Washington Blade - February 11, 2008
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

A clinic official said the layoffs are part of a major reorganization aimed at improving client services and that the clinic has taken steps to implement the changes as smoothly as possible. But some clinic employees believe the layoffs have been handled poorly.

"You come in to work in the morning and you find out people who have been here for years are gone, and some of them have been given an hour to clear out their desk," said one employee who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Some of the clients who have worked with these people call back and they don't know who to call or what to do," the employee said. "What has happened is nobody thought this through."

Regina Newkirk, Whitman-Walker's director of development and community relations, said the clinic is in the process of transforming its client services operations into a new, more efficient system centered on clinical care, treatment and prevention, with the aim of more aggressively ensuring that clients adhere to AIDS treatment regimens.

"What we have done is moved from a social worker case management system to a medical adherence case system," she said.

"Any transition like this is tough," Newkirk said. "There have been some bumps in the road."

But she disputed claims that staff morale is low or that client services have been disrupted. Newkirk said clinic officials organized staff meetings to explain the changes, arranged for all clients to be contacted and informed that they would have a new case manager, and designated an "employee assistance person" to help employees cope with the changes.

She said the clinic is also in the process of hiring more than 20 people to fill newly created positions, including an obstetrician-gynecologist and a number of registered nurses.

Whitman-Walker Executive Director Don Blanchon announced the staff reorganization and the planned layoffs in a Jan. 10 news conference, although he did not specify the number employees designated for layoffs. Blanchon said the layoffs would be pegged to the elimination of specific jobs that no longer fit the clinic's new status as a primary care medical facility.

He said other layoffs would take place in the clinic's financial management department and that most of the department's work would be outsourced to a financial management company retained by the clinic.

Clinic spokesperson Chip Lewis said a total of about 47 positions have been eliminated in the staff reorganization, which Lewis said has now been completed. Lewis said about 20 new positions were being created, leaving a net staff reduction of about 27.

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