Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of reports on the Eureka Springs Hospital Commission. Emails and text messages quoted in this report have not been edited for spelling, grammar, punctuation or clarity.
Eureka Springs Hospital chief financial officer Cynthia Asbury, who has been the subject of numerous complaints by current and former hospital employees, exchanged a series of messages regarding the situation with Barbara Dicks, who at the time was a member of the city’s hospital commission, according to records obtained by the Times-Echo.
It is unclear whether the messages are emails or text messages. The messages, which are not date- or time-stamped and do not indicate which messages were sent by whom, include references to recording conversations and an apparent reference to parking in an area where there is no camera.
A string of messages reads:
“Hey, I will have a physician credentialing file for you to review tomorrow or Monday. Thanks”
“Ok. Not sure I can meet with you unless Angie oks and attends OUR meeting. Have to make appointment through her. Or I can call and you can meet me downstairs.”
“I’d print emails before they disappear”
“Ok… has more happened??”
“No not yet”
“Proactive.”
“Ok.”
“Can you talk?”
“Angie is just down the hall…”
“Ok. See you tonight”
“How did meeting go?”
“Short… Kent just told Simon he expects him to respond to emails.”
“I do have a binder ready for you.”
“Ok I’ll text when I’m at front door (not ER. May be around 1″
“Park on the clinic side… no camera”
“Ok”
“Further towards helicopter pad, the better”
Angie Shaw, then the hospital’s chief executive officer, had emailed members of the Eureka Springs Hospital Commission on Sept. 12, informing them that requests to meet with any staff member within the hospital must be submitted directly to her office.
“This new process will help us maintain our commitment to patient care and staff efficiency while still accommodating the important interactions and communications necessary for our operations,” Shaw wrote.
At 11:29 a.m. the same day, Dicks texted Shaw: “Well played, Angie, well played. Hope it all works out for you.”
• • •
Later in the conversation between Dicks and Asbury, a string of messages reads:
“Do I need to be careful talking to you tonight?”
“No”
“Things are worse than before… I will make very factual statements about claims and continued clinical issues”
“Good”
“Will you be there early?”
“Sandy is going to bring up passwords.”
“Yes leaving now”
“Ok. I just pulled in.”
“Please read your email… there is a serious issue!”
“Forward to Sandy and Kim. Now one to mayor”
“You forwarded it to them?”
“Yes from my gmail”
“I will not tolerate this personal attack any more!”
On Oct. 22, Shaw had forwarded an email exchange with reporter Becky Gillette of the Eureka Springs Independent to Asbury. Gillette had shared portions of a report she was working on that included quotes from Shaw.
“You may review and add comments if you want before I send a response back to her,” said Shaw’s email to Asbury.
Asbury forwarded the email to Turner and Dicks, writing: “These statements and quotes that Angie said to Becky are not acceptable and are beyond slanderous! They are false and I will not continue to allow her or anyone here at this facility make these type of unfounded statements/allegations as it is defamation of character, and they will be held legally liable! Specifically read the highlighted area…”
The highlighted text, originally sent from Gillette to Shaw, read: “The changeover has been going well, Shaw said. But a number of hospital employees aren’t as pleased. Quite a few people have quit, including some who walked off the job. Some have been fired. Former employees who did interviews with the ESI said they were subject to micromanagement and bullying from Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Cynthia Asbury.
“ ‘Everyone walks on eggshells, not knowing if you’ll have a job today or tomorrow,’ said …. ‘There are doctors, in our city and surrounding cities, who refuse to send their patients here because of the treatment and intimidation the doctors get from the CFO. She has been known to yell at them, refuse to fax info a second time because she sent it already, deny outpatient services unless they pay first and quoting prices that the insurance companies say are not correct. But she insists that’s what they’re going to pay, and denies all accountability for her actions or mistakes.’ ”
In a story published Nov. 6, the quotation that begins: “Everyone walks on eggshells,” is attributed not to Shaw, but to former hospital employee Christine Pieper.
After receiving Asbury’s forwarded email, commissioner Sandy Martin shared it with city human resources coordinator Jerry King, writing: “FYI – potential major problem”
King responded: “Call me.”
• • •
Asbury’s email wasn’t the first communication regarding the hospital to hint at legal action. On Sept. 28, Dicks texted Turner: “Since you gave Angie permission to fire Cynthia. I believe Angie and her friends are making Cynthia’s life so miserable that she will quit? Are you okay with plan? I’m not.”
Turner replied: “There are a lot of things going on that I don’t like”
Dicks responded: “Just hope we don’t end up in a toxic workplace lawsuit, you and I have both known for 1 1/2 years this s**t is going on. I don’t want to lose my assets over this, they can have my ass but not worth loosing assets.”
• • •
Another string of messages between Dicks and Asbury reads:
“Can you talk?”
“He is in with Jodi, I will call you once he leaves the building.”
“Ok good. Did it go well with you and he?”
“How did the post know u record conversations?”
“He just said he is frustrated and more or less the decision if I still have a job or not is up to the commission.”
“I do not know how or where the complaint about recording conversations came from…”
“Unless your office is bugged and you said it there.”
“I said it to Jodi, in here office. We have been saying that our offices are bugged…”
“Don’t worry about your job. Did he tell you the complaints. Don’t call from your office. Maybe bathroom or outside.”
Among the allegations leveled against Asbury by former hospital employees are that she wears glasses with recording capabilities and has recorded conversations with employees.
• • •
Later, an exchange of messages between Asbury and Dicks reads:
“They are just acting like Lil kids throwing temper tantrums”
“We made the right decision for sure”
“We just have to weather the storm of Eureka Politics…”
After the commission voted to fire Shaw on Nov. 1, a letter signed by several hospital employees including then-nursing director Jessica Petrino and then-emergency room director Joy Kennedy was reportedly sent to hospital commissioners. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Times-Echo, all commissioners denied receiving such a letter. A copy of the letter was later provided to the newspaper by a separate source.
The commission voted during a special meeting on Nov. 4 to fire Petrino. The same day, the commission also voted — in separate special meetings — to appoint human resources director Jodi Edmondson as interim CEO and to place Asbury on a 60-day Performance Improvement Plan to be monitored by the commission. Kennedy resigned the following day, Nov. 5, after working at the hospital for 10 years.
• • •
Asbury was hired as an accounting manager at the hospital in September 2022 at an annual salary of $62,000 according to documents in her personnel file obtained by the Times-Echo. She was promoted to CFO in March 2023 and in April 2024 her biweekly salary was increased from $3,269.23 ($84,999.98 per year) to $3,367.31 ($87,550.06) per year.
• • •
Dicks was a longtime member of the commission and preceded Turner as chair.
On Nov. 1, the same day that Shaw was terminated, Martin emailed Turner and Dicks, writing that she was “bugged by the bull about ‘no confidence in the commission – no experience, etc.’
“My thought is, there will be an opportunity in the near future for us to promote the experience of the commission – not only in the medical and management fields but also the community involvement and dedication.
“It would be nice to have a paragraph or two about each of us – and at the minimum – we should communicate it to the staff.”
On Nov. 2, Dicks wrote: “Lived in ES for 43 years “Hair dresser for 58 years “Owned and operated Barbara’s Family Hair Care for 37 years in ES.
“Volunteered and sat on the boards of: “Downtown Merchants Association “Chamber of Commerce “C.D.P.
“Echo “Hospital Commission “Other than that I’m old, fat, tired, mouthy and breathing in and out.”
Dicks resigned from the hospital commission on Nov. 15, after being asked to do so by Mayor Butch Berry. The resignation came one day after the Times-Echo reported that Turner and Dicks exchanged text messages about firing Shaw as early as Aug. 15, and also discussed other personnel matters by text, as well as meeting together with Asbury in private, all violations of the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
