Sometimes it’s what isn’t said that is most telling.
Chester County’s decision to conduct an “After Action Report” on its response to Covid-19 is laudable, yet also unfortunate in that the report failed to address the most controversial and embarrassing parts of the county’s response.
Through a Right to Know request, I obtained a copy of a report that Chester County commissioned to evaluate its response to Covid-19. Entitled Chester County Covid-19 Response After Action Report, the twenty-five page document identifies the county’s major strengths and major areas of improvement across eight categories.
The three county commissioners voted in October 2021 to approve a contract with outside vendor, Constant Associates, for over $144,000 to conduct the review. Despite this significant allotment of taxpayer funds, this report is not available to county residents unless they submit a Right to Know Request. It is unclear whether the report is available to county employees.
A request for comment to the county asking whether the report was published either externally or internally yielded this response. ”We have shared the After Action Report with internal stakeholders as the County begins efforts to strengthen the already-implemented best practices and enhance the areas identified in the report as needing improvement. This includes cross-department collaborative workgroups that will focus on the actions needed to build upon Chester County‘s emergency response procedures for potential future events.”
While the report includes the types of recommendations you would expect, the absence of certain issues is most telling. For example, one of the eight sections of the report is dedicated to Laboratory Testing. The report fails to acknowledge the debacle of spending $13 million dollars on Covid tests that did not actually work. The county is still involved in a legal dispute over the issue.
With that amount of mismanagement of funds and poor decision making, it seems an important point to include in an after action report.
Also notably absent from the report is a discussion of the Health Department’s impact on children’s education and how that could have been handled differently. The report cites “communications with schools and healthcare organizations who were critical to information sharing and unified messaging during the pandemic” as a major strength. (emphasis added)
There was anything but unified messaging around the “guidance” provided by the county health department to school districts. It basically devolved into a finger pointing game where the county said they were only providing guidance and recommendations, and the school districts claimed they were required to follow their arbitrary rules.
The situation became so heated that students and parents rallied and protested at the Department of Health multiple times. As it turns out, they, and not the health department, were correct about the lack of evidence for six feet of social distancing and extended quarantine restrictions. Yet none of these issues are even mentioned in the report.
In addition to the lack of detail to substantive issues, the $144,000 report has other deficiencies. First, the report is not dated, so it is unknown when it was actually published. The report reviewed the response between January 2020 and June 2021, yet one of the charts shown references data from 2022.
The report refers to community stakeholders and subject matter experts in a generic sense with no details about who they were. Did they interview local physicians or those impacted by their daily decisions? What subject matter did the experts represent? Unfortunately, none of that information is available in the report.
The report does not include an overview of findings, nor a summary. It does include a “Guiding Principles” section which says, “This AAR is not intended to be comprehensive of all activities conducted during the identified evaluation period, but instead focuses on major themes and recommendations of the highest potential impact.”
Despite this principle, the report lists eight areas of focus and their strengths and areas of improvement, but there are no overall themes or recommendations to summarize the key issues.
The twenty-five page report does include twenty-six pictures, including several of the commissioners in action.
I am left with more questions than answers after reading the report which led me to submit a follow-up Right to Know request. The county requested more time to provide the contract with Constant Associates and their invoices, in addition to emails related to the procurement process.
Perhaps those documents will shed more light on the report and why the county has not shared it with those who paid for it. Or, maybe the county found the report as flawed as I did and was concerned about another embarrassing expenditure of funds.
Beth Ann Rosica resides in West Chester, has a Ph.D. in Education, and has dedicated her career to advocating on behalf of at-risk children and families. She covers education issues for Broad + Liberty. Contact her at barosica@broadandliberty.com.
So the report is not publicly available unless you submit a form that provides it to you free of charge. Which means it is publicly available, you just have to ask for it.
Unfortunately Judah, most people don’t know how to utilize the RTK process. A report that we paid such a high price for should be publicly published and shared with the community for full transparency sake.
Weird there are so many people are still desperate to hide what really happened, the tremendous mistakes that were made and the damage that was done to the community.
Also Judah, if the report isn’t posted, how are people to know the review was conducted and reported on? Unless they attend every meeting, it’s quite possible it would be missed by concerned constituents.
Seems like an easy way to avoid full transparency, counting on the community members ignorance of the work they are doing.
Throughout the pandemic, we were deluged with pictures of testing sites, pronouncements of Chester County being the first to do testing. When the heralded tests were found to be inconsistent, the patients weren’t advised of the dubious results till the Inquirer published the story of the failed antibody tests bought from a neophyte. Chester County was featured on Fox 29 in December 2020 as immunizations began featuring a young and healthy 22 year with no patient contact being vaccinated. Odd that is newsworthy, but not an After Action Report on the pandemic paid for by the public.
Dr. Rosica highlights the lack of transparency. One shouldn’t need a Right-to-Know action to read an after action report paid of by tax payers.
Real leadership includes honesty with the team, not obfuscation and dissembling.
“Dr Rosica” has a PhD in Education, not an M.D. or PhD in medicine. This is not the first time she has written columns outside of her area of expertise regarding medical issues. Educator Rosica PhD, implies she has medical knowledge when she does not.
There Judah goes with an attempt to discredit the article with an argument over credentials. Citizens don’t need a PhD in anything to be able to understand the gross incompentence of our County throughout the “pandemic” and the lengths they will go to cover it up. You think very poorly of your fellow constituents. You consistently try to diminish these articles with nonsensical positions that actually have nothing to do with the bulk of the work. It’s hilarious.
You’re right. “Dr. Rosica” has EdD. Which would make her more than qualified to speak on matters of education, not medicine. What I consistently do is diminish the nonsensical positions in these articles that rely on hyperbole and not facts. I think very highly of my neighbors and I am concerned that articles by Dr. Rosica, EdD, are deliberately misleading because she misleads people with her use of the word doctor.
Citizens don’t need a PhD in anything to be able to understand what is going on around them. They also should not be misled by a doctor who specializes in education about medicine.
And my credentials Judah?
Judah, you’re anonymous on the internet voicing concerns over the content of a published journalist. Do you realize how funny that is? I bet you don’t.
You understand how journalism works, right? Information is collected, a story is written, an editor makes sure it is all correct, legal and then boom, published. There are multiple checkpoints to catch “misleading” information.
You not enjoying the the facts that she consistently lays out on this publication isn’t cause for concern for anyone else and it certainly isn’t misleading just because it hurts your feelings.
Lets talk about your credentials, since you didn’t post them. The last time you were a practicing physician was from 1993 to 1998. Since then you have been a high level administrator until 2015, and currently you are an “expert subject matter creator”. If I wanted someone to give recommendations on how to run a hospital you would be at the top of my list. You would not be the person to talk about Epidemiology, how to handle an outbreak, or to provide a post mortem. Unless it involved how to run the hospital, but not the medical side of this issue.
As far as your credentials go; those who can do, those who can’t create expert subject matter.
I worked in the county solicitors office for a short time. Right outside of the commissioners suite. They are pathetic & incompetent. It’s a tragedy. It’s worth noting that the Democrats run this county. Maybe Eric Roe will make an impact. I couldn’t run fast enough out of there. Awful.
Sorry Judah, wrong on all counts.
Really Administrator Doctor, since I can’t post the links, here is how it works. When I click on your name it takes me to your MLTV “The Doctor is in” show. Which matches with a Google search that leads to your linked in page that shows the following;
Francis X. Speidel, MD, MBA, FACEP
Producer and Host of “The Doctor Is In”
Producer and Host Producer and Host
Main Line TV · Freelance Main Line TV · Freelance
Oct 2018 – Present · 5 yrs 8 mos Oct 2018 – Present · 5 yrs 8 mos
110 W. Lancaster Ave, Suite 210, Wayne PA110 W. Lancaster Ave, Suite 210, Wayne PA
Drawing on experiences as an emergency physician and hospital administrator, Frank Speidel, MD, MBA, FACEP, examines the healthcare we experience today in the program “The Doctor Is In.”
While not always providing answers to the challenges of delivering care in the 21st century, Dr. Speidel and his guests present fresh and at times unsettling explorations of the opportunities and challenges we face in the U.S. in providing care and maintaining wellness.
Drawing on experiences as an emergency physician and hospital administrator, Frank Speidel, MD, MBA, FACEP, examines the healthcare we experience today in the program “The Doctor Is In.” While not always providing answers to the challenges of delivering care in the 21st century, Dr. Speidel and his guests present fresh and at times unsettling explorations of the opportunities and challenges we face in the U.S. in providing care and maintaining wellness.
Executive In Residence For Healthcare Executive In Residence For Healthcare
LeBow College of Business, Drexel University LeBow College of Business, Drexel University
Apr 2016 – Oct 2018 · 2 yrs 7 mos Apr 2016 – Oct 2018 · 2 yrs 7 mos
3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104Participant3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104Participant
Subject matter expert for business of healthcare provision. Responsibility includes panel participation, lecture presentations, video presentations, mentoring, counseling and collaboration. Subject matter expert for business of healthcare provision. Responsibility includes panel participation, lecture presentations, video presentations, mentoring, counseling and collaboration.
Healthcare IT Leaders logo
Chief Medical Officer Chief Medical Officer
Healthcare IT Leaders Healthcare IT Leaders
Jul 2013 – Apr 2015 · 1 yr 10 mosJul 2013 – Apr 2015 · 1 yr 10 mos
Alpharetta, Georgia Alpharetta, Georgia
First Chief Medical Officer for Healthcare IT Leaders, a company providing IT staffing to meet needs of hospitals health systems, providers and payers. As Healthcare IT Leaders CMO, I consult to our clients across the US drawing on my 25 plus years’ experience as a C-level hospital administrator and practicing emergency room physician. Our firm connects hospitals and large group practices with top talent for enterprise-wide healthcare IT initiatives. Whether you need an individual contract consultant or an entire project team, our experienced team can meet your needs. Healthcare IT Leaders is one of the fastest growing HIT consultancies and staffing firms in the US. Our engagements center on EMR / EHR (e.g., Epic, Cerner, McKesson, Meditech), Revenue Cycle Management, billing, analytics, and compliance-driven IT needs including ICD-10, HIPAA, Meaningful Use, and Accountable Care. First Chief Medical Officer for Healthcare IT Leaders, a company providing IT staffing to meet needs of hospitals health systems, providers and payers. As Healthcare IT Leaders CMO, I consult to our clients across the US drawing on my 25 plus years’ experience as a C-level hospital administrator and practicing emergency room physician. Our firm connects hospitals and large group practices with top talent for enterprise-wide healthcare IT initiatives. Whether you need an individual contract consultant or an entire project team, our experienced team can meet your needs. Healthcare IT Leaders is one of the fastest growing HIT consultancies and staffing firms in the US. Our engagements center on EMR / EHR (e.g., Epic, Cerner, McKesson, Meditech), Revenue Cycle Management, billing, analytics, and compliance-driven IT needs including ICD-10, HIPAA, Meaningful Use, and Accountable Care.
CEO
St Luke’s Hospital at The Vintage St Luke’s Hospital at The Vintage
Oct 2009 – Apr 2012 · 2 yrs 7 mosOct 2009 – Apr 2012 · 2 yrs 7 mos
20170 Chasewood Park Drive, Houston Texas 7707020170 Chasewood Park Drive, Houston Texas 77070
First Chief Executive Officer for St Luke’s Episcopal Health Systems new joint venture hospital. Responsible for ground up construction, staffing, equipping and licensing of new 106 bed facility. Responsible for contracts, and licenses necessary for hospital to be operational. Opened hospital on 1 December 2010, 6 months ahead of planned May 2011 opening. In first year achieved growth of 188 % in admissions, and 77% increase in ED volume. Made bonus metrics in 2010 and 2011.First Chief Executive Officer for St Luke’s Episcopal Health Systems new joint venture hospital. Responsible for ground up construction, staffing, equipping and licensing of new 106 bed facility. Responsible for contracts, and licenses necessary for hospital to be operational. Opened hospital on 1 December 2010, 6 months ahead of planned May 2011 opening. In first year achieved growth of 188 % in admissions, and 77% increase in ED volume. Made bonus metrics in 2010 and 2011.
Vice President Medical Affairs Vice President Medical Affairs
Memorial Hermann Northeast Memorial Hermann Northeast
2008 – 2009 · 1 yr2008 – 2009 · 1 yr
Kingwood, Texas Kingwood, Texas
First Chief Medical Officer for Memorial Hermann Northeast. Since arrival quality scores and core measures for Northeast led all 11 hospitals in Memorial Hermann System. Memorial Hermann is the NQF 2009 National Quality Healthcare Award recipient. MHNE is the recipient of the TMF Healthcare Quality Improvement Award.
Sorry Judah, wrong again
You have labeled me an “expert subject matter creator”. The quotes are yours not mine Judah. Is that a direct, word for word quote? From whom? The Lebow College of Business page where I was identified by Drexel as “Subject matter expert for business of healthcare provision”? You added a word and changed word order.
Another fact Judah. If you go to Chester County Hospital, you will see a bronze plaque with my name. It was donated by a patient I treated there in 2002 in appreciation of the care I provided. Not consistent with your dates.
So epidemiology is not part of med school curriculum? The practice of emergency medicine is not concerned with epidemiology? When two college student presents on a Saturday morning with meningococcemia, who organizes contact tracing?
More importantly, healthy adult discussions concern more with the content of the argument than the title of the speaker. And we benefit when voices of diverse backgrounds join the conversation.
Carl Sagan reminded us “Arguments from authority are worthless.” Don’t you agree?
Let’s be honest, Judah, you complain when she writes about education as well.
Please, tell us your credentials since you enjoy diving so deeply into others. We could use a sound check on your background.
Lets be honest, Esther, her two most recent articles are not written about education, they written about medicine. “Judah, you’re anonymous on the internet voicing concerns over the content of a published journalist.” Right back you, anonymous voice on the internet Esther. The days of safety checks and editors went out the window with Fox News and the Clinton’s assassinating people, Pizzagate, and voter fraud in the 2020 election. So much so that Fox News had to pay $787 million to Dominion and fire Tucker Carlson. With more lawsuits in the courts filed against Fox News.
I’m not the one arguing that her credentials limit her ability to speak on multiple topics that affect children, including their education and health, so no need to identify myself.
Arguing that someone isn’t credentialed enough, launching personal attacks and now… moving the goalposts with a little whataboutism thrown in for fun! These distraction and deflection tactics aren’t as effective as you believe them to be.
You are the one arguing that her credentials don’t limit her to speak on matters of health and medicine. So what your credentials? Personal attacks do not involve calling out someone for using the “Dr.” in a medical article when their Doctorate is in education, not medicine. As for deflection, that is exactly what you did when you asked for my credentials or claiming their are safety checks and editors in the recent generation of media outlets like OAN, Fox News, and Newsmax.
No, Esther’s right: you want to criticize based on credentials? You say a Ph.D. is in the wrong subject and the M.D. in the comments hasn’t practiced recently enough for your likes — so where’s your name and degree, tough guy? I don’t have a degree in animal husbandry, but I know bullshit when I see it.
Judah, reading comprehension and critical thinking does not require a degree or any type of credentials. Anyone can do it! Even you!
You do know that some of the most intelligent people in our society do not even possess a bachelor’s degree, right? Your elitist judgement only exposes you and your clear bias against those without the “proper” credentials. I can only imagine how closed off and bubbled your world is based on those views.
It is no wonder that you would rather be anonymous while spouting off these beliefs on the internet.
You’re right Esther, “It is no wonder that you (Esther) would rather be anonymous while spouting off these (your) beliefs on the internet.” Reading comprehension and critical does not require a degree, all I have to do is look at the articles written by Dr. Rosica and some of the other writers whose articles are published on Broad & Liberty to see a lack of critical theory and a reliance on ideology.
You seem to be confused. Please show me the ideology espoused by the author here.
Basing reported information on facts rather than ideology is what I have seen Ms. Rosica produce in her well researched articles. It seems your attachment to “theory” and ideology rather than reality is the actual issue, especially as you seem to select that path of attack across articles.
Clearly, you don’t like reality and are offended when others point it out. Thankfully, we all get to witness your mental gymnastics.
This is ideology; “The situation became so heated that students and parents rallied and protested at the Department of Health multiple times. As it turns out, they, and not the health department, were correct about the lack of evidence for six feet of social distancing and extended quarantine restrictions.” So where are her facts? This is the usual claptrap from people who still believe that Covid is no worse than the flu, who think that masking and distancing are ineffective. Without providing any evidence to back their claims. The families and loved ones of the one million Americans who died of Covid would say otherwise.
Clearly, you don’t like reality and are offended when I point it out. By all means keep defending Ms. Rosica, I on the other hand, look forward to her future articles where she will differentiate between her political beliefs and facts.
Now I understand. You avoid studies that force you to consider that you are wrong on all of those points. Hysterically so at this point, in 2024.
Tell us, is Covid in the room with you now? Are you still masking, while alone in your car? Do you miss those one way signs in the grocery aisle? Are you up to your 8th or 9th booster now? Remember, regular shots were dismissed as a conspiracy theory back in 2021. Turns out we were right about those useless, dangerous things as well.
This entire exchange makes so much more sense now.
You’ve burnt through all of your brain cells and require credentialed folks to feed you your opinion. Too bad you’ve decided to trust the wrong people. Hopefully one day something will wake you up. Maybe it will be one of these articles. Until then, we laugh.
Thank you Esther for revealing your true self as yet another irrational conspiracy theorist. I still mask up in the car because when I am running errands it is easier to than taking it off and on every time I get in and out of the car. Vaccines work, its the reason we don’t have outbreaks of measles, mumps, rubella, polio, and any number of other diseases that can maim and kill.
I do get annual booster shots for Covid and the Flu. If you are of a certain age, by all means don’t get vaccinated for Shingles. So you can truly enjoy the level of pain that comes with Shingles.
You’re right, This entire exchange makes so much more sense now. You only listen to people who match the echo chamber you live in. Too bad you’ve decided to trust the wrong people. Hopefully one day something will wake you up, but will it will be to late for you.