pep talk

I was there last week when local dignitaries and UTMB leadership officially marked the opening of UTMB Children’s Health After-Hours Urgent Care Center (at the ever-cheesey but symbolically important ribbon cutting, above).

The clinic is across from South Shore Harbor, on Marina Bay Drive in League City. I’m a fan; I’ve blogged about it before. The clinic is open in the evenings and on weekends to address pediatric urgent care needs. The clinic has been a hit, serving more than 850 patients since it opened late last May. What I did not realize, however, was that the clinic shares the same space as UTMB’s Orthopaedic Clinic at South Shore Harbour. At 5 p.m., the ortho guys head home, replaced by the Pedi staff at 5:30. My hat is off to the folks who got creative and pulled this together; it’s a great model for the sort of out-of-the-box thinking that we will help move us forward. For more information about the UTMB Children’s Health After-Hours Urgent Care Center, give them a ring at (281) 334-6578; call (281) 334-0620 if you need a good ortho doc in the League City area.

A few people asked my why the flags were at half staff earlier this week (they’re back up now). Guesses ran the gamut, from comedian George Carlin to local legend Ruth Kempner. The flags at a state institution can only go down by order of the Texas governor. In this case, they were down for the passing of Rep. G. E. “Buddy” West, a politician from west Texas. Details are online….

Recognize the tall guy in the UTMB baseball cap? He may look like the newest trainee in Facilities and Operations Management, but it’s actually UTMB’s president, Dr. David Callender, who spent a few hours last week making the rounds behind the scenes in Rebecca Sealy Hospital. His trainer and escort for the afternoon was Joe Allen, of FOAM’s east campus service team. Dr. Callender has been making it a priority to get out and get in touch with UTMB employees. He’s been hosting “On your Mind” sessions—small informal meetings with groups of about a dozen employees (there’s talk of doing the next one at 2 am to give night shift staff a chance to talk with him). The afternoon he spent in Rebecca Sealy with Mr. Allen is part of an effort to spend time “In your Shoes.” For his next outing, he may be coming to an OSA desk near you…   

The annual emergency preparedness meeting for all UTMB staff was hosted yesterday to a packed audience in the Levin Hall Dining Room. Dr. Joan Richardson and Mike Megna, our campus preparedness officers, set the stage for two hours of information from city, county and university representatives. Materials from the meeting have now been posted online, courtesy of Mike Megna and campus business continuity guru, Gayle Cantrell.

Today the Board of Regents approved UTMB’s proposal to build a $61 million medical specialty care center on the mainland.  The 110,000-square-foot facility will be located on a 35-acre plot the university owns near the intersection of Interstate 45 and FM 646, across from the HEB, near the new Best Buy and in the general area of Victory Lakes. The specialty center is scheduled to open in November 2009; construction should start late this summer. It’ll be part of what is already a well-established and well-regarded mainland presence for UTMB.

The Daily News’ Laura Elder ran an article on this May 8 and there was a good editorial by Heber Taylor (wasn’t able to locate for you), and they sparked a question from a blog reader and friend about why we weren’t out there beating the drum about this important and good news. It’s not been a secret; the plans have been discussed, including at the Health System session of our recent “Mondays in March.” At the same time, getting out ahead of Board of Regents approval with anything more concrete than a plan isn’t really such a great idea for us institutionally. We’ll start hearing and seeing more about this now.

I’m looking forward to the start of construction. One thing I’ve heard discussed is the creation of a park & ride lot on a portion of the property, to help facilitate ride-sharing for commuting employees. It’s just an idea, but it might come together quickly as a partial solution to sky-high fuel costs. More on this topic in a future post.

I have a lot to celebrate this week. Topping of the list, I helped welcome two new employees to our office family, and for the first time since sometime in the middle of 2007, my team is at full strength. Even though the vacancies we endured were generally for good reasons (promotions, career advancement, school), they were tough, and I’m thrilled about the people that have chosen UTMB as their new professional homes.

I had the privilege of hitting the road this week to meet with UTMB employees at Shearn Moody Plaza for a visit by Dr. Callender. The meetings are part of something he’s calling “What’s on your Mind” sessions. They are hosted for small groups of 12 to 15 people, first come basis, open to anyone in a geographic area (we’ve been to places like the Lipton Bldg and SON/SAHS). The provost is also hosting similar sessions. I really enjoyed meeting the folks at Shearn, about 350 of us work over there, and they work hard and do important things—such as patient billing and community education—to support the institution. The meetings were positive and folks were engaged, and real issues came up. I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about those folks and the things they had to share.

Finally, UTMB hosted the Office and Administrative Staff Conference this week. I ran over at lunchtime to check on how things were going and see my friends in the EAC, who were hosting a booth at the vendor fair. I caught part of the style show, which featured a lot of UTMB’s leadership on the runway, hamming it up to the delight of the audience. I caught bits and pieces of the rest of the conference on campus TV and the webcast, which was made possible by the crew in EHN and sent out to CMC and other remote sites. Good job to everyone involved. I’m glad the conference is back.             

I meant to blog a quick greeting to all UTMB’s support staff and administrative professionals this past Wednesday, on their own special “Hallmark” day. Consider this a belated “Happy Day” to you.

We marked the day in our office for our two very special people with breakfast burritos, flowers and little token gift cards. It’s not nearly enough for having to put up with us—a bunch of often needy and demanding folks—the other 364 days of the year. But they wear a smile the whole time, and get the job done. They are amazing.

The annual support staff conference is coming up next week, May 1 and 2. The numbers of registrants were down slightly from the 1600-plus person crowds that attended in the past, so the organizers were hoping for a big push at the end. Friday, May 25 is the last day to get yourself signed up.  

UT System issued a news release yesterday announcing Chancellor Yudof’s appointment as the new top dog at the University of California System. Take your choice: you can read the UT System release, the UC System release, or a fine little article in “Inside Higher Ed.” I offered a post on this last week.  

Speaking of UT System, I also finally came across the link to the annual “UT System Fast Facts” publication. I got a printed copy of it about a two weeks ago; here’s the e-version. Always interesting.

I think it would be hard to overstate how important the affirmation we get from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is to our mission, to our existence, to our success. More than a “seal of approval,” if an organization isn’t doing well by its students and doesn’t have its act together in preparing, documenting and planning for its SACS review, it essentially can be shut off from the resources that make a university possible. It’s a big deal, and a lot of people from all ranks at UTMB have been working hard, in preparation for what they heard today: “Great job. Excellent work, keep it up.”

If you are one of those many, many people involved in any way in the SACS process, pat yourself on the back. We owe you our thanks and a debt of gratitude.   (Read message from leadership)