Becky DeBoer and residents urge Madison County to include former nursing staff in survey

Becky DeBoer, a registered nurse, told the Madison County Board of Commissioners that the county's independent survey of a local nursing facility is not comprehensive because it is interviewing only current employees and not former staff. "It has come to my attention that you're only talking to current employees. Why? Why do you not wanna know why these other people left?" DeBoer said.

DeBoer said exit interviews are rarely comprehensive and that former employees need anonymity to share candid reasons for leaving. She listed possible causes — wages, workplace environment, leadership — and said the county would not discover them without broad outreach to past staff. "I am very disappointed that you're not talking to people who have left," she said.

Cassie Marsh, identified in the transcript as a resident commenter, echoed DeBoer: "Very, very disappointed that the past employees are not getting their chance to say what happened and why they left the facility. You should direct how it should be done so that everybody has a voice."

A county committee member responded that the commission had left methodology decisions to the contracted survey company to avoid influencing the process and that staff and the administrator had not directed the contractor. The committee member said the county is "trying to figure out the best way forward" and described the current approach as an attempt to balance input from satisfied and dissatisfied employees.

The public commentary did not result in a formal vote or an immediate change in the survey process during the meeting. Commissioners and staff said they would review the contractor's approach and the survey company's procedures; No formal direction to amend the contractor's scope was recorded in the transcript excerpt.

The county did not provide a final timeline in the meeting transcript for any change to the contractor's interview scope.