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Self Quarantine Day 15
Sorry I've been slow with updates lately. It's tough being home with two autistic kids who are now being home schooled as our governor has decided that the remainder of the school year will be completed online. This week was supposed to be Spring Break. LOL I've been busy the last few days, sewing face masks for friends who are nurses, and I'm now getting requests for masks from complete strangers in other states. Things are getting bad, and it's starting to get really scary.
I hope this update finds everybody healthy and happy. We are currently safe from COVID-19. We are currently self quarantined in our home. The schools are all closed here, which means that I am home all day with two autistic kids, until further notice. The entire country is basically shut down at this point, which is interesting to watch from online. Luckily for my family, this complete shutdown of life isn't really hurting us at all. Other than being trapped in our house, nothing has changed. My husband still goes to work, but now gets to run all of the errands too, while I stay home with the kids. It's great fun being stuck at home. I am sick of watching tv, and sick of every game on my phone. But I now have to home school my kids, so I actually have less free time than I thought I would. I already miss my kids going to school. I am NOT cut out to be a teacher! This sucks! I hope you are all doing well, and continue to remain healthy and happy.
"Hi Everyone, thank you for Coming." Logan said standing up at the front of the room. "Samantha, Kimberly, Doctor Greenley, it's nice to see you again. I'm guessing everyone is wondering why I have asked you all to be here, so let me start by making a couple of brief introductions. Mr. Stanley, Mr. Brown . . . Thank you so much for coming. Mr. Brown and Mr. Stanley are both here representing United Health Care, the insurance company for all HPG employees. Everyone else here in this room today, is on the hospital board at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where I am an emergency room doctor, along with Doctor Greenley. Many of you know my wife, Rory Huntzberger, CEO of Huntzberger Publishing Group. The reason we have asked you all to be here today, is because we have a proposition for all of you. This idea was proposed to me by a close family friend, and I think that it would benefit all of the HPG employees in the area, as well as Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. There are many large employers throughout the country that along with providing a generous health insurance package, also provide an on-site health care clinic. In each clinic, there is one doctor and 1-2 nurses. These clinics are not accessible by the public. They are strictly available only for employees of each company, and members of the employee's immediate family. In most of the clinics, the doctor of staff has rights at the local hospital, where they are able to see their patients should they be admitted. However, what I am proposing to you goes a little bit further. What I am proposing is an employee clinic for Huntzberger Publishing Group, that is an extension of Columbia Presbyterian. The clinic will be run by a doctor and nurses that are provided by the hospital, use all the same computer systems that are fully connected and accessible by any health care provider at either the clinic, or at the hospital, at any time. All of the patient records will remain property of Columbia Presbyterian. While most of the clinics that I looked into are privately staffed and funded, being a hospital partnership gives Columbia Presbyterian guaranteed patients. While Huntzberger Publishing Group only has around 500 employees in New York, we have thousands of others all over the world. Any of those employees would have access to the clinic. That means that any specialty procedure that is wanting to be done, rather than pay out of pocket and extra fees to have the procedure performed at some other hospital, the employee can choose to come here, to New York, and have their procedure done by a world class surgeon right here at Columbia. By doing so, the employee would be paying less out of pocket because of the current insurance partnership, but also would have follow up care right here at our clinic. Also, any employees who are traveling to New York on business, which happens a lot in the newspaper business, any of those employees who require medical care would be able to be treated right here in the on-site clinic. Having an on-site clinic cuts down on time off work needed by every employee for all of their medical care. What would normally end up being a day off of work for the employee to see their doctor, would end up being less than an hour off of work. Our employees in the New York City area, would be able to set an appointment right from their computer. And anyone in this office building would only have a short elevator ride to the doctor's office. They would be able to see the doctor on staff within a couple of minutes, and get right back to work instantly. There wouldn't be any travel time involved, no days away from work. We could work it out so that the employee could see the doctor either on their lunch break, or they can take a medical break. We can figure out how to allow the time. But the point is that the employee would be able to see a doctor and then go right back to work, with very little disruption to the work day. In other companies that provide on-site employee clinics, they have also cut back on each employee's co-pay. Many of the clinics only charge a $5 co-pay, and still receive all of the same care that they would receive going to another doctor's office. All of the medical benefits remain the same. There aren't any changes to the health care policy at all. But the co-pay for the employee clinic is significantly less than it is to see any other doctor. It's a win for the employee, a win for the company, and a win for the hospital. And as for the insurance company, it's a definite win because the billing becomes a lot easier. There is no out of network doctor or fees. Everything for the employee is covered by the current health care plan that the company already has in place." Logan explained.
"So if we were to partner with you to open this clinic, it would be right here in this building?" Samantha asked.
"Yes, it would be. I can give you a tour of the office we have available downstairs, on the second floor. It will need a little renovating to turn it into a medical office, but I think we can definitely have it up and running within a couple of months."
"And who would you propose runs this office?" Doctor Greenley asked.
"Me! I am here anyway, 3 days a week, and then I spend the next 3 days working 12 hours shifts at the hospital. It takes me out of the emergency room, but you have more than enough doctors there, and I have a PhD in Immunology and Genetics, and an MD in Internal Medicine. I am more than qualified to run an employee clinic. I went to medical school and Columbia University, I completed my residency at Columbia Presbyterian a year ago, and I then signed a 4-year contract to remain practicing medicine at Columbia Presbyterian. Columbia is my home. I love it there! There is no other hospital or company that I would rather work for. I grew up in HPG, right here in this office, and in the Hartford office. And in all honesty, I absolutely hated it! I felt stifled, and forced into the newspaper publishing life. About 10 years ago, I broke away, and I moved to California where I worked for a technology start up. I was there for only 6 months before I realized how unhappy I was, and moved here to New York where I started medical school. Practicing medicine makes me happy. It's what I love. Unfortunately, ever since my father's first heart attack a couple of months ago, and then his second one 8 days ago, I am needed here at HPG. I am not the happiest being here, but my wife is here, and she needs me to help her acclimate to being the new CEO. I grew up here, and I know the business. I can run this place in my sleep, and I pretty much do. But I'm bored. I need a new challenge, and I think that putting an employee clinic right here in this office building would give me that challenge. I would be able to see and treat employees from all over the state. And we can even open the clinic up to not just HPG employees, but also to employees of Columbia Presbyterian as well. That would give us thousands of patients coming through our door. And being right here in this building, if Rory needed me, I am just a short elevator ride away. I would also be able to attend the board and shareholder meetings, and have a new perspective on what is going on with our company on both a business and a personal level."
"Who would fund this clinic?" Kimberly asked.
"Ideally, being a subsidiary of Columbia Presbyterian, the clinic would be fully funded by the hospital. However, I am open to negotiations, and HPG is more than willing to fund the clinic ourselves if necessary." Logan answered.
"I personally think this clinic is a great idea." Rory said speaking up. "As an employee of HPG, I can tell you from personal experience how wonderful Columbia Presbyterian has been to me, both before and after marrying Logan. While I was working for the New York Times, I got hurt at work, and was taken via ambulance to Columbia, where I was treated in the ER. Everyone there was completely amazing to me. I knew Logan from college, and he took the best care of me that day. Since then, I've been in the emergency room one other time after a fall a few weeks ago, where we found out that I'm pregnant. Now, being that I also went to college with Doctor Gellar, she is of course my OB. But as an HPG employee, had I not been Doctor Gellar's roommate for 3 years, at Yale, I would have had my choice of hundreds of other doctors all over the state. But by having a hospital partnership right here in this building, we would be able to refer other patients such as myself, to other Columbia doctors. All of those other pregnant employees would be referred right to Doctor Gellar. Any cardiac patients would be referred to Doctor Levan. Any patient that needs an orthopedist would be sent right over to the team at Columbia. This office would strictly refer all or our employees who come into the on-site clinic, right to whatever specialist they needed, right over at the hospital. I know first-hand what an amazing doctor Logan is, and I am confident that he would be the best person to run the clinic here. Obviously, he wouldn't be able to treat me because I'm his wife, but that is just something that I can deal with. I see Doctor Gellar for everything anyway. But everyone else in this company would really benefit from being Logan's patient. I am more than willing to sign off on funding for an on-site clinic, and provide an office right here in this building, free of charge. No rental fee, no utilities fee. The clinic would be a full partnership with the hospital, and we would encourage every HPG employee to use the clinic rather than see another doctor somewhere else."
"This clinic is definitely something that United Health Care can support. We have a lot of similar programs throughout the country, and we can definitely work with HPG to get the services in place." Mr. Stanley agreed. "Mr. Brown, what do you think?"
"I am on the same page. I will work with the corporate team to get the policy adapted for HPG."
"What about adding the employees from Columbia? Who is the insurance carrier there?" Rory asked.
"We are contracted through United as well." Samantha answered.
"Oh excellent, so if we were to open the clinic to employees from both companies, we only have one insurance company that we need to contract with."
"That is correct." Mr. Stanley assured her.
"So I guess then the question is would the hospital be willing to partner with us? Obviously the logistics would need to be worked out at a later time, but is this something that Columbia Presbyterian would be interested in doing? Even if it wasn't Logan who would be the on-site doctor. Ideally it would work out best for us to have Logan, especially as most of our employees already have a good relationship with him, but if we needed to go with another doctor, we could definitely do that. But would having an on-site Columbia clinic here at HPG be something that the hospital would be willing to do?"
"I personally think that Logan would do a great job having his own clinic." Doctor Greenley spoke up. "I've been his boss for the last 5 years, and he is an incredible physician. And even having him out of the emergency room, I'm sure that if we needed him, he would be willing to be an on-call physician."
"Oh absolutely! No questions asked! I love my job in the ER!" Logan agreed. "I will even do rounds in internal medicine if that is what you would like me to do. Columbia is my home. I am fully at your service. I will still need to work here at HPG with Rory on various projects, but I will definitely continue going back and forth as needed."
"What about when your baby is born? If you are running the employee clinic, who would take over for you when you take time off?" Samantha asked.
"We would work that out. We can have any of the other doctors at Columbia step in to cover for me. We could also allow the current residents to work in the clinic as part of their rotation through the hospital. I would ask for at least one of the RNs to be a permanent fixture at the clinic, but we can definitely rotate through the residents. Columbia is a teaching hospital. The clinic would be a great learning experience for everyone going through their rotations." Logan answered.
"Well I think this is definitely something for us to look into. Doctor Ainsworth, you are the Chief Of Staff. What do you think?" Kimberly asked.
"I actually really like the idea. Doctor Huntzberger has been a great asset to our medical team since the day he first started as a resident. I am definitely in support of allowing him to run his own clinic. I am confident that he will do an excellent job! Opening a clinic here with no rental or utility fees is a big win for Columbia. We would be able to staff the clinic with our own employees, using all of our own equipment and materials that are sitting in the storage rooms. The way I see it, it's extra income coming in for us from the Huntzberger employees that we would be picking up as patients. It really wouldn't be costing us anything at all. I actually think that it will more than pay for itself within the first month."
"Doctor Jordan? Your thoughts?" Samantha asked.
"I agree with Doctor Ainsworth. I think this is a great idea! And opening the clinic up to Columbia employees as well as Huntzberger would be a great idea. It will take some pressure off our doctors inside the hospital to sneak our employees in when they need to be seen for a sick visit. We can send them right over here instead of trying to double book patients to get an employee seen right away."
"Alright then. Should we take a vote on it?" Doctor Ainsworth asked. "All in favor of opening an on-site clinic run by Doctor Huntzberger, raise your hands . . . It looks unanimous." he smiled seeing every hand in the room raised. "Congratulations Doctor Huntzberger. It looks like you've got yourself a clinic!"
"Thank you! Thank you all!" Logan said excitedly. "This means a lot to me! This will benefit every employee of HPG and Columbia so much!"
"Thank you all!" Rory chimed in. "Would you like to see the space we've picked out downstairs?"
"I would!" Doctor Ainsworth announced.
"Let's all take a little field trip!" Rory said as she stood from her chair, and headed for the door to the conference room. "Right this way!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Scene 2 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Congratulations baby!" Rory said excitedly as she followed Logan back into their office after the tour of what was going to be the on-site clinic. The hospital board and insurance company team had left right after the tour, leaving Rory and Logan to head back upstairs alone.
"We did it!" Logan told her. "There wasn't even anyone who disagreed, or wanted to think about it more. Everyone just agreed to hand me my own clinic." he said sitting down behind the large desk that used to belong to his father, but was now his and Rory's.
"I knew they would. We didn't give them any reason not to do it. Especially when I offered them the clinic space completely free of charge. It's literally not costing them anything at all. And they're making money off of it. They would have been crazy to tell you no."
"I was a little bit worried that they would want another, more experienced doctor to run the place."
"I wasn't. You've been at Columbia long enough that they know what a great doctor you are."
"Now all that we have to do is meet with the construction team to get the renovations on the building going, and we will be all set. Hopefully we can open within a couple of months."
"You know, I think your Dad will be proud of this one. He might not be the most proud of you for becoming a doctor, but now pulling double duty as partner CEO and full-time doctor running your very own clinic, right here at HPG, I think he might actually be really happy about it. You are officially the medical face of HPG." Rory told him as she sat down on the desk, facing Logan.
"I don't know. But I'm thinking that maybe we'll wait to tell him until the sign on the door goes up."
"If that is what you want to do."
"I can't believe it's all happening. It was almost too easy."
"You've earned this. You've spent your entire life being bread to run this company, and now here you are, running it, and being a doctor, all at the same time. I am so proud of you! We should go celebrate."
"What do you have in mind?" Logan asked, moving his chair forward, and wrapping his arms around his wife, placing a gentle kiss on her stomach. "Do you have any idea just how much I love you? I couldn't have done any of this without you here with me."
"You're awfully sappy sweet today. You must be feeling guilty for doubting my snow smelling abilities last night."
"Oh shut up, I already more than made up for that one. And for the record, I still think that you are crazy, and I'm not at all convinced that you can smell show. I think you just got lucky that mother nature just happened to drop you a bone with how cold it was. It could have just been a motherly instinct type of thing."
"Oh shut up!" Rory laughed, playfully slapping Logan away.
"I thought you wanted to go celebrate. Are you suddenly mad at me now?"
"No, I do want to go celebrate. I was thinking that I'm hungry, so maybe we could go get some lunch, then maybe we could go do some shopping."
"Shopping for what?"
"Well, Christmas is coming up in a few weeks, for one. And I also need some new clothes. I could barely get this dress on this morning. It's really tight."
"See, and I thought you were wearing the tight dress to seduce me all day."
"Since when have I ever worn something purposely to seduce you?"
"You do it at home all the time."
"Actually, I don't. It's not my fault that your hormones are out of control, and everything that I do turns you on."
"Ok there little Miss Innocent." Logan laughed. "We'll see what Santa puts in your stocking this year."
"It had better be a pony! So far Santa has completely failed at that one!"
"No promises, but I'll see what I can do."
"Mr. Huntzberger, Randy is ready for you." Sandra said through the intercom.
"Alright, send him in." Logan answered, pushing the intercom button on the phone next to Rory.
"Let's go to that place my Dad ordered from that one time."
"Mirabellos."
"Yes! I've never actually been there."
"We might need a reservation."
"So, we can call ahead when we are done here. Maybe being a Huntzberger will actually be advantageous for once."
"If that is what you want, then we can definitely try." Logan said as there was a knock at the door.
"Come on in!" Rory called, getting up from where she had been sitting on the desk, and moving to the large leather chair next to Logan.
"Hey Randy." Logan said as his cousin entered the office. "What can we do for you?"
"How's Uncle Mitchum?" Randy asked.
"He's alright. How are you doing? How's your Dad?"
"I'm ok. Dad is Dad. I was actually hoping that I could ask you for some advice. It's not work related or anything. But I was thinking that with your experience, maybe you could help me with something."
"What's going on?"
"Well, you know how our family is. Everything always has to follow the plan, and be done a certain way."
"And that certain way is usually pretty disastrous."
"Pretty much. But you've always been the family golden boy."
"Maybe to some." Logan laughed. "I haven't been the golden boy for several years. I pretty much lost that title when I told my Dad to piss off and moved to California, and then again when I decided to go to medical school instead of working here."
"But you came back."
"Not exactly. It might look like I'm back, but after my Dad had that heart attack, I conned my wife into taking over as CEO so that neither my sister or I would have to. I might be sitting here, but I'm not the one running this company. That is all Rory." Logan said reaching for Rory's hand. "I honestly don't even like it here. I like being a doctor. But I'm here to help my wife."
"How do you do that?"
"How do I do what?"
"How do you manage to do whatever you want? In this family you are always told how things are expected to be done, and you are expected to fall into line. But somehow you've always just done whatever you want, and you always get by with it. There are never any consequences for you doing your own thing."
"Ok . . . Why don't you tell me what is really going on."
"I'm 23 and my parents have decided that it's time that I got married to this girl that they've decided is 'suitable'. I can't stand her. My Dad says that either I fall in line, and marry who they have put in front of me, or I'll be cut off."
"Cut off from what?"
"I don't really know. From the family I guess?"
"You know that this isn't the 18th century, right?" Rory asked. "You don't have to marry anyone that you don't want to."
"That's what I've been saying. But my dad is insistent on me marrying this girl."
"So you tell him no." Logan told him.
"Dad said that either I get married to who he found for me, or I'm cut off."
"Randy, you work here, right?" Logan asked.
"Yeah, I work in the mail room."
"Where does your dad work?"
"He's on the board."
"Which means that your dad is basically my peon. I don't know why he would be threatening you because it's not like your Dad even has an actual job here. He basically shows up to meetings as I tell him to, and gets a ridiculous salary that Grandpa set up decades ago. Your Dad doesn't control your job here. He has absolutely zero say in anything that happens in this company, or this office. How much are we paying you?"
"Like $9 an hour."
"Are you serious?!" Rory asked, completely baffled.
"Randy, where did you go to college?" Logan asked.
"I went to Yale, like you did."
"What did you study?" Rory asked.
"My parents think that I was a journalism major. I actually majored in mass communications and advertising."
"When did you graduate?" Logan asked.
"This past May."
"And your Dad found you a job in the mail room . . ."
"Yes Sir." Randy answered.
"Randy . . . You have a college degree from Yale University, and you are working in the mail room for $9 an hour . . . Doesn't that seem wrong to you?"
"It does, yes. But Dad said that I have to start at the ground level and work my way up."
"Randy, I made more than you are when I was 10 years old. Your Dad is ridiculously abusing you. Hey Sandra?" Logan said pushing the intercom button.
"Yes Mr. Huntzberger?"
"Would you mind calling down to Advertising and sending Cooper to my office for a few minutes, please?"
"Right away!" Sandra agreed.
"Hey Rory, you'll sign off on a promotion into the advertising department, right?"
"Of course! On one condition."
"Which is?" Randy asked.
"I want you to move out of your parents' house. They don't deserve any say in who you date or marry, much less where you work, and how much money you make. I want you to get your own place, and show this archaic family how the real world works. Can you do that for me?"
"Are you dating anyone Randy?"
"I am. This great girl I met at Yale named Sydney."
"How long have the two of you been together?" Rory asked.
"Two years. But she didn't go to Yale. She went to Connecticut State."
"Do you love her?" Logan asked.
"I do. Very much."
"Then you should marry her. Screw what your parents say!"
"There is no way they would ever approve of that."
"Randy, did you ever hear about Logan's gold digging girlfriend at Yale?" Rory asked.
"I heard something about him messing around with someone not good enough for the family."
"Hi, I'm the gold digging troll." Rory laughed. "We eloped in St. Croix a couple months ago."
"I think I heard something about that. My Dad was saying there was no prenup."
"You're damn right there was no prenup!" Logan told him. "I don't believe in that crap! And as far as your life goes, I don't understand where your Dad gets off threatening you, because he has zero leg to stand on. Rory is the one who controls all the money in this family, NOT your Dad! And if he wants to keep up with the archaic threats and abuse, I might just have to buy out his shares."
"Mr. Huntzberger, you wanted to see me?" a voice asked from the doorway.
"Cooper, come on in. Thanks for coming up so quickly. This is my cousin Ryan. He graduated from Yale back in the Spring with a degree in Mass Communications and advertising. He's been working for peanuts down in the mail room because our fathers apparently think that abuse is ok. Rory and I are promoting him to your team. What position do you have available?"
"I have a sales position available that pays $35k a year, with full benefits and a generous bonus package." Cooper answered. "With bonuses, you have the potential to make around $40-50k."
"How does that sound Randy?" Rory asked.
"That sounds amazing!" Randy answered.
"Cooper, he starts tomorrow!" Logan told him.
"Is there anything else that you need?" Cooper asked.
"If you have any other positions that you need filled, please send them to me in an e-mail. I am going to be doing some rearranging." Logan told him.
"No problem. Thank you Sir. Randy, I will see you tomorrow!" Cooper said, then left the office.
"Alright Randy, here are the conditions of your new position." Logan started. "I want you to find your own place and move out of your parents' house. If you need a job reference letter or anything, just let me know. I'll gladly give you a reference letter for your own place. Then, if you truly love your girlfriend, then I want you to marry her. Forget about your parents, and whatever crap they try to fill your head with. You don't need any of that. You do what is best for you. You don't need any stupid prenup. You do what makes you happy, and as long as you do a good job here at work, we'll have your back, alright? Don't let your parents push you around. Your dad doesn't run this company. Rory does, and I can have your Dad removed from the board in a heartbeat! You do you, and ignore all the archaic crap, ok?"
"I'll do my best."
"Sounds like a good plan. We are heading out of the day, but I'll check in on you tomorrow, alright?" Logan asked.
"Thank you Logan. Thank you Rory." Randy said as both Logan and Rory stood up from their seats.
"Good luck to you Randy." Rory smiled. "I look forward to hearing great things from your new team."
"Do you know how hot you are when you are pissed off at your family?" Rory asked, as she walked to the office door that Randy had just left through, and pushed it closed, making sure to lock it before walking back through the office toward where Logan was standing behind the desk.