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NAACP calls for changes at Calhoun Liberty Hospital

Sean Rossman
Democrat staff writer

The Florida State Conference of the NAACP says administrative changes need to be made at Calhoun Liberty Hospital.

The group's call comes in response to a Florida Agency for Heath Care Administration finding released Wednesday that showed the hospital's staff did not follow state standards during the treatment of 57-year-old Barbara Dawson. On the morning of Dec. 21, Dawson died at the hospital shortly after she was arrested and then collapsed in the facility's parking lot.

AHCA found 10 deficiencies related to two cases, Dawson's and another patient's. The hospital faces fines and must come up with an action plan to remedy its deficiencies by Feb. 19.

"We believe these recommendations fully support our call for a change in the administration of the Calhoun Liberty Hospital," the NAACP said in a Friday statement.

The NAACP held an emergency meeting shortly after Dawson's death and questioned the hospital's handling of Dawson.

The organization called Dawson's death "tragic and totally unnecessary" and demanded that administrators and staff be held accountable for "taking the remedial steps required immediately and without hesitation or recalcitrance."

Dale Landry, president of the Tallahassee chapter of the NAACP, said he questions whether the hospital's CEO and administrator Ruth Attaway is qualified to run the facility. He said the group isn't calling for Attaway to step down, but said a change in administration is needed.

"Our position is they need to get a professional to come in and administer that hospital," Landry said. "They need to sit back and really relook at what they're doing."

Landry said he now wants doctors, nurses and Blountstown Police Department officers involved in Dawson's treatment to be held accountable.

At a Friday news conference, the Rev. R.B. Holmes, the pastor of Bethel Missionary Baptist Church who has been working with Attaway to improve the hospital, said he respected the views of the NAACP. However, he and Attaway are focused on the future.

“They have the right to say what they want to say," he said. "At this point we’re trying to strengthen the hospital and make it a better hospital going forward."

The NAACP added it will "vigilantly monitor" the hospital's response to the AHCA findings.

"The directives provided in the AHCA findings with respect to the hospital are a testament to the hospital's failure to carry out its responsibilities in accordance with the Hippocratic oath to remember that they treat human beings and not merely medical charts or financial transactions," the group said.

Contact Sean Rossman atsrossman@tallahassee.com or follow@SeanRossman on Twitter.