Cuyahoga County Council Appears Blindsided by Departure of Top Metro Doctor in Charge of Medical Care at County Jail

Cuyahoga County Jail You go directly to jail as ordered, but understaffing means the jail is red-zoned, with inmates left in their pods for 16 hours at a time. Lose two turns while you wait for someone, anyone to come to your cell. Credit: Tim Evanson

The week before Christmas, MetroHealth’s Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Olusegun Ishmael, sent an internal announcement that Dr. Julia Bruner had “decided to leave” the hospital “to pursue other opportunities.”

Bruner, the former Senior Vice President for Behavioral Health Operations and Correctional Medicine, had in recent years, in addition to other duties, taken on the lead role for medical care at the beleaguered county jail.

With issues concerning inmate health and treatment continuing to take center stage as the county formulates and finalizes its plans to build a new facility in Garfield Heights, Councilman Michael Gallagher, the chair of county council’s Public Safety & Justice Affairs Committee, was taken aback by the news when informed by Scene.

“As it turns out, I don’t believe the executive suite had any idea, we weren’t notified, I called the sheriff’s department and I haven’t heard from them, I have my guys calling Metro,” Gallagher said. “I have no idea. I’ll have to wait and see what happens. Dr. Bruner was a very, very, very important part of us providing the necessary care for these inmates, and my hope is that that’s not disrupted.

“We pretty much have been blindsided,” he added. “I’ve talked to everyone that needs to be talked to that should know. I don’t know what to say.”

A county spokesperson, when asked if there was any communication from the executive’s office with Metro, told Scene, “Personnel decisions regarding MetroHealth staff working at the County Jail are made solely by MetroHealth.”

In Metro’s internal announcement, Dr. Olusegun Ishmael thanked Bruner for her years of service and shared that there would be organizational changes upcoming for Metro’s team, which has a contract with the county to provide care at the jail.

“Moving forward, we will be reorganizing our Correctional Medicine team and the Behavioral Health enterprise to ensure we continue to provide the highest quality of service through our new Behavioral Health Hospital in Cleveland Heights and the Correctional Medicine clinic at the Cuyahoga County Jail,” the note read. “Laurel Domanski-Diaz, Executive Director, Correctional Medicine, will report directly to me. In addition, Derrick Jordan, Vice President of Behavioral Health Operations, will directly oversee all Behavioral Health operational activities as well as our Behavioral Health nursing network. He will also report directly to me. I am confident these talented leaders will support the continued growth of our mental health and addiction services that are truly essential given the challenges so many individuals in our region face every day.”

As for council, Gallagher said, “It would have been nice to hear what’s going on as opposed to hearing from you. We do have a contract, and clearly she’s part of the contract though not in name. Any movement like this with that position and the services rendered is important. This is certainly a surprise.”

County executive Chris Ronayne, in a brief text with Scene, said, “It’s ultimately a Metro HR matter.” He did not respond to a follow-up question as to whether he had communication with the hospital.

MetroHealth’s Senior VP of Communications, Joe Frolik, told Scene, “I don’t know what there is to say: She resigned. She’d been here for 20+ years. She’s a great person and a talented physician and we all wish her well.”

Metro has thus far not said whether it communicated the personnel change to anyone at the county.

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