We are speaking out because leadership won’t.

Memorial Healthcare System is in crisis—and it’s not due to finances or external pressure.

It’s because of what’s happening inside, under the direction of Shane Strum, the Board, and HR leadership.

Since Shane’s arrival as interim CEO, Memorial’s culture has deteriorated at a shocking pace. Across the system, employees are overwhelmed, silenced, and afraid. Whether you’re clinical or non-clinical, frontline or leadership, the atmosphere is the same: no one feels secure.

There is no transparency. No trust. And certainly no recognition for the years of service or excellence that made Memorial one of Florida’s strongest healthcare systems.

Let’s be clear: Shane Strum did not build this. The Board did not build this. HR leadership did not build this.

WE DID! 

We are the ones who gave Memorial some of its most financially successful years through our hard work, innovation, dedication, and care—especially during the hardest moments in healthcare.

And now, we are the ones being discarded.

Leaders have been informed that raises are being quietly reduced and that departments are being instructed to limit how many employees can receive “outstanding” performance reviews, regardless of merit. Recognition is being capped. Morale is being crushed.

And now, these same leaders are pushing legislation—HB 1253 / SB 1518—that would give them unchecked power to restructure, merge, or eliminate departments without public input or antitrust review. If this passes, there will be no accountability. No oversight. No limits.

This isn’t leadership.

This is erosion.

We Demand Immediate Action:

• Remove Shane Strum as CEO of Memorial Healthcare System

• Hold the Memorial Board accountable for enabling a toxic culture

• Replace HR leadership who have protected retaliation and silence

• Vote NO on HB 1253 / SB 1518 before irreversible harm is done

Read This Email From a Brave Memorial Employee:

“The messages below went to the Governor, legislators, the media, and other officials. There is no reason to fear Shane. There is strength in numbers and we all stand against what he is doing to our beloved organization. I urge you to sign the petition on change.organd resist.

The Board is a liability for Shane and he knows it. Shane must be removed from Memorial immediately. 

On March 11, 2025 we sent the email below and a subsequent public records request pursuant to Article 1, section 24 of the Florida Constitution and chapters 119, F.S. requesting any and all text and WhatsApp communications between Mr. Strum and the South Broward Hospital District Board, as well as all messages from the South Broward Hospital District's Board WhatsApp group. Any and all messages between Mr. Strum and Ms. Margie Vargas regarding the layoffs were also requested.

We have sent follow up emails and have not received a response which leads us to believe we are being blocked. Using this new email we give you one more opportunity to satisfy the request. Govern yourself accordingly.

We were pleased to see the Sun Sentinel article published on Saturday morning which was bland, at best. We were disappointed in the lack of journalistic integrity displayed given the omission of several key occurrences. We understand full well Mr. Strum has influence over the Sun Sentinel so we would like to correct the record.

For starters, the article highlighted several key issues:

Mr. Strum lies often. He does not have any meaningful relationship with the truth.

Elizabeth Justen suffers from hubris. She would like people to believe she has not read a two page bill in depth.
Board members were quoted stating they were unaware of the bill. This is clearly an egregious lie, especially since the senate bill was introduced by a Senator from Miami-Dade County. Cui bono?

Memorial Employees are afraid of speaking out due to Mr. Strum's reputation of terminating people who dissent.

The bills would grant Mr. Strum unchecked power, which would not benefit anyone but Mr. Strum, and by virtue, Broward Health.

The terminations were intended to improve efficiency. Is the best financial year in Memorial history not good enough? While for the same period Broward Health posted a significant loss and levied over $246 million in taxes to the North Broward Hospital District. Does anyone believe Mr. Strum intends on remaining "interim CEO" while making decisions to lay off and demote dozens of individuals?

Similar to the South Broward Board, the Broward Health board is also replete with sycophants who shower praise on Mr. Strum for no quantifiable reason or qualitative rationale.

Chairperson Pernicano has exposed himself as a Strum acolyte. In a moment of honesty, or what one would call a Freudian slip or parapraxis, Mr. Pernoicano was quoted saying, "the guy is just killing it." It is a fact that Mr. Strum is killing Broward Health.

Memorial employees and physicians do not support Mr. Strum and the petition created a few short days ago has amassed over 1,100 signatures and grows daily.

HB 1253 and SB 1518 would give Mr. Strum the ability to do what he wishes "regardless of the competitive consequences."

Lobbyist Ron Book is involved in "encouraging" the bill. When lobbyists are involved it reinforces to everyone this is just a money grab.

According to the article, "Luring privately insured patients, an essential ingredient in each hospital system's financial health, has become more challenging. In the last few years, competition in Broward has intensified..." This has not been an issue for Memorial, only Broward Health. Again, only Broward Health will benefit from the proposed legislation.
Broward Commissioner Nan Rich is quoted saying, "I want them to do more together. There are so many avenues for effective healthcare." But when we reached out to her office, her smug Chief of Staff, Harrison Grandwilliams, provided a snarky response stating the Broward County Commission has no oversight for the districts. What does Commissioner Rich know about healthcare or the South District? Nothing. This is simply an old friend returning a favor.

Mr. Strum "took over leadership six months ago. The Board told him to make the organization more efficient and create a vision for the future." When did this occur? We would like to see the minutes from the meeting this message was delivered to Mr. Strum. This sentiment has not been expressed in any public meeting of the Board, which si how governance should work.

Further, the Board, specifically Chairperson Elizabeth Justen, has involved herself in operational decisions which is deeply concerning considering the does not possess any experience in healthcare and is influencing the decision making.

Commissioner Harvey is quoted regarding the layoffs and the need for making adjustments now rather than waiting until "a crisis comes and we're looking at 600 people." As we come to the end of our fiscal year, having had the best, or the second best year in the history of Memorial, coupled with the more than $2.6 billion on Memorial's balance sheet, I would like to understand what Commissioner Harvey believes the crisis may be in the future and how far into the future he believes this crisis will occur.

Mr. Strum implies there will be more layoffs and demotions to come.

The current climate of fear at memorial has silenced any public discussion. Chairperson Elizabeth Justen's quote, "if somebody wants to talk to us, then we're available" demonstrates her complete lack of understanding of the sentiment at Memorial about her and Mr. Strum. She is not respected and is actually ridiculed about her lack of eloquence and inability to read a written statement without fumbling over herself.

After admitting to not having read the bill in depth, Chairperson Justen is quoted, "I don’t see this bill doing anything except helping to provide better care for Broward County." Need she be reminded that her fiduciary responsibility is to the residents of the South Broward Hospital District and not all of Broward County?

Occurrences at the last meeting of the South Broward Hospital District Board that were omitted and issues the article did not mention:

During Mr. Strum's tenure at Broward Health he has levied over $670 million in taxes, a 61.3% increase from the moment he appointed himself.
Mr. Strum has led Broward Health at a loss from operations every year he has been CEO.

Mr. Strum had a hand in appointing personal friends, Elizabeth Justen and Steven Harvey to the Board, as well as the reappointment of Douglas Harrison. All individuals who have degraded themselves and exposed their fielty to Mr. Strum rather than the taxpayers of the South Broward Hospital District.

The article failed to cite the unhinged and inappropriate rant by Commissioner Harrison. Although nonensical and embarrassing rants are his trademark, the one on Thursday night was especially disgusting. Aside from the usual navel-gazing of Mr. Strum, Commissioner Harrison referenced the photograph of his meeting with Chairperson Justen and Mr. Strum the evening of March 17, 2025 at Rickey's. 

Commissioner Harrison has embarrassed himself, but more importantly and unfortunately, he has embarrassed Memorial.

The article failed to cite the comments made by Commissioner Orta, where he addressed the climate at Memorial, stating, "I cannot come here and ignore the many employees that are angry, frustrated, disappointed, anxious, and afraid.This is not a good thing or a healthy situation. It is tough to fire people but it is tougher for those on the receiving end of it." Commissioner Orta apologized to the individuals impacted and requested that the executive team "introspectively and objectively" re-evaluate the current state of the organization and "come up with a viable solution to address the situation." Commissioner Orta was the only Commissioner to acknowledge the employees who were impacted and the only to exhibit any empathy or compassion for the employees at Memorial.

During Aurelio Fernandez and Scott Wester's tenures as CEO, the South Broward Hospital District Board praised them and approved every initiative presented. This is contradictory to Mr. Strum referring to Memorial as "rudderless" for several years. We have looked and cannot find one initiative the Board did not approve. In reality, the Board praised Mr. Fernandez and Mr. Wester's leadership at every meeting, until the plan Mr. Strum hatched with Justen, Harvey, Harrison, and Miller was put into motion and praise of Mr. Wester was no longer convenient.

Mr. Strum does not possess the experience or temperament to lead an organization as evidenced by his tenure at Broward Health. Employees at Broward Health describe him as a tyrant who is uninterested in and incapable of receiving constructive feedback. 

Broward Health employees complain about the lack of communication or strategy at the North District.

Also of note, Representative Cassek was quoted as saying she proposed the bill after conversations with leadership at the Broward health systems. Who were the leaders consulted? This statement contradicts both chairpersons at the respective hospital districts who, according to the article, were unaware of the bills. Did Representative Cassel only consult with Mr. Strum?

How did Ms. Goodman from the Sun Sentinel omit these key points? How did her editor not identify the clear contradictions in her article? Clearly, Mr. Strum's thumb was on the scale.

What you are witnessing is corruption in plain sight. The respective health systems belong to the people, not to bureaucrats who wish to enrich themselves or make self-serving decisions on behalf of the taxpayer. 

Broward Health should be required to stand on its own as opposed to relying on Memorial's coffers to survive.

This sham and public display of corruption cannot and will not stand. As a true politician, Mr. Strum creates false narratives to further his own agenda. We look forward to Memorial's fulfillment of our public records requests.”

Now is the moment to act.

This is not just about policy.

This is about people.

This is about the heart of Memorial—and what will be left of it if we stay silent.

We are the ones who built this place. We showed up when it was hard. We stayed when it was dangerous. We carried the system through its strongest years.

We will not be erased. We will not be intimidated. We will not let them destroy this.

Sign the petition today—you can choose to keep your name hidden.

Then share it. Send it. Talk about it. Forward it to the press, your colleagues, your neighbors.

We are not powerless.

We are just getting started.

#WeAreMemorial#RemoveShaneStrum#NoOnHB1253