This informational meeting is for ANIMATION GUILD MEMBERS ONLY (active or inactive).
Animation Guild
SPECIAL INFORMATIONAL MEETING
Thursday, September 10, 2009
1105 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank
Between Chandler and Magnolia
Pizza & refreshments, 6:30 pm
Meeting, 7 pm
AGENDA
The Motion Picture And Television Fund has announced the closure of the Woodland Hills hospital and long-term care facility by the end of 2009. There have been questions about this decision and how it is being handled. Come to this meeting to hear all sides of this important issue and learn how it impacts us.
This informational meeting is for ANIMATION GUILD MEMBERS ONLY (active or inactive).
Posts
17 comments:
Madoff!!!
Some recent mainstream coverage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-j-elisberg/some-death-panels-do-exis_b_279373.html
Don't be fooled. This effects everyone one of us. Maybe not today, maybe not even tomorrow. But none of us are going to live forever... and this is a fantastic place to go before the final frontier. Please come and hear the truth. This matters. We matter. Let's not be silent again and find our final days have been outsourced to India - Korea - Japan. D.G.
Please, please attend this meeting!! And if you condemn these closures, sign this petition!!
Thanks!!!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/keepthemptfhomeopen
Madoff all right -- Madoff made off with the Fund's money and now they're trying to cover it up by kicking old folks out of a home.
Don't know how you animators feel about Katzenberg, but he's the one behind this and he needs to hear from us.
Thanks for you guys' support from a WGA writer who wish our guys would step up and take a stand too!
Is there some link to the assertion that the MPTF had investments with Madoff? I've looked and haven't seen that -- I think people are confusing Katzenberg with the fund. I think the Madoff bit is a red herring that's irrelevant to this entire discussion.
We know the fund lost investment money, as did every other investor out there. But why is this a 'cover up'? The emotionally charged language here (honestly, 'death panels'???) is a little much, and obscures the real issues. If keeping the hospital and the long-term care facilities endanger ALL that the MPTF offers, isn't that something to take seriously? Is it possible that painful, unpopular decisions are being made without malice or greed?
I may not agree with the decisions, or with the lack of open discussion, but I know that everyone who does something I don't like isn't a sadist or evil.
yes the fund did lose money - I'm sure times were tougher during the Depression and World War II but they didn't shut down the long term care hospital then - they stayed true to their commitment and the original mission of "taking care of our own" first and foremost - not a profit making business.
There have been Madoff rumors floating around - easy fix for this - transparency - open your books show us where the money went....put the figures out there for all to see.
And last but not least as the sister of a patient in long term care suffering from early onset Alzheimer's - go visit this hospital - meet the patients and their amazing caretakers - then you will know - yes, then you will truly know what this is all about.
I still don't get why the Madoff rumor even matters. People who lost money with Madoff weren't evil people - they invested in good faith, and got robbed. Actually, I could see that being an even better excuse for the closure. But whether the fund lost money with Madoff, or they lost money that was in a bunch of Vanguard accounts, they lost money. Unless someone can show that the board of the MPTF stole the money themselves, it's a non-issue, and muddles the argument.
this affects all of us. If we don't speak up now, we'll lose a future safety-net. Whether or not the MPTF is a scandal in the making, the Fund never reached out to industry family or to donors or to the patients receiving care. Non-profit hospitals are not supposed to make money - the Fund is supposed to raise money for the hospital which is something they refuse to do. Blaming the long term care hospital for endangering all of MPTF is absurd - it's a false choice. It is about money and corporate greed, worse than Madoff because it involves life or death. It's about the money to be made from clinics, upscale retirement condos, and day surgeries. It's not about morality or charity or compassion or dignity or humanity - there is no room for charity at the Fund, now that it has fleeced people with false promises, including me. Never again.
Well, what a big, giant surprise that a WGA animation writer injects - no, vomits - invective, fear, and false allegation into an issue that deserves much better. You give right wing nut jobs legitimacy when you play that game. Keep it up. Just keep stirring the pot. The first casualty is always the truth. But you WGA sycophants wouldn't know the truth if it stood up and slapped you in the face, would you?
To anonymous from 10:40 pm, what is the end game? Aside from smearing the MPTF, what is the goal here? I'm asking sincerely, because I'm having trouble understanding how the battle to keep the long-term care home open is being waged. Is the idea that when enough public shame is heaped on the people running the MPTF, they'll change their minds? I've signed the petition, but doubt that a petition will do it. What do you think WILL do it?
It's a lawsuit.
If the answer is a lawsuit, then why all the PR drama? Why the petition and the rumor mongering? Just file the damned lawsuit and get it done. Seems like there are a lot of people who thrive on drama.
To 1:35 pm. The goal is to keep the long term care open now and for the future. In a perfect world the goal would include partnering with MPTF to make it work so that MPTF can keep its promise.
At last nights meeting the 'Saving the Lives" group-- the ones trying to keep the Hospital and Long Term Care open--won hands down.
The Fund reps made a very weak case and really didn't back it up with any presentation of figures. I expected a whole Powerpoint-type detail-- of what was presented to their Board to compel the closure.
Not good enough.. at all.
Thank you for inviting us to share information with TAG 839 members. Your hospitality and participation in the session made for a comfortable evening. With your permission, I'd like to provide additional clarification.
Regarding building plans for the campus, the following is from a Jan. 14 Q&A that is found on the Fund's website:
Q:You talk about expanding your ability to help seniors age in place. What does this mean? What exactly do you plan to do?
A:We are developing a network of Community Care Teams, along with the infrastructure to support them. These teams, which will include MPTF doctors, nurses, and social workers, will be available to support Fund-eligible seniors in Southern California , whether they are in their own homes, in retirement communities, or in outside nursing homes, to make sure they are getting the care they need. In addition, we plan to replace the outdated Frances Goldwyn Lodge and the cottages on the middle campus with spacious new independent-living and assisted-living centers and we intend to build a new Harry’s Haven with more beds than the current facility to provide memory care.
http://www.mptvfund.org/cm/about-us/news/01142009-mptf-questions-and-answers.html
The spacious new residences were described as multi-story condo type buildings by the CEO on Jan. 21.
And on the point that a representative had seen or reviewed the Fund's financial data, I would like to add my understanding that the scope did not include all of the books and financials, and the MPTF has not provided all that was asked for.
Our contention is in sharp contrast to one of MPTF's key messages to MPTF staff on Aug. 25, the day the Fund delivered 'warning' letters and phone calls to residents and family members:
"We have also provided lawyers for the families and their accountant all of the financial documentation they requested. They have not disputed our numbers."
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