. If you need help contacting a legislator shoot us an email. dohcrisis@gmail.com 

Here's Joey's letter:

Concerned DOH employees,

The allegations against Dr. Torres' management are very serious. I keep hearing left and right that countless employees are leaving because of Catherine Torres' management style. If true, ultimately, those who lose the most are the large chunk of New Mexicans who rely on public health.

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres Defaulted on Student Loans

Hi everyone.  We did get some info from the BARF Tip Hotline that I would like to share with everyone.  It appears Dr. Torres managed to default on two of her student loans with NMEAF in the 90s to a total of nearly $20,000 plus interest. One court case shows she had a garnishment on the lower valued loan of just under $5,000. One could assume the same held true for the other loan since court records on nmcourts.gov are rarely complete.  Have a look at the two court cases here:

Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres Patient Reviews

I have been doing a bit of digging on the internets and was looking at patient ratings of Dr. Torres, who is not board certified.  She recieved 1 and 2 star ratings when most Las Cruces pediatricians were 4 or 5 stars.  One of the comments really hit home as I read it.  I went ahead and took screen shots of the reviews and highlighted them in a nice PDF file.

The Infamous Collaborative Open Letter to Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres and Letter to Legislators

Here is the letter that was sent out legislators and news outlets on 1/6/12 and was featured in Joey Peters' SFReporter blog article. The legislators selected for the mailing were members of Legislative Finance Committee (LFC), Legislative Health and Human Services Committee and the house Health and Government Affairs Committee.

Dear NM Legislators,

We, the NM Department of Health employees, are writing you because we are in desperate need of your assistance.  We have nowhere else to turn at this point as we have exhausted all our avenues. The issue is DOH Cabinet Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres and her administration. Since her appointment she has created a toxic environment at DOH that is both hostile and dysfunctional.  20% or one in five positions are vacant and in many divisions the vacancy rate is well over 30%. Many of our skilled and dedicated peers have left the department for other lower paying positions because of the hostile environment Dr. Torres has fostered.  Dr. Torres and her staff has endangered public health.