5 Questions

Good morning and Happy Halloween. 

Today, I’ll respond to some of the questions you’ve sent to the VC Notes inbox. 

As a reminder, I review everything sent to me, and they all get forwarded to organizational leaders for awareness and follow-up, if needed. 

Q: I wanted to bring attention to a recurring concern regarding the condition of the overflow parking lot used during JSU game days. After each event, the lot is often left littered with trash and, more concerningly, broken glass. This morning, upon entering campus from North West Street, the presence of trash and glass was immediately visible from the roadway. 

A: I’m disappointed that you experienced that upon arrival for your shift. Not a great way to start your day. 

On game days, Jackson State University personnel are responsible for cleaning up the lots after they have been emptied. We support that effort by having someone from our Facilities Services group inspect the parking lots and other areas around the stadium after the JSU crews are finished with their cleanup. If we see anything that isn’t done properly, we let JSU know, and they are supposed to address it. The next day after a game, we do another review – including to see if any fencing or roadways were damaged – and share what we find with JSU.  

I sent your submission to Dr. Jonathan Wilson, chief administrative officer, and he said that we informed JSU about what was left behind following their most recent game. It’s a challenge to share space and responsibilities such as this. We will remain very vigilant. Thanks for the awareness. 

Q: I have noticed the increase in police patrolling the stadium lots. Thank you. The lighting improvements are also welcomed. But is that same attention being given to campus and the parking garages? 

A: Yes. Safety and security of any areas where UMMC patients, employees, students and visitors go are top priorities. 

UMMC Police maintains round-the-clock patrol coverage of campus grounds including the parking garages and lots. Officers are always patrolling on foot and in vehicles and watch over all our spaces through a significant network of security cameras. Additionally, we augment our presence on and around campus and enhance the visibility of police protection through relationships with other law enforcement agencies, including Capitol Police. And these additional officers in the area improve response time when we get a call. 

In general, the Medical Center prioritizes your safety, and we do anything we can to maintain a high level of security on our campus and in the stadium lots.  

As I’ve mentioned in VC Notes before, you are encouraged to sign up for Alert U notifications and download the Everbridge app on your phone for increased personal safety.  

Q:We are having more trouble than in the past getting what we need to do our jobs. Please look into Supply Chain. 

A: Thank you for this brief, but to the point, submission. 

I’ve received more inbox items on Supply Chain in the past few months than before. I’ve already talked with executive leadership about Supply Chain and changes are being implemented. It’s essential to effective patient care that teams have the materials they need to provide care in a timely manner. 

Here are a few of the actions being taken to improve Supply Chain’s partnership with clinical operations: 

• We will contract with a new medical surgical supplies distributor next year in the spring/summer.  
• We recently moved toward getting supply deliveries from our distributor six days a week (adding Sunday) instead of five. 
• We are increasing collaboration with nursing leaders including more rounding by Supply Chain leadership and supply techs. 
• We are stocking more of the items that are most frequently used in critical care units. 
• One of our suppliers is conducting a review of our system that is supposed to automatically order supplies that are running low. 
• We are working to reduce manual ordering, which will improve accuracy of deliveries to units. 
• We are evaluating – in partnership with nursing staff – items in unit supply rooms to remove less-used items that may be taking up space that can be filled by supplies used more often. 

This is something we must get right, and I’m trusting leaders to do everything possible to make Supply Chain the effective operation it needs to be. 

Q: Housekeeping. Housekeeping. Housekeeping. Are we trying to improve the cleanliness of our buildings? Including on weekends and at night. 

A: UMMC is a huge place that is open 24/7, 365 days a year. It creates a real challenge to keep everything clean, but that is our goal. Providing clean spaces for you to do your job is the job of our housekeeping team, and we expect them to excel at it. Improvements have been made and I anticipate more are on the way following some recent and upcoming initiatives. Here are just a few: 

• Twenty additional frontline housekeeping staff 
• More frequent floor stripping and deep cleaning 
• Getting patient rooms cleaned quicker after discharge (reduced from 110 minutes to 70 minutes) 
• Enhanced infection-prevention training for housekeeping staff 
• Three more environmental services directors 
• Improved real-time communications with housekeeping staff to help with timely responses 
• Development of a system-wide environmental services dashboard visible to environmental services leadership and Medical Center executives to provide timely visibility into key metrics including turnaround time, response rates and quality

This is another area I put in the “we must get this right” bucket. And we won’t stop working with our vendor to get your work areas clean so that you can better focus on your job responsibilities. 

Q: I am writing to request that UMMC consider adding fertility coverage to our employee benefits package. It is concerning that while we operate a fertility clinic serving patients across Mississippi, our own employees lack access to these crucial health care services. 

A: The Mississippi Office of Finance and Administration manages the relationship with Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which administers the State and School Employees’ Health Plan offered to state employees, including us. To review everything included in the plan, click here. 

We do not control what is included in the plan, but UMMC Human Resources often communicates with Finance and Administration on changes we feel are needed/helpful to our employees. We’ll pass along this request from you – and other similar requests I’ve received. 

There is an upcoming change to the benefits UMMC employees can take advantage of that can be helpful for many health-related expenses, including family planning. UMMC employees who participate in the Base Plan have the option to direct part of their pay to a health savings account – which is tax free for qualifying contributions and expenses – starting Jan. 1, 2026. Fertility treatments can qualify along with vision and dental care, some prescription drugs and over-the-counter health products that your health insurance doesn’t cover. 

As a reminder, UMMC employees have access to many benefits options, all of which can be reviewed on the webpage found here.  

Thank you for these and all your submissions. Keep them coming! 

And thank you for all you do to help us move toward A Healthier Mississippi.