Blogs

March 29, 2012 - Lighntening Crashes

Mar 29, 2012 by Marc Strode, CEO
Folks,
I'm sure like me you have several things you hope to never experience.  Like drowning.  Being sucked into a tornado.  Falling off a tall building.  I also would prefer to never get struck by lightening.  But two nights ago I feel as if I got as close as one could come at 10:55 pm.  So thankful for the rain, but I have never heard such an explosion as that crack of thunder and lightening that I was certain once I opened my bedroom door I would see the smoke, flames and the rest of the house missing!  Luckily that wasn't the case, but my what an experience.  Anyone else in and around the S Del Rio area might have experienced the same out-of-body-experience.  No ideas what it hit, but glad it wasn't me!

That hasn't been the only major event for me this week.  Oh, where to start.  Well, here goes.

First off, we inked our deal w/ McKesson!  Hip, hip, hooray!  We will have a new computer system in about 18 months that we believe will be very good for everyone.  We made a selection with input from the team and hope that what we have chosen will, over time, make everyone's job easier for taking care of patients.  Special thanks to Mark Moore for helping get this deal done.  Mark, I appreciate your effort and know you will continue to play a large part in the success of this project.  However, now that we have this deal done, the implementation and design and subsequent install will be less about IT and more about nursing, accounting, pharmacy, etc.  Now is a good time to introduce to those who have not met him Brandon Elmer.  He is our new Project Manager working closely with Vicky who has been brought on to help with lots of projects, but mainly to keep us on task with our McKesson project.  Very happy to have such a positive, energetic and driven dude on the team to help make this happen.  In April, we will select the Super User Team who will work closely w/ Brandon to help see this thing through.  More to come.

And, we have money to pay for this multi-million $ project because we will be able to go after our Stage I meaningful use rebate money.  This was somewhat of a pipe dream about 3 months ago, but you guys, especially in nursing, made it a reality as we tweeked some processes and got folks on board to do things just a little bit differently in HMS.  Kudos to Jureza for leading the charge on this one.  I am so pleased with her work and leadership on this project. Jureza, you kicked butt and we are greatful for your effort.  Nice job and see us through so we can cash that check!!!!

Next, this week we welcome Dr. Hector Osorio.  He is our new, full-time cardiologist.  He started Monday, and he has already become very busy as it has not taken long for word to get out that he is affiliated with the hospital and his services are available to the community.  His family is still in Pleasanton just up Hwy 173 @ Hondo, but Dr. Osorio is living here during the week.  We hope if all goes well, his family will chose to relocate this summer.  He is also covering the ED Monday-Friday and two weekends per month.  For the remaining two weekends, by this summer, we will have those covered through our affiliation with Dr. Espinoza's group in San Antonio.  Now that Dr. Osorio is here, it is unlikely that Dr. Espinoza will continue his periodic clinic, but may serve in some sort of back-up capacity.  This has all happened very quickly and certainly not all the final pieces are in place, but it is our first step to a more robust heart program at VVRMC.  There are too many people working right now to make this happen to list out here, so I want to thank everyone involved and ask for your continued support, enthusiasm and patience as we get everything settled.  

And, there's more!  I believe starting in April the vascular surgeons also who work closely with Dr. Espinoza's group will start their monthly clinic.  Dr. Toursarkissian, Chief of Vascular Surgery at UT Health Science Center, has committed to a monthly vascular 2-day clinic at VVRMC.  On April 16, he has made plans to be here to visit w/ our medical staff, see the OR and the cath lab and get geared up for this clinic to start in May.  This will be a real nice feather in our cap to land this big fish in Del Rio!  

Finally, let's celebrate.  Doctor's Day is tomorrow.  We have several special things planned for our physicians.  It is not too late to drop your favorite doctor a thank you card and get that to Gloria Ziegler for distrubion tomorrow.  You can also just give them a high-five tomorrow and say "thanks" for the great things they do for our patients.

Then on Saturday head on out for the annual VVRMC Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza out on the front lawn.  I will not be able to make it as I was already scheduled to be on a trip, but Paige will have the boys up here, and I hope your kids as well can come up and have some fun at this festive event.

(For the kid in all of us) Keep the Spirit,
Marc