People of the U: Richard Waite
Published on Wednesday, July 1, 2020
By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu
Senior end user computer specialist Richard Waite keeps the six Children’s of Mississippi clinics and University of Mississippi Medical Center’s adult transplant clinic in south Mississippi running smoothly because he keeps their computers systems running smoothly.
Based on the Gulf Coast, Waite travels among the clinics, responding to requests, performing maintenance and serving as a liaison for Epic access as needed.
“In today’s world, everything revolves around computers,” Waite said. “If our clinics don’t have a working computer, access to medical records online and wifi for telehealth consultations, they can’t operate.”
The clinics Waite serves include the Children’s of Mississippi outpatient specialty clinics in Hattiesburg and Biloxi, pediatric clinics in Biloxi, Bay St. Louis and Bridgewater and Acadian Court locations in Gulfport, and the UMMC Transplant Gulf Coast Clinic in Biloxi, which serves adult patients.
Prior to Waite working out of the southern region of the state, any computer needs in those clinics meant getting help from UMMC’s main campus in Jackson.
“The clinics were saving up requests so it would be worth someone’s time driving in from Jackson,” said Waite, a Jackson native who enjoys life in south Mississippi.
“The Gulf Coast is like a state within our state,” he said. “It’s completely different than the rest of Mississippi, and I love it here.”
Waite is an alumnus of Holmes Community College in Ridgeland, where he studied information systems technology, and the University of Southern Mississippi, where he graduated with a business administration degree. He then worked for the Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District as their lead technician and systems administrator for a decade.
In January 2018, Waite moved back to Jackson and joined UMMC, first working in telehealth and traveling to sites around the state. When the opportunity came, he moved south to serve the Medical Center’s outpatient outreach.
With Children’s of Mississippi opening the Biloxi and Hattiesburg specialty clinics in 2017 and acquiring the four pediatric clinics in 2018 from Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, hospital leaders realized a Division of Information Systems representative was needed along the Gulf Coast.
“Our clinics have been growing rapidly,” said Waite. “I love hearing ‘Hey, Richard,’ when I come into one of the clinics, and the clinic’s doctors, nurses and staff members always appreciate the work done. It’s nice to be needed!”
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