Sakakawea Medical Center Grievance Policy

The entire staff of Sakakawea Medical Center is dedicated to providing the finest quality care available. The customer has the right to voice complaints/grievances without discrimination or retaliation. In the event the customer is not satisfied with the type of treatment that has been furnished or unfurnished has a complaint that has not been resolved, the following steps shall be taken.

1. The charge nurse assigned to the customer or the facility social worker shall address any concerns, problems or complaints. The charge nurse or social worker shall make every effort to correct any existing problems and enter it into the online reporting system.
2. If the charge nurse or social worker is unable to resolve the customer’s problem, it should be presented to the Director of Nursing or the Department Manager (by the charge nurse or the social worker). If you receive no response within three working days, or if you are dissatisfied with the response, proceed to step #3.
3. The customer(s) should verbalize in writing and visit the Hospital Administrator to discuss the grievance and investigate the problem. Verbal and/or written response will be given to the customer. A written grievance should include the date, time, description of the incident, customer(s) involved, and be signed by the person submitting the grievance. A grievance may be filed in writing in the forms of fax, email or paper.
4. A customer has 30 days from the date of the alleged act to file a grievance.

If the problem has not been adequately resolved, the customer has the right to contact any of the following agencies and report his/her concern.

In addition, complaints may be communicated directly to any of the following agencies at any time; however, we hope you will give us the opportunity to resolve the issue first.

If a developmentally disabled or mentally ill customer has a complaint of abuse, neglect, discrimination or exploitation, he/she may also contact: