The director of the board leading a healthcare company that came under scrutiny after police charged a former employee with sexually assaulting an incapacitated patient has announced his resignation.
RELATED: Hacienda HealthCare agrees to give licensing authority over to Department of Health
In a statement sent Thursday afternoon, Hacienda HealthCare Board Director Tom Pomeroy announced he was leaving effective March 1 (Friday).
"If Hacienda is to move forward after the deeply disturbing events of the past few months, it’s clear that the organization needs new leadership," Pomeroy said in a statement. "I will continue to support Hacienda’s mission philanthropically, but I will have no formal role with the organization.”
The victim gave birth in late December, which 911 calls released by police show came as a shock to the nurses at the facility.
"There has not been a waking hour in the last two months – since I learned about a baby being born in Hacienda’s Intermediate Care Facility under such awful circumstances – that I haven’t thought about and acted on ways to improve this organization," Pomeroy said. "Hacienda needs to get better, because what Hacienda does is too important to accept such a failure."
TIMELINE: Hacienda sexual assault investigation
Pomeroy, who had served on the board for 38 years, is the second executive to resign after the rape and birth was made public. CEO Bill Timmons resigned January 7th.
Hacienda has since agreed to voluntarily give the Arizona Department of Health Services licensing authority over its operations, and has announced it will close the facility where the rape happened.
