5 Questions

Good morning.

A reminder, I read all your questions and comments and enjoy hearing from you. I’m only able to respond to some of them in this space, but I pass the rest along for their review and possible follow-up.

Q: Good morning. Our department was moved to the Pavilion/Clinical Science Building a few months ago, and the biggest issue that we have here is that our patients can't find parking. They drive around for 25 to 30 minutes before they can come into the building. Is there possibly a plan in place to get the parking issues resolved? 

A: The parking options for patients with appointments in the Pavilion increased when Garage D came online several years ago. The garage's south entrance is open and provides parking to patients, and Lot 1, which is the surface lot on the east side of the garage is for patients. They aren’t front door spots but are suitable options when the parking lot south of the Pavilion is full.

Also, the Pavilion offers valet parking from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. each weekday.

I think there may also be a patient communication issue here. We need to ensure we are providing accurate driving directions in all appointment communications, including parking options. It may be good for clinic directors – and this applies to all units that are sending out appointment communications, not just those in the Pavilion – to review what is being sent to patients for accuracy and clarity. An effort is underway by our Epic teams in DIS, adult and pediatric ambulatory leaders and Communications and Marketing to standardize how clinic names appear in Epic, which feeds many of our patient communications. Through that process, they will be looking at how driving and parking directions are listed on appointment communications. That process will take time with as many clinics and locations as there are in Epic, so it’s best to not wait for that to be completed and go ahead and try to improve communications to help our patients now.

Q: Not everyone was shown appreciation during Employee Appreciation Week, which is nothing new for the people out at the CBO, especially the Customer Service Team.

Q:  Why is it that during things like Hospital Week or Employee Appreciation Week the clinics that aren’t on the main campus (like Select Specialty and others) do not get celebrated like the main campus?

A:  I confirmed with Human Resources that the Central Billing Office in Clinton and Select Specialty were among the many UMMC locations not on the main campus that were visited and included during Employee Appreciation Week. The HR teams did a good job of making it so that every employee should have had an opportunity to experience some type of gesture of appreciation. If you believe you were missed somehow, please reach out to your HR Business Partner.

Here's a list of the UMMC locations where employees received a branded metal insulated cup or were shown appreciation in some other way: Center for Advancement of Youth, CBO – Clinton, Children’s – Acadian Court, Children’s - Bay St. Louis, Children’s – Bridgewater, Children’s – Cedar Lake, Children’s - Hattiesburg, Children’s – Tupelo, Children’s – Meridian, Merit Madison, Riverchase Flowood, SON – Oxford, UMMC Louisville, Select Specialty, Center for Telehealth, Family Medicine - Flowood, Grants Ferry, Mirror Lake, Face and Skin Center, Lakeland Medical Building, Children’s – Greenwood, Medical Tower and Jackson Medical Mall.

Plans are already in the works to make next year’s recognition of the outstanding, committed effort of our more than 10,000 employees even better.

Q: Why don't we have July 4th and July 5th off?

A:  The last time I responded to a question about July 5 falling on a Friday and the Governor proclaiming that state offices – “after considering … the staffing needs of their respective agencies” – could “staff … as needed” that day was in 2019. My comments today are like those I provided then. For us, closing offices and disrupting set schedules would be a significant undertaking and an inconvenience to our patients.

Simply put, we are just different than other state agencies/offices. As an academic medical center, we are a 365/52/24/7 operation. On weekends and holidays there are thousands of UMMC employees – and students – who are working in our hospitals and other areas. We just can’t add any additional days to the existing list of nine paid holidays without major disruption to operations, but we do offer an additional “floating holiday” that you can use anytime you want, following the standard request/approval procedure with your manager. And, of course, we all accrue personal leave that we can also use in this way.

I’ve said before and it applies here – I see us as “One UMMC,” and all employees, regardless of role, have a connection to more than one mission, including clinical care. Our patients depend on us like no other customer depends on a state agency. We must be respectful of that.

Q: When will the construction of the additional critical care unit and the med-surg unit on the sixth floor be complete? When will the staff be hired for those units?

A: The buildouts of the sixth floor of the Adult Tower, which will add 32 med/surg beds, and the sixth floor of the Conerly Critical Care Tower, which will add 18 ICU beds, are scheduled to be completed in November 2024. The units will open to patient care the following month. Positions have been approved, and hiring has already started to staff both units. The staff being hired will complete orientation and begin floating and training in various hospital units until their permanent units open.

Thank you for these questions and all your submissions to the VC Notes inbox. Keep ‘em coming! 

We are two days away from wrapping up fiscal/academic year 2024, and my sense is it has been a good one. There were great successes in each of our mission areas, and we are experiencing boosts in overall institutional areas like finance, facilities, fundraising and others. The new year starts on Monday. Let’s keep things rolling along and get started on the right foot. We want to maintain this forward momentum toward A Healthier Mississippi.