Firings At Thornapple Manor

A Forum was started last year that discussed the issues of firings at Thornapple Manor and ended up being stopped by the almighty Jim Deyoung (Director Thornapple Manor) giving out harsh warnings to stop. Screw Jim Deyoung and let people stand up for what they believe. Jim Deyoung is sugar coating what really is happening and some people are buying it. Thornapple Manor does have some great employees and does take care of its residents, but at what expense? Lets start with the never ending request for volunteer help. Its great that people want to volunteer, but you are putting people out of work. Jim has a budget to keep and this is one way of doing it. This also allows him to continue to fire all long term staff members who have devoted years of service to the facility. This is also great for his budget. Paying less money for staff and having tons of volunteers around makes it appear that your loved one is getting the best care there is. Now lets get to the part of all the people who gave many years of service to be put out on the street. They are loosing homes and cars and the ability to contribute to the community they have lived in for years. All so Jim Deyoung can keep his job and budget in line. To all the new employees be careful. Yes you have a job but when will Jim Deyoung find it time to put you on the street to loose the new home you bought and force you to loose the transportation you need to get to another job, if you can find one. Are you ready to tell your children they may need to move and loose thier friends because Jim Deyoung fired you for a BS reason to keep his job? Are you ready for the months of fighting to get unemployment because he fights everyone to save his budget? Are you redy to loose everything you worked for so he can earn his extremely large paycheck? How many more people are going to loose thier jobs before he is stopped? The truth is people are being fired at the facility and it all has to do with keeping a budget and a job, his own. Come on people stand up for what is right and let others know it is true. This isn't about leaky roofs and TV sets. This is about the people who taught you how to care for people and are now in need of your help. Jim Deyoung needs to be stopped from sugar coating everything and man up!

Maybe Jim should tell some of the employees there how their conduct has made him fire employees. The conduct by which the younger staff party on work nights and then call in forcing (the former long term) employees to stay over getting paid extra money not in the budget. In turn it increased thier yearly take home putting them on the chopping block.

it ticks me off to see how families are being ruined to meet budgets now days. i hear people with 10-15-20-and even 30 yrs are being let go. these people have homes and bills the state isn't going to help them with. who does jim deyoung answer too?

The meek shall inherit the Earth...
What goes around comes around...
MAN UP? hahahohohohaha!

Many people have said that the grand opening was a joke. WHO were the people in the ribbon cutting picture? WHY were they in the picture instead of the true staff? Why not have the residents in the picture?

Why is the facility all about status and press and politics instead of about humble care to our senior citizens?

The meek shall inherit the earth. The proud shall be humbled.

Man up?! hahahaha. FUNNY!

Is it not "At Will" employment there? It may be immoral, and I sure as hell don't condone the alleged misconduct, however if it is truly "At Will" employment, he is well within his rights to can anyone he pleases. If it is a poor judgement, it will come to light with poor care for the residents. I don't see that being the case, though.

I see this being a case of a handful of former employees who made a habit of bitching and whining, and failed to meet their compensation value for long enough. If you were worth holding onto, you would still have a job, plain and simple.

See, here's how Capitalism works - it's not all that difficult. A company needs services to be rendered for them. Typically, these services are provided regularly by an employee, who is in turn compensated, typically monetarily, for their time and/or talent. If the necessity for monetary expenditures to have the same service provided is no longer required, then the person(s) rendering services in exchange for monetary compensation are no longer required, either.

It's especially obvious where one has little to no workforce value, typically through association of volunteers and/or an over-abundance of available workers in ratio to the amount of positions necessary to fill.

If you don't like it, there are options. You could start your own business, go back to school to increase your value as a commodity, or deport yourself to a socialist/communist nation. I hear Cuba is nice this time of year...

Give me a break wrote:

Is it not "At Will" employment there? It may be immoral, and I sure as hell don't condone the alleged misconduct, however if it is truly "At Will" employment, he is well within his rights to can anyone he pleases. If it is a poor judgement, it will come to light with poor care for the residents. I don't see that being the case, though.
I see this being a case of a handful of former employees who made a habit of bitching and whining, and failed to meet their compensation value for long enough. If you were worth holding onto, you would still have a job, plain and simple.
See, here's how Capitalism works - it's not all that difficult. A company needs services to be rendered for them. Typically, these services are provided regularly by an employee, who is in turn compensated, typically monetarily, for their time and/or talent. If the necessity for monetary expenditures to have the same service provided is no longer required, then the person(s) rendering services in exchange for monetary compensation are no longer required, either.
It's especially obvious where one has little to no workforce value, typically through association of volunteers and/or an over-abundance of available workers in ratio to the amount of positions necessary to fill.
If you don't like it, there are options. You could start your own business, go back to school to increase your value as a commodity, or deport yourself to a socialist/communist nation. I hear Cuba is nice this time of year...

SEEMS.....you don't understand value at all. The value in this case is how many can Jim keep with the budget versus who has to go. The care will always be there so get rid of long term people. Save dollars and the residents still get a nurse. A nurse who (by your words) should remember they work there for what purpose? To take care of people and never go home to a home or cherish anything they value cause "AT will' means your out when Jim says your out!!......When a person devotes years of service to a facility it is proof that they have been guided by tradition and senior leadership. After 15 years like some that have been let go, one should think that the problem lies there, and not with a devoted worker who your misguided thoughts should go to Cuba! With out a doubt you are a manager or senior staff member who has thier head so far up thier but that you could only come up with such a stupid comment. And why should people wait to see if poor care comes to light and then decide that there was a problem. The problem is good people are being let go to fix a budget that should of been part of the planning before a new facility was built. You don't overlook peoples lives just so when you go to work you have a new desk instead of one a few years old. You actually sound more like a politician. I know your not though cause their unwilling to suggest anybody go to another country. Stupid people need not reply.

It is a fact that if someone truly believes in something enough to make a serious statement about it, they should not be a coward and hide behind anonymity. If you truly believe what you are stating, leave your name.
If you have been fired, what can "they" possibly do to you now?
Isn't Mr. Deyoung retiring soon?:O)

Mean and unfair people do exist in this world and in Hastings, and sometimes do things to justify their own means!
Let me tell you my story........I worked there for 9 years in the dietary department, starting off as a relief cook. Jim agreed to and paid for my education to become a CDM (Dietary Manager) for which I am thankful. Upon finishing my course, I became the Assistant Manager to the existing CDM. Approximately 1 year later, she was told that her job was being eliminated and was given time to look for another job before leaving. She didn't have to tell anyone why she got fired because everyone thought she did this on her own and wanted to move on.......not true! He let her keep her dignity and even helped her find another job so she wouldn't have to endure any hardships. To my knowledge, he didn't do this for any other employee that has been let go, he did this because they were friends. When she left, I had no clue what was going to happen to me as an assistant until a couple of days afterwards. To my surprise, good fortune came my way when he called me into his office and announced that I was going to take over the CDM position under the new name of Dietary Director and I would be taking this job on, place still under construction, with 6 kitchens instead of 1 and no assistant........all by myself. I was excited; I love a challenge, but dismayed to do it alone. Never less, I had excellent, caring staff to work with and with their input; we began the ongoing process of working out the bugs during construction phase. We worked well together for a year and then on July 29th he sent me an email asking me to come to his office, he wanted to talk. When I got there, he proceeded to tell me that he had to let me go, on a recommendation(who's?) but that he really wanted me to think about coming back and re-apply in a couple of days for another position! Why did he let me go if he wanted me to consider another position in the facility? Why not just ask (or tell) me to consider this without firing me. I lost my seniority and was 5 months from having my retirement vested .
Out of the 9 years I worked there, I had been written up once, for telling a redneck joke, which I admit was in poor taste. I had never been told he didn't feel I was doing my job nor received any verbals or write-ups to substantiate this. To my knowledge, everything was proceeding well, with some trials and errors, but remember...I didn't apply for the job, it fell into my lap. Every month, when the board was meeting, I catered it, when Jims Parks and Recreation meetings were held at Thornapple Manor out of the Dietary budget, I catered it. I made the time to make sure he was catered to, including going to the store one day because he insisted on having a certain kind of cheese and cold cut for his lunch, which by the way he has never had to pay for; he makes the most money and is the only one who eats for free! I made myself available and approachable to anyone who needed my time and made sure that problems were addressed and fixed what I could. For all this, I got a reality check in July, when he let me go.

So WAKE UP, staff of TM, it can happen to any of you and I know that many of you are afraid to speak up for fear of losing your jobs. Yes, there have been people who deserved to be fired, we know who they are. It's a sad and unfair world when you are ruled by that fear. How many more GOOD DEDICATED workers will Thornapple Manor lose before "poor care" does become an issue? By then, will it be too late for the residents and the taxpayers of Barry County? I hope not, Thornapple Manor can be a lovely place to work, if you could only get rid of a couple of bad apples.
I have posted my name because I am not ashamed nor do I lie. Thank you

I have one more story....once upon a time there was an employee that worked there that was part of the "Life Enrichment" team. Every day, she came up with something new and fun for the residents to do. She belonged to a neighborhood where the lowest cognitive residents live. She also believed that all the other neighborhoods had the same right as hers, to have fun and pass the time, to not be bored. But there was evil among those that worked beside her and they didn't want to have to put the effort into their neighborhoods...too much work for them and then not enough time to gossip with each other! So they got rid of her and now all the neighborhood. This has devastated her as she was a very faithful employee and loved the residents very much and was only trying to make things fair for ALL the residents, not just the ones she took care of, this was very un-Eden to take a step back in the process we as a team had made. Eden is in name only and HE will only allow you to practice what he wants you to. HE will always be in the center of that ring, not the residents that you have been told are supposed to be there. No matter how many classes you go to, at the taxpayers’ expense, it will never happen with Jim in the middle.

Lisa, what happened to you was very wrong.
You are a great person and this employee is very proud of you for speaking up and not being afraid.
If more people could afford to lose their jobs, oh the things that they would tell!
It seems to all depend on who is friends with who or who is kissing whose butt.
No matter what, the power is in his hands because he knows that people can't afford to lose their jobs, so then he has the power. what can we do?
Trust in KARMA

Thank you for responding to this in a positive way! I was worried about posting anything because for some reason, he still intimidates me. With my postings, I have burned all my bridges to ever being able to work in the one place that I truly loved! I know that none of you can ever really say anything for fear of losing your job......jobs are hard to come by these days. But you can still post on here, anonymously, things that happen that you know are not right. If we keep posting, people will keep coming here and reading about what is happening, post only the truthful facts, no rumors. Anything that will draw attention to the public about what he is doing, he's not doing anything illegal but it is not ethical! Be careful, his type of management has a trickle down effect..to the rest of his Department Heads(most of them,but not all), who by the way are just as intimidated and just as afraid to say anything to lose their jobs.(that's where the butt kissing comes in to play!) It's called follow the leader.I do believe in Karma and Fate and know that things happen for a reason. Maybe thats why I am no longer there, so I can openly and honestly say what I say without fear of retaliation. The ultimate goal is to keep TM a workplace to truly be proud of, which is what the residents deserve. That's who you guys are there for, our brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents, not HIM. Continue doing the wonderful work that you all do and hang in there! Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel..........

Unreal.