Nick's Blog

The Ground Was Broken . . . Now We Wait for the Groundhog's Prediction to END

We are moving quickly toward construction of WindberPlace.  It is one of those projects that has been on our drawing board since the early part of the 21st century.  It has gone through about four or five iterations, and was finally funded through a myriad of creative grants, complex matching formulas and generous donations.   

What the heck is WindberPlace?  It's a room. 

If this was the 60's, it would be as famous as the site of the first Woodstock.  If it was the 70's, it would be like the Disco hall where John Travolta danced.  The 80's?  I'm not sure that anything significant happened in the 80's... Oh, yeah, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. The 90's?  Woodstock II.  It's easy to link that to a place as significant as WindberPlace, definitely not a stretch.

Back to my question; What is WindberPlace?  It is all things to all people.  Remember the old gymnatoriums, or the multi-purpose rooms that smelled like a cross between lunch and a Lakers game?  Well, hopefully, our aroma therapists will be able to help us redefine that olfactory equation, but the room will indeed change lives in many ways.

First and foremost it will be a center for "at risk kids."  When you consider that there are probably more "at risk kids" now than any other time in our country's history except for frontier days and the flu epidemic, it's good that someone is looking out for them.  We plan to have portable rock climbing walls, giant exercise balls, jump ropes and dance pads that can be moved in and out of this room of approximately 1750 sq. feet.  Why, you might ask?  It's to help us establish on site programs for children who are challenged by their weight; who might have metabolic syndrome or diabetes in their families.  One in three kids are in danger right now of developing Type II diabetes.

Lest we forget our PhD's and MD's, we now can hold classroom-style video teleconferencing lectures, workshops and mini-conferences.  We are already linked internationally, but now can actually accumulate the necessary critical mass of human beings into the room for significant scientific and medical interactions and workshops.

There will be space for meeting half of our employees at any given time for workshops, education, town hall meetings, and updates.  Right now, our largest room holds about 35 people.  WindberPlace will hold about 250 people.  It will hopefully discontinue the kid-like game of telephone where we meet with 20 groups of 25 people and by the end of the cycle the message morphs from saving lives to catching flies.  It's tough to deal with 20 different groups in the hope of delivering the same cogent message.

Support groups will have access as will individuals involved in classes and programs for stress management and the like.

Finally, there will be a wonderful meditation area that can be utilized by family members from hospice overlooking the beautiful pastoral scenes of Windber.

For those of you who are worried about parking, I've agreed to allow some of our trees to be moved and removed so as to create another 20+ spaces on the hill.  It will also widen the treacherous curve at the top of the Breast Center road. 

So, all we have to do now is wait for the Groundhog, let the snow melt, the ground thaw out and the sun shine a little so that we can get things rolling.  It should only take six months to build it and then WindberPlace, like Woodstock I and II, Saturday Night Fever, Thriller, et al will soon be available at a big room near YOU.

Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing

In 1973, a young singer called Stevie Wonder, debuted a song entitled, "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" from his album, Innervisions.  The lyrics told a positive message about taking things in stride and accentuating the positive. The song ended like this:

Everybody needs a change

A chance to check out the new

But you're the only one to see

'The changes you take yourself through

Don't you worry 'bout a thing

Don't you worry 'bout a thing, pretty mama

Cause I'll be standing in the wings

When you check it out

Don't you worry 'bout a thing . . .

In 1974, my son was about to turn one year old, my daughter was not yet around, the very undisciplined dog living in my house was named Cocco, and the Garfield Junior School Band was about to launch into one of its most exciting and complex concert seasons ever under the direction of a twenty-seven year old band director who was making the incredible salary of about $7,400 a year, ($11,000 less a year than some of his students who had dropped out to work in the mills.)

The steel mills of Johnstown were still functioning, and there were  about a dozen clubs with live music. An economic development group named JARI had just been formed, a young Congressman named Jack Murtha had just been elected, the Johnstown Jets had Steve and Jeff Carlson playing for them (the inspiration for the Hanson Brothers of "Slapshot" fame.)  A young man named Marty Radovanic had recently been hired on WJAC-TV, and the 1974 Dodge Monaco made famous in the movie "The Blues Brothers" was introduced to the world of police muscle cars.

In Windber, Pennsylvania, the Windber Hospital had recently disaffiliated from Conemaugh Valley Memorial Hospital.  Which reminds me of another song, "Everything old is new again."  Don't throw the past away.  You might need it some rainy day.  Dreams can come true again.  When ev'ry thing old is new again.

What was Windber Hospital facing in 1974?  They had recently completed an extremely successful fund drive under the direction of a young, committed community member, Ted Hollern, our current Board Chairman.

The Windber-based physicians had agreed to build their new building, and three hospitals; Lee, Mercy and Conemaugh Valley, our competition, were all thriving.  Several young, highly trained physicians had recently joined the medical staff of Windber and were determined to make WMC a successful competitor in the region. 

Thirty four years later, we are doing it again.  We are constructing new buildings, have hired several highly trained, new physicians, and will be looking to our community and region for the needed support to continue to thrive and grow. This time, however, we also have doubled in size, have a phenomenal research institute, have over 1300 members in our HealthStyles fitness center (which just won a national award), are part of a 15 hospital healthcare alliance, PMHA, and are considerably better positioned to move strongly into the next decade of the 21st Century. 

With the strong, committed leadership of our medical staff, board and fellow employees, it's fair to say openly and excitedly,

"Don't you worry 'bout a thing.  Don't you worry 'bout a thing, pretty mama." 

So You Want to Be A CEO: Part Eleven

This is the eleventh year since I first came through one of the six front doors at Windber Medical Center. There were several things that I vowed to do when I arrived. The first physical change that I wanted was to actually create a way to get to one of those sets of front doors. It hasn't happened. It's ten years later and still no steps.

My second plan was to put in electric doors. No electric doors.

Oh yeah, and I wanted to move the cafeteria to an area where people in wheel chairs could actually go to eat. I know, novel idea for a hospital. That hasn't happened either.

Due to budget and resource allocation considerations, these projects have been cut at least ten times. Disappointment becomes part of life, but you can't focus on what hasn't been done because it will make you crazy.

On the other hand, we have built over $20 M worth of buildings all around the campus.

Throughout the past decade, every one of these improvements have come at a cost to someone. Sometimes, very tough politics.

Through all of this, however, our board has remained extremely supportive at all times. They have remained squarely behind us.

We have grown from 250 or so employees to nearly 550, and, although our accomplishments as a medical center and research institute have been regularly recognized, life does continue to be challenging. The steps are still not done. Our grants, due last July, have still not been released, and that makes every day an adventure, but we will push forward.

One of my teachers once told me that the Great Barrier Reef, the largest collection of living organisms in the world, is a unique phenomena.  On the bay side where things are calm, everything is dead, but on the ocean side where the waves smash against it, life prevails, positive stress seems to be the answer to survival.

Good will prevail. We will survive. We will succeed. We will get those steps in, create a handicapped accessible cafeteria and install electric doors, and that's just the beginning. Just you wait and see.

Let the good times roll.

Isolationists?

Isolationism refers to America's longstanding reluctance to become involved in foreign conflicts.  Isolationists held the view that America's perspective on the world was different from that of other foreign societies and that America could advance the cause of freedom and democracy through means other than war.
–MSN Encarta, U-S-History.com

This blog is not about isolationism. It's not about war.  It is,though, about shoring up our borders and protecting our very personal futures.

We are clearly involved in a very complex set of challenges. 

Our annual payroll exceeds $21 M per year, and WMC currently employees over 500 people.  This week we read that a Pittsburgh-based hospital cut their employee numbers from 305 to 189.  "Who cares?" you might ask. Well, this particular hospital averages the same number of inpatients per day that WMC does.  189 people to do what 500 people do?  It doesn't seem possible.  The bigger question to be asked here is what caused this layoff?  What went wrong?  Where did their patient base go?  How did it evaporate?

Where am I going with this? 

We have NO intention of cutting back the number of employees that we have here at Windber, but, in order to protect our future, we must continue to be smart, to be very smart about what brings patients here, and, more importantly, what keeps them here. 

I received an e-mail tonight from a would be patient who had wanted to let me know why we lost her. She had only ever been to our breast center, never to the hospital.  She was having severe pain from a leg wound, drove around to try to find our emergency room and stopped at what she now has determined was the Palliative Care Unit.  Because her leg was so painful when she saw no one, and because she couldn't translate the signage, she struggled to get back in her car and drove directly to the competition.  Her constructive suggestions revolved around better signage, greeters, and directional guides of some sort. 

Another important way to protect our future would be simply to STICK TOGETHER . . . not as isolationists, but as intelligent consumers of our own health care.  As you may or may not know, employees from other local hospitals are taxed anywhere from $1000 to $5000 through their employer-based insurances if they select Windber for their health care. 

We, on the other hand, have ensured that you have freedom of choice through your health insurance.

Over the past several months, some Windber-based physicians have left here, and, in spite of commitments to continue to see patients at our facility, only two people were treated at Windber through these practices during the past month.  Ironically, the practices involved contained Windber-based patients who had been cultivated over nearly 30 years.

So, how do we survive?  The easy answer is that we survive by being loyal to us.

I remember talking to a friend of mine who was the CEO of a major business, and I asked what his driver was.  I asked what made him so completely loyal to his company?  He smiled and said, "The 15/30 plan." 

I had never heard that expression before . . . "15/30," I asked? 

"Yeah," he said,"Every month I get a paycheck on the 15th and the 30th." 

He laughed and said, "That check makes me real loyal." 

I guess that the sooner that we can figure out what causes people to come or to STAY here, the easier it will be for all of us to ensure our personal futures. 

Be friendly. 

Be courteous. 

Be sincere. 

Oh, yeah, and be loyal.  It will be good for all of us.