why should we care?

I get dropped off on the days I work by my husband at our entrance.  So I have walked into our entrance probably thousands of times.

So I step out
of the car and the sidewalk to the door is all dirty.  There is a garbage can and typically there is a wet stain draining out of it down the sidewalk.  I walk in the automatic door.  The carpet looks like some remnant thing they got at Menards on sale.  It is dirty and worn.  The walls are scuffed.

You walk up to the triage window.  Over to the right is our waiting room.  Bolted to the ceiling are 2 TVs that were bought in the 1950's.  The lobby is dimly lit. The furniture is worn and dirty.

Welcome to our ER.  This is just the initial impression.  First impressions are  everything they say. Doesn't bode well for us.

The ER itself is old, very old, hasn't been remodeled in years.  It is run down, falling apart.  It is too small.  There is not enough seating for the staff.  It is noisy and congested. The walls are scuffed, the floors in the rooms are dirty.

Conclusion: Obviously the hospital doesn't care about what the ER looks like, what kind of condition it is in.  If thats the case, they obviously don't care about the patients.  Why not? My cynical old self says its because we are in the inner city, our patients don't have insurance, they don't demand new stuff.  Our patients are neighborhood people, old people, the chronically ill.  Middle class white folks ain't coming to our ER  

Why would I say this?   Every ER in the corporation I work in has been remodeled except ours. Only one other ER they own is in the city, the rest are in the suburbs where the people with insurance live. They just built a brand new free standing ER.

So the questions becomes: Why should the staff of my ER care if the hospital administration obviously does not?