Folks,
It was great to be roaming the halls of VVRMC again this morning. I have been in-and-out the past couple of weeks--mostly out as my dad passed away the day after Thanksgiving. Given that we were at Memos eating dinner together on November 9 and then the next day watching the Chiefs win a playoff game at North Heights, the turn of events was quite a shocker. So since then we had been trying to spend all the time we could with him knowing that he was very sick and the end near.
I wanted to thank my VVRMC family who has sent so many prayers, thoughts, text messages, phone calls, cards, notes and personal visits my way. That feels so good and is quite comforting during this time.
And sometimes the best therapy is to jump back into the normal routine. Tomorrow we close the chapter on another month as 2012 is almost in the rear-view mirror. At a high level I wanted to provide some updates on several of the big projects that are at play:
1. Town Halls-These were rescheduled at my request. Looks like we are back on for January and look forward to an hour with you to expand on these topics and have a bit o' fun as always!
2. Personnel Searches-We have 3 critical open Director positions that we are still sourcing candidates to find the ideal servant leader for each role. Frances is doing an outstanding job providing temporary leadership in all our Revenue Cycle functions, but we will be looking to fill that spot permanently as soon as possible. On-site interviews are being set up after a first round of phone interviews. Pina is serving as the interim-director of Radiology. Thanks Pina for stepping up. We had a lot of interest in this position with double-digit qualified candidates applying. We have narrowed the search there and will be doing peer interviewing with the finalists. In IT, Les has also stepped up and is serving in an interim role while we look for our next IT leader. Methodist has also deployed a couple of their best to help us as well during the transition.
3. IT--We all know what happens when our IPhone goes out on us or or computer stops working.....we are at a loss! What did we possibly do before all this technology???? Our IT department is at a crossroads right now, and we know it's an important time not only to find the right leader for the department and for VVRMC but to also position the department for success. We are looking under the hood real good in this area--soup to nuts--to make sure we know exactly what we need to do to make sure all our "stuff" keeps working and make sure we have the right capital and human resource. All of this at the same time we are about mid-way through our McKesson implementation. I know many of ya'll have been involved in the build and the training so far. Thank you for your patience on this project. We are in uncharted waters and working very very hard to keep things going as planned in hopes for a smooth transition next summer.
4. Urology-Dr. Saba will be back next week for round #2 of his VVRMC tour. He has agreed to cover us 2 weeks/per month through March 2013. We are still in discussions with Dr. Carpio to join us fulltime in April, at which time if he comes we will also be rolling out a surgical robotics program at VVRMC not only for urology but GYN surgery and general surgery as well. We hope this plays out, but still a little meat on the bone!!!
5. Cardiology-we are close to securing cardiology services once again fulltime at VVRMC to start later this month. The coverage will be supplemented with our telemedicine robot to help us cover the ER and after-hours needs. More details to come, but we are working with a doctor who wants to come to Del Rio, and if he likes it might stay! We are buying into this "date before you get married" concept. It's a great way to test out the relationship, fit, and evaluate skillset before a major commitment. Stay tuned.
6. Vista Verde Clinic-this one has been occupying a lot of our time the past 2 months as we look at how we can bring additional doctors already a part of our team into Amistad Medical Professionals. We continue to work in this direction. We are grateful that Shannon extended to Feb 28 in Del Rio which gives us 2 extra months to see if we can get a deal done. More to come here.
7. Remodeling-we are at it again...this time spreading our wings to the 2nd floor. Over the coming weeks and months we will be hitting the ICU area, Women's and most of the 2nd floor common area. In addition, we will be fixing up medical records on the 1st floor. The last of the med/surg rooms is under construction right now, and we are adding a family/visitor waiting area nearby. The mailroom has been relocated also to the 1st floor right by the lab. This is going to allow us to add some additional offices on the 2nd floor.
Again, great to be back and looking forward to visiting and supporting you!
Keep the Spirit,
Marc