The Washington County Hospital Board of Directors met last night and they went over the situation involving Charter Communication and their lack of cable service. Board Chairman, Dale Blohm explains what happened last week, as Charter recently made a change from analog signal to digital and that a box is required to plug into first, as it used to be just plugging into a television, but the hospital never received any notification and they lost all television signals. He says the hospital has been receiving cable for free from Charter for over 15 years. Chief Executive Officer Nancy Newby says it has been over 17 years. She says this is because they are a district hospital and fall under the category of government and so they receive complimentary cable television. She says they are customers and pay for internet service, but not cable TV. Customers were sent notices and such about this change taking place on April 22nd, but as the hospital is not a paying customer, they just receive the service and weren’t on any list. Blohm says this is the problem as they can’t get anyone to help them get the service back on or equipment needed to make it happen, nor can they get anyone to call them back. The hospital does not have special boxes to plug into for each hospital room, which includes 28-long term patients. Newby says they were able to get in contact with someone in Centralia and now have 6 boxes, but put them in areas where more people can access them. She says this doesn’t do any good for those patients that can’t get around and have to remain in their bed. Newby says they have even tried to get someone to understand that they will even pay for the service if need be. Blohm said this could be a lengthy issue, as Charter told them they have to wait for someone to come out and survey the situation, which could take 2 to 3 months, then act on it, order the equipment and get it installed, so it could up to 6 months to remedy the situation. Another issue is that any new equipment will have those cumbersome remotes that can be difficult for their patients to use, as they have everything in the one remote to control the channel, volume, call for nurse and adjust the bed. At this time the hospital and patients are at the mercy of Charter Communication with options including going satellite.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 15:40:48 +0000
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